Men In Black II

[Faramir]

What did you think? I saw it and thought it was O.K., but there've been better movies this summer.

[azalea]

I liked it, but I would have preferred to spend my 7.50 to see Minority Report; however, the people I was with wanted to see MIB II. Oh, well. But I did enjoy seeing TTT trailer again! BTW, I didn't see Liv at Helm's Deep, or dead. (Excuse the mixing of subjects).

[IronParrot]

Me, I'd rather have spent my money seeing Minority Report a third time or Attack of the Clones a seventh. MIB2 was entertaining... not a waste of time, say... but whether it's worth the full ticket price is highly questionable, considering it's a rehash of the original, without the inherent humour in the novelty that came with the first one.

It's obviously, too obviously, a sequel designed to bleed the franchise and make money (mostly from an opening weekend haul). In the long run, it will be as forgotten as Ghostbusters II.

I wouldn't call it a "disappointment", though, because frankly, I don't expect much.

I'm going to write up a full review eventually, but I have about ten other films to catch up on first, and my review website is down anyway.

[Darth Tater]

It was ok, funnier then the original, but made a lot less sense. Neither was a great movie, just popcorn fun. The animated short at the beginning rocked! Sure, it was no Pixar, but it was hilarious!

[IronParrot]

Here's my review:

SUMMARY

An alien disguised as a Victoria's Secret model (Lara Flynn Boyle) comes to Earth looking for an artifact, the Light of Zaartha. Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) try to stop said alien, find said object, and save the Earth. Yes, again.

RECOMMENDED FOR:

Those who immensely enjoyed the second half of the original Men In Black and want to see more of the same.

REVIEW

At only 88 minutes in length, it's hard to call Men In Black II a waste of time, however tempting it may be. It is never so much "bad" as it is simply mediocre and completely forgettable.

The problem with Men In Black II is that it suffers pretty much every affliction associated with the cinematic genre known as the mediocre, forgettable sequel. It is a complete retread of the original that does not cover any new ground; in fact, it covers less ground, as a good chunk of the film takes place within MIB Headquarters. There is no expansion upon the characters at all; in the case of Agent K, the movie actually reverts him to the role he had in the beginning of the last film, which nullifies the first film's ending as well as the portrayal of his character as someone on one last mission. Speaking of nullifying the ending, the absence of J's new partner at the end of the original, the Linda Fiorentino character, is explained away in a sentence like a tacked-on afterthought.

It seems that what director Barry Sonnenfeld and his writing staff are explicitly trying to achieve is everything that worked with the first film. The formulaic nature of Men In Black II is a clear testament to that. However, they ignore the fact that what worked best about the first film was that it had never been done before. The satiric take on the whole idea of the government concealing aliens on Earth made Men In Black original, and thus entertaining. The first half was a great exposé of the system, seen through J's eyes as he is trained and inducted. The weaker second half was an episodic mission, a portrayal of the MIB in action. In that sense, Men In Black is not unlike that other recent gargantuan comic book adaptation with that spider guy, where the strengths of the film lie in an effective "origin story". Men In Black II, lacking the novelty of the original's first half, decides to capitalize on the second. As a result, it is little more than a day in the life of the Men In Black, as they go on yet another episodic mission to save the world - again.

With practically nothing new to offer, it's a wonder that Men In Black II remains watchable for the duration of its running time. But for some reason, it is. One of the factors that contributes to this is the dynamic between J and K, which is just as effective as it was in the first Men In Black. Will Smith performs his character with just the right combination of buffoonery and earnest professionalism, and is convincing as someone who is an MIB veteran, but an immature one. The dynamic between J and love interest Rita (Rosario Dawson) is believably executed. The various creature effects are put to good use, and while they are consistently too comical to be considered realistic, that fits into the tone of the film quite well. Some of the returning supporting characters are appreciable appearances, such as Frank the Pug, the Worm Guys, and Jeebs, the Tony Shalhoub character with the regenerating head. There are some great visual gags, mostly involving scale, as in one brief sequence when K sticks his finger into a mysterious liquid ball and wreaks more havoc than he knows, and a scene with a civilization of furry aliens living in a locker that hearkens back to the three-eyed rubber guys in Toy Story. The final shot of the film is, like the final shot of the first Men In Black, an enjoyable tag that once again reinforces humankind's place in the universe.

