Directed by: Barry Sonnenfield
Starring: Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Emma Thompson, Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve
Smith travels back in time to 1969 to stop an escaped alien convict, Clement, from assassinating a young Jones, played by Brolin.
There are those who say movies should make you think. They're wrong. Movies should make you feel. An audience that's thinking during a film isn't engaging with it. I spent far too much of this movie's running time thinking. It's a problem that's becoming all too common with contemporary blockbusters.
Time travel scenarios are notoriously difficult for writers to pull off successfully. Only the "Back To The Future" movies achieved true success with this archetype. You can pick apart the scripts of Zemekis' trilogy and you won't find any flaws in the time shifting narrative. That those movies manage to be both thoroughly gripping and sound of plot is testament to the skill of Zemekis and his writers. The same level of skill has eluded the team behind this latest installment of a series that was almost out of date at the time of the first movies release. The scriptwriting on display here is nothing short of a disgrace, the narrative is buried by an avalanche of exposition. Roughly two thirds of the movie consists of Smith looking confused as another character crassly attempts to explain the plot to both him and the audience. There's one glaring plothole which is eventually explained about thirty minutes later, but it's thirty minutes too late. The audience spent half an hour scratching their heads until it was explained, though not very convincingly.
There was a time when summer blockbusters were synonymous with turning your brain off and enjoying the rollercoaster. Now thanks to inept screenwriting, the average Hollywood movie is as taxing on the brain as a lecture on particle physics. "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" had a very complex plot but was simple to follow. That's because it was written and directed by people with talent who respected audiences. "Men In Black 3" is written and directed by hacks who only see audience members as dollar signs.
2/10
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