What kind of movies do exceptional filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson watch? While you might expect that he enjoys films similar to his own (and perhaps he does), the director behind There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, and the recent One Battle After Another has been known to shed a tear or two at even an action-packed, sci-fi Hollywood blockbuster. Which one? Well, it turns out that Anderson had a distinct emotional reaction to the Will Smith feature Men in Black 3 — and if you’ve seen the ending of that film, you’ll understand why.
Paul Thomas Anderson Loves Time Travel Stories — Especially ‘Men in Black 3’
In a 2012 interview with the Washington Post concerning his then latest film, The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson explained how the ideas of past lives and examining different time periods really spoke to him throughout that project. “You’re talking about finding ways to go back in time and to pick up some lost piece,” the director elaborated. “And that stuff is just food and drink to me.” It’s here that Anderson shifted the conversation towards MIB 3, which hit theaters several months before The Master. The director compared the emotional notes that he was going for with his feature to the end of the aforementioned science fiction blockbuster. “[Men in Black 3] was [expletive] great,” Anderson exclaimed. “The time-travel stuff [made me] cry my eyes out. I’m a sucker for that stuff.” As it turns out, even filmmaking auteurs can enjoy a good old-fashioned action-adventure with a heartfelt ending. No wonder it was recently a streaming success.
But what happens in the final installment in the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones-led Men in Black trilogy that made such a profound impact on Anderson? Well, what sets the third MIB flick apart from the previous outings is that, in this adventure, Agent J (Smith) is sent back in time to the tail end of the 1960s, where he works alongside a young version of Agent K (played here by Josh Brolin) to capture a villain named Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement). While stuck in the past, J begins to understand the complexities of K’s life as an agent and the choices he made for the job, allowing him to ultimately make amends with the future version of his partner. But more than that, the end of the film reveals that J’s father, Colonel Edwards (Mike Colter), was killed by Boris while saving K’s life, and that, as a child, he even met the younger K, who looked out for him all his life. As it turns out, Agent J’s personal history led to him becoming an agent in the first place, and understanding why his father was never around growing up helps him to move on.
‘Men in Black 3’ Was a Perfect Way to Round Out the Franchise
It’s no wonder that Paul Thomas Anderson had such an emotional reaction to the profound ending of Men in Black 3. As far as trilogy conclusions go, it does a great job of wrapping things up and answering the question as to why K recruited J to the agency in the first place. But what makes MIB³ such a perfect way to end the original trilogy (Men in Black: International being its own venture) is the way in which the film brings Agent J full circle. That’s, perhaps, what Anderson loves so much about the use of time travel in a film like this. It’s not just some clever plot device that allows the final entry to do something new and different compared to previous installments, nor is it simply a gimmick to sell tickets and bring in another lead to replace Tommy Lee Jones. In reality, it’s the beginning of an emotional catharsis that allows Agent J to fully embrace his life, reexamining his own experience (and Agent K’s as well) from a fresh perspective.
That final moment J spends in the past, watching the Brolin version of Agent K and his younger self (played by Cayen Martin) walk along the beach is enough to make anyone well with emotion. Seeing K’s tenderness toward a young James Edwards III is a truly beautiful moment that beats all the action and adventure seen previously. Juxtaposed with the final scene back in the present between J and Jones’ version of K, and we can look back on the trilogy with fresh eyes the same way the characters can now look at each other. Men in Black³ succeeds not just because it tells a fun and engaging story along the lines of Back to the Future, but because it makes everything land in the eleventh hour by appealing to our emotional attachment to these characters — and their attachment to each other. It’s a great film, and if it’s been a while, you really ought to give it another go. After all, if even Paul Thomas Anderson shed a few tears at the end, perhaps there’s more to this sci-fi blockbuster than meets the eye.
Men in Black 3 is available to rent digitally on Prime Video.
Release Date
May 25, 2012
Runtime
1h 46m
Writers
Jeff Nathanson, David Koepp
Prequel(s)
Men in Black II, Men In Black