It's a pity that none of these successes are significant or lasting enough to make Men In Black II work as a whole. By the end of the film, we are thrown a twisty little explanation of the whole Light of Zaartha business that would be interesting, if anyone still cares about the so-called plot by that point. The film's greatest problem is that it presents absolutely nothing worth remembering or discussing, and thus, there is very little about it to recommend. Me, I left the theatre feeling like I was just given a shot with the MIB's trademark neuralizer.

[azalea]

Excellent! That summed up my view of the film perfectly! Please let me know when your site is working again; I'd love to see some of your other reviews.

[BeardofPants]

It was okay - better than the first. Some of the jokes were a tad predictable, okay, most of them were predictable. And dammit, I was late for the movie AGAIN, so I missed all the trailiers! Anyway, it's a pretty good "vege, I don't want to think" movie.

But it was a bit disjointed, and very short. It kinda ended suddenly, and the ending was a bit unsatisfactory... I mean, they just shoot the alien thing!? Why didn't they do that earlier??

[HOBBIT]

they couldnt do it earlier...


and i forget, why wasnt J's last partner in this? He nueralized her?

[IronParrot]

Yeah, supposedly he had a long string of partners that just didn't work out...

[Erawyn]

Only went so i could see a trail of TTT which they didn't even show (horribly disapointing) I wasn't disapointed since i expected crap and thats what i got *sigh* and i'm going to have to see it again on saturday

[Rei]

Originally posted by HOBBIT
and i forget, why wasnt J's last partner in this? He nueralized her?

It said that she wanted to go back to the morgue.

But I though the movie was okay, but I'm glad that I get into the theaters for free because I wouldn't have liked to pay for it. It was way to predictable. I liked that little oug dog in the first movie but I wanted to thrown him of a twenty story building in this one.

Like I said, it was okay, but definatlely not worth the 8.75 it costs to get into the theatres.

[Rána Eressëa]

I liked it as well, but I don't think it topped the original. Frank the Pug was the best humorous character, and that's probably the most honorable thing I can say for it.

[Jadera]

I thouroughly enjoyed it.

But as I've said before, I'm easily amused.
I basically went because I loved the first one, and I love anything with Tommy Lee Jones in it. (Long live The Fugitive.)
It wasn't all that bad. Some of it was predictable, but that was okay. It was a fun movie and hey, I only paid 3.50 for my ticket.
I loved the quote, "It rains because your sad, baby."
*melts in gushyness*
Fun movie. Buy on DVD movie so I can annoy my mother, who doesn't like any sci-fi stuff.

[BeardofPants]

Your mother doesn't like scifi?! Sacriledge!

[Jadera]

I know!
I must get it from my father and my brother...
Introducing me to Stargate when I was like seven.

[Rána Eressëa]

Ehh . . . I like fantasy way better than sci-fi.

[Starr Polish]

Me too, RE.

What, they were supposed to show the TTT trailer? I demand my father's money back...grr.

I haven't seen ANY TTT trailers...

[Rána Eressëa]

I haven't either. But I wasn't aware that they were "supposed" to for Men in Black II.

[eowyn144]

well they showed the trailer when i saw it! wow! but thats a little off topic....


as for the film, it was ok, as everyone said, funny but nothing compared to the original. it only really started happening when K came back.
i think the main problem was the time. only 88 minutes! why? it was soo rushed towards the end with a major plot revalation being explained in a couple of lines.

what does everyone think the funniest part was?
i think it was when he only had 10 seconds or so left to save that girl...errr...whatshername....and he landed on that pile of tubing and was trying to get off. that had me and the rest of the audience in stitches!

[Khamûl]

I haven't seen MIB II, even though I loved the first one. I think I'll just wait until it comes out on video.

By the way, there's a TTT preview with Signs too.