10 Movie Sequels Way Better Than They Had Any Right To Be
8. Men In Black 3
Men in Black is a perfect movie - one of the greatest things ever made. Whether it's Ed Solomon's razor-sharp script, Barry Sonnenfeld's charming direction or the tour-de-force performance that is Vincent D'Onofrio as The Bug, it is a modern sci-fi masterpiece and one I will never grow tired of watching.
The same, cannot be said, of Men in Black II.
Released five years after the original film, Men in Black II - although directed once again by Sonnenfeld - did not reach the same lofty heights as the first MiB. It's not without its charm, with Jones and Smith picking up largely where they left off, but the story is listless. Not quite the disaster it has so often been made out to be (what film where Patrick Warburton cries into a pie can truly be bad?), but certainly a great distance from what an MiB follow-up should have delivered.
This is what makes Men in Black 3 such an oddity. Released over a decade later in 2012, the third Men in Black once again put Sonnenfeld in the director's chair, only this time he was given more compelling material to work with when it came to the script, which was written by Etan Cohen. While lacking in the first two films' visual charm thanks to the switch to digital, MiB 3 is still an unlikely and enjoyable sequel, one that gracefully retcons the original film, in what makes for an emotional high point in the series.
Again, this one doesn't come anywhere close to touching the original, but as a belated follow-up to one of the more underwhelming sequels in recent memory, Men in Black 3 is both surprising and worthwhile.