A major film review website is calling Kiwi comedian Jemaine Clement the star of the upcoming Men in Black III film but others are not so forthcoming.
Clement, who is a member of the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, plays the one-eyed hairy villain Boris the Animal in the third instalment of the science fiction comedy staring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin.
MTV Australia's review of the film is titled: "New Zealand's Jemaine Clement steals the movie" and goes on to the call his character the "scene stealing vicious villain".
The Hollywood Reporter says Clement goes "full-tilt ferocious" in the role.
However, Villagevoice.com says Clement is lumped with the "limpest villain catchphrase in recorded history: `let's agree to disagree'".
Cine-vue.com calls his character "fairly one dimensional" and lacking menace.
"But that's not particularly Clement's fault - the franchise has a history of weak bad guys, due to a combination of poor writing and (potentially) Smith's unwillingness to be upstaged," the website says.
Reviews of the film are mainly poor to average but most critics likened it to the successful 1997 original over the 2002 sequel.
Men in Black III opens in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday.
