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But most of all, "MIB3" is one giant leap for mankind because Josh Brolin shows up to play the younger Agent K. And he just nails the feat, triumphantly creating a riff on/homage to the Tommy Lee Jones-ness of K that goes much deeper (and funnier) than a simple imitation of drawl and speech patterns. Brolin conjures up a man in full, just as taciturn but not nearly as closed as the craggy puss he is when Jones does the squinting.

It's a great performance, one for the thespian yearbook. And, as happens in the best of cases, Brolin raises his costar's game. For an African-American Hollywood superstar like Smith, marching his character backwards to 1969 presents unique opportunities for social commentary on changing perceptions of American black men. Smith makes big statements with the most casual and charming of reactions and line readings.

Sonnenfeld and Cohen move their baby along with an integrity and gait that ought to serve as a blueprint for other filmmakers faced with the particular challenges of reviving big-ticket and time-dated hunks of pop culture. Amid the mayhem, the movie is sophisticated enough to note the family resemblance between Rick Baker-stitched aliens and the human creatures who populated Andy Warhol's Factory in the downtown Manhattan of 1969.

And even while Brolin's K is embroiled in a high-tension climactic showdown with Boris -- at Cape Canaveral, on the day the Apollo 11 crew blasted off for the moon -- there's air and space enough in the movie to evoke the real awe of that day, that time. The film isn't afraid of emotional truth. Which is why, in the end, "Men in Black 3" would be nothing without the participation of the alien called Griffin.

Played with melting sweetness by the wonderful Michael Stuhlbarg, Griffin has the gift -- and curse -- of seeing the future, or, more specifically, seeing multiple, equally possible futures, some swell and some less so. Griffin's eyes are a misty blue, and he wears a little wool hat and a perpetual worried smile. He's gentle and patient and he wishes the best for humankind, but he can't guarantee it. Likewise, there was no guarantee that after so long an absence, there would be anything fresh to say about "Men in Black." Yet behold, it is good. A-

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