Review: Men In Black II

The first Men In Black came out of nowhere five years ago. Barry Sonnenfeld stole the box office that summer with the original, strange, hilarious, spoofy sci-fi comedy. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were the perfect pair for this inventive "who-are-the-aliens-in-our-midst" romp, playing secret agents working for a super-secret government agency keeping an eye on beings from outer space. It was perfect for the era of the still-vibrant X-Files. The sequel, inevitably, has lost some of the surprise. But it's still plenty of fun. Spoilage warning: plot discussed, not ending, not that it matters here.

The story line is almost irrelevant. Will Smith (Agent Jay) has to neuralize one dumb partner after another, and ends up with a smart-mouthed, sometimes hilarious pug for a partner. He pines for his former sidekick Tommy Lee Jones (Agent Kay), now neuralized and working for the institution with the greatest number of aliens, the U.S. Post Office. (The movie, like the first, gets off some great double entendres and inside jokes).

The movie opens with a campy Peter Graves spoof on the Ed Woods' style sci-fi movies of the 50's and 60's. Simply, Lara Flynn Boyle plays Serleena, the powerful alien queen ravaging earth to get her hands on a distant planet's light source. If she isn't stopped, the world will be destroyed, of course. Her prescence forces the MIB agency (headed by Sid, played by Rip Torn) to go and de-neuralize Kay, who comes back to re-join his buddy and save the world.

This is all beside the point, of course. The whole film is a device for Sonnenfeld's loopy rags on Martha Stewart (not perhaps as funny as it would have been a month ago) and Michael Jackson. There are hilarious locker room and worm aliens, and blessedly, the movie never takes itself seriously for a single second. Like the better parts of the Scream series, the movie ends up spoofing itself and the people who loved it.

If you go see it, all you need to know is that the surprise originality of the first is missing, mostly because we know what to expect, but the loopy and inventive spirit of MIB is very much alive.

CmdrTaco my 2 bits is that this movie was bland. It probably is my least favorite of the last half dozen movies I've seen. I loved the original, but this just doesn't have the punch of the first. Its got its moments, but the whole ride is weak. Watch Lilo & Stich instead ;)

Comments

Lilo and Stitch all the way!

[JoshWurzel]

Saw Lilo and Stitch opening weekend. Like attendence at Powerpuff Girls, we were the only ones in our demographic in the theater. We also laughed harder and louder than anyone else. People probably thought we were stoned.

Speaking of which...why hasn't there been a slashdot review of Lilo and Stitch?

Missing the point of MIB

[rufusdufus]

The reviewer should pay a little more attention when he decides to write a review. The fact that he missed the part about the leader being Zed, not "Sid" is a big indicator of how much he missed.

MIB movies are not really about the plot. They are about mind expansion. About reading between the lines. And about perspective. That our perception is marred by the flaws of our memory, and our wishful thinking, and our emotional pain.
That your world view is just one of many, and pointedly, that thats OK.

Re:Sequels S***

[SquadBoy]

Wrath of Kahn. Toy Story 2. Empire which was better than SW:ANH. I liked Aliens better than Alien but that one is not as widely accepted. Also many of the Star Trek movies are better than the first one.