With tongue planted so firmly in cheek as to be in danger of serious injury, Barry Sonnenfeld set out to surpass his own 5 year old triumph with Men in Black II. He didn't quite clear the mark set by MiB, but he came much closer than I ever thought he could.
Clearly, the goal of the MiB2 cast and crew was to expand the best elements of the first movie and lose those bits which didn't work so well. They had a great idea and implemented it well, but I think that they may have gone just a tad too far in paring the story and script down. MiB2 is a great ride, from the first frame to the last, and rarely have I seen 90 minutes go by so quickly. A little too quickly, as it turned out.
This flick is even more densely packed with one-liners, droll humor, visual puns and delightfully cynical satire than the first. It opens with a segment from a no-budget TV series on strange and unexplained phenomena (hosted by Peter Graves, of course) describing how the Earth narrowly escaped destruction in 1978 when we were caught between Serleena, a powerful and evil alien, and the object of her desire, a mysterious force known as the Light of Zartha. At that critical juncture 25 years ago, a super-secret government agency (which licenses and polices alien activity on Earth) kept us out of the line of fire by refusing the Zarthans' request to hide the Light on Earth.
Cut to the present day and Serleena's back. Naturally. She's still looking for the Light of Zartha and she's severely POed that she hasn't found it yet. Arriving on Earth undetected, her first problem is the same faced by the galactic cockroach in MiB: find a disguise that will pass among the primitve humans. As a shape shifting nest of snake-like apendages, though, she had an easier time of it than the 20 foot Bug.Read more ›

The inevitable sequel to the immensely popular MEN IN BLACK is on DVD, and while the film isn't as good as the original, the DVD extras are impressive. Like most Hollywood sequels, the tired "Bigger is Better" rule applies here (Somebody has to throw that old Hollywood "How-To" book in the bin). However there is much fun to be had throughout the somewhat un-original plot. Will Smith, returning to the comedy side of things after Michael Mann's ALI, gives another "I ain't touchin' that thing!" performance. And Tommy Lee Jones returns as straight-faced Agent K after getting his memory re-inserted to save manikind from the threat of alien invasion. It's fun, yes, but not as good as it could have been. At least it's better than WILD WILD WEST.
The DVD extras make up for it though, with a substantial amount of extras on the second dic of the 2 Disc set. Starting off with a Director Commentary, 14 (!) Production Featurettes, Alternate Ending, the predictable Will Smith music video, Multi-Angle Deconstructions, Blooper Reel, DVD-rom content, Marketing Campaigns and trailers.

I really enjoyed Men in Black. I thought the relationship between J & K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) was wonderful. Tommy plays a wonderful straight man to Smith's zaniness.
I went to see Men in Black II last week, and I found that it fit like a thoroughly used, but still kind of comfortable glove. It's nowhere near as good as the first one, and it suffers from recycling too many of the jokes as well. The talking dog returns in a much more prominent role, the worms are back as well and have more to do. While funny (listening to the dog sing Gloria Gaynor is hilarious), ultimately they don't work as well in expanded roles. It feels almost like running the joke into the ground. A much more successful return is the ever-wonderful Tony Shalhoub as Jeebs. He's in for one scene, but he's still great.
Lara Flynn Boyle completely fails, in my opinion, as Serleena. First, she doesn't play menacing very well. Secondly, she doesn't seem to handle the wry humour and the quips that a villain in a picture like this requires. She comes across as very flat. Thankfully, Rip Torn is wonderful, and Jones and Smith slip into their comfortable roles very easily. They really make the movie.
The film is very short (88 minutes), which also tends to make it seem rushed. The characters jump from place to place without much reason. When reason is given, it's usually very quickly so as to move the plot along to the next set piece.
It was a funny film. No doubt about that. It was worth the [money] that I paid for it. Just don't go in expecting something as good as the first one.

I know a lot of people don't agree with me, but I rank MIB II among the very few sequels that do just as well as the originals. MIB is one of my favorite movies of all time, and MIB II is just as good.

MEN IN BLACK II is not nearly as good as the original, but after seen all the horrible reviews, I was expecting to really dislike it. Fortunately, it wasn't bad at all. Great? No. Horrible? No.
The only way that MEN IN BLACK II can be considered a bad movie is in direct comparison with the original. If one were to see this one, never having seen the first, I think the experience would be a very pleasurable one. Will Smith is as likable in this one as in the first, and I enjoyed a lot of the accoutrements from the original are back. Tony Shaloub, one of my favorite character actors, reprises his role as Jack Jeebs, and provides some funny moments. Rosario Dawson was fine in her role, though it could have been a expanded with ease. And Lara Flynn Boyle made a believable and successful villainous. My one disappointment was with Tommy Lee Jones, who I almost always love. His performance was fine, but the script doesn't do nearly as much with his memory loss as they might have, and the completely sudden way he gets his memory back makes for a rough transition. I felt Frank the Pug and the worm guys could have had slightly (or even much) smaller roles.
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the original, as long as they realize that it isn't as good as the first one.