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Men in Black II
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USA, 2002. Rated PG-13. 88 minutes.
Cast:
Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rip Torn, Rosario Dawson,
Johnny Knoxville, Tony Shalhoub, Patrick Warburton, Tim Blaney (voice)
Writers: Robert Gordon (story & screenplay) and Barry Fanaro (screenplay),
based on the comic book by Lowell Cunningham
Music: Danny Elfman, Will Smith (song)
Cinematographer: Greg Gardiner
Producers: Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
LINKS
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espite
its tremendous popularity, the first Men in Black (my rating: C-)
was a short, slight film that relied on cutting-edge special effects, funny
one-liners, and a tight straight-man/clown routine by co-stars Tommy Lee Jones
and Will Smith to create its successful summer-movie blend. It should come as
no surprise, therefore, that Men in Black II is also a short, slight
film that relies on special effects, one-liners, and a straight-man/clown routine
by co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Except that the effects aren't cutting-edge
anymore, and the comedic elements aren't as funny. This is, after all, a sequel,
and like many sequels, it is an unsatisfying rehash of an old idea with nothing
original added to the mix.
The plot makes no sense, not that it matters. Basically, it involves an unpleasant
alien (Lara Flynn Boyle sprouting computer-generated tentacles when she's not
walking around in lingerie) coming to Earth to recover a lost artifact, wreaking
havoc in the process--same deal as the first movie. The story functions solely
as a device to pit nasty computer-generated aliens against Agents J (Smith)
and K (Jones). However, a problem: at the end of the original Men in Black,
Agent K had "neuralized" himself (i.e., erased his memories of the top-secret
Men in Black Agency, dedicated to policing the alien population on Earth) in
order to rejoin his true love and live a life uncomplicated by giant green goblins
from outer space, or the New York subway system. Meanwhile, Agent J's love interest,
played by Linda Fiorentino, had joined the agency to replace K. Obviously, Men
in Black II needs to get Agent K back in uniform. The conclusion to the
first film is quickly undone. Agent J's true love has left him, we are told,
giving him no reason to object to being a gun-toting, sunglasses-wearing, alien
booty kicker. 
As
for Fiorentino…either she passed on the script or the studio soured on her,
because she's not in the movie.
One wonders whether they need have bothered getting Agent K back. Jones seems
utterly uninterested and dispirited, leaving Smith to carry the film. It's thanks
to Smith that Men in Black II is not a total waste of time. Most of the
memorable comic moments are his. Perhaps the best one is when he indirectly
pokes fun at sequels, declaring emphatically to Agent K as he prepares to resume
his old job, "This is the last suit you'll ever wear!" and then adding awkwardly,
"…again." There is an undeniable sensation that Smith has become a far bigger
star than Jones, who after a great decade is falling off the A-list of actors.
Theirs is an unequal partnership, unbalancing the film. Rip Torn is also a welcome
presence, as always, as the Agency chief, doing the same kind of gregarious
yet acerbic comedy that he used to do on The Larry Sanders Show. Boyle
also gets a couple of choice moments, particularly when she gets to make fun
of the fact that some people attribute her notoriously skinny frame to an eating
disorder.
Less successful is Frank the talking dog/alien, whose every moment on screen
is one moment too many. He sings Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive"; he barks
to The Baja Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out"; he makes a general nuisance of himself.
The cameos by Tony Shalhoub (barely recognizable under face prothetics and bad
teeth) and Seinfeld's Patrick Warburton fall similarly (though less painfully)
flat. Rosario Dawson, as Agent J's new love interest, isn't given much to do
other than act frightened or like she's attracted to Agent J, depending on the
context. The over-saturation of special effects isn't a draw, either. Though
creatively envisioned, the computer-generated images look like they're made
with the same technology that was available to the makers of the original five
years ago. The monsters are cartoon-like and quite obviously fake.
A chilly, calculated enterprise, Men in Black II is not so much written
as it is diagrammed, designed merely to transport the audience from one high
point to the next. It's an 88-minute highlight reel that's 86 minutes too long.
The Men in Black II trailer delivers all the highlights just as well
and wastes far less of your time, so you can squeeze in a real movie afterward.
Review
© July 2002 by AboutFilm.Com and the author.
Images © 2002 Columbia Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
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