When Boris succeeds, the present day instantly warps. The MIB headquarters becomes a hostile, alien-dominated dystopia. Worse, only Agent J remembers the original timeline. The sophisticated Agent O (Emma Thompson) has no idea who "Agent K" even is. Realizing the stakes, J uses a salvaged time-jump device (which requires jumping from the top of the Chrysler Building) to leap back to 1969.

When Men in Black 3 hit theaters on May 25, 2012, it carried the weight of a decade-long hiatus. The previous installment, Men in Black II , had been released in 2002 to a lukewarm reception, leaving many to assume that the franchise about suit-wearing, memory-neuralyzing secret agents was finished. Ten years is a long time in Hollywood. Audiences had aged, Will Smith had solidified himself as the “Fourth of July” king, and the world had moved on to superhero team-ups.

Brolin doesn’t just lower his jaw and squint. He captures the rhythm of Jones—the clipped Texas drawl, the weary impatience, the way his eyes barely move when delivering a threat. But the genius of the performance is what Brolin adds: a sliver of humanity that the 35 years of MIB service have eroded. This 1969 version of K is still tough, but he’s not yet a robot. He smiles cryptically. He hesitates when holding a neuralyzer. He flirts (sort of) with a young Agent O (Alice Eve). Brolin shows us the man behind the mask, making the tragedy of the older K’s coldness feel earned rather than clichéd. The production design deserves its own standing ovation. Director Barry Sonnenfeld (returning to the franchise) and his team immerse us in a retro-futuristic vision of 1969. The streets are filled with period-accurate cars, but the aliens are hidden in plain sight, dressed in mod suits and tie-dye.