Review

Review Date: 4-July-02
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Men in Black II (2002)

It's the Fourth of July. A day off from work, a day for barbecuing and drinking beer and getting inexplicably excited by really loud noises. Even for the truly patriotic, it's a day for joyous celebration, not somber reflection like Memorial Day or Veterans Day. I understand this, and I understand that a July 4th movie should be light and fun and great for the whole family. And I bet most people will think "Men in Black II" is just the ticket. But what do I think? I think it's a flaccid imitation of the original.

Granted, returning director Barry Sonnenfeld and new screenwriters Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro had more than the ordinary challenge in coming up with a picture that could rival the original 1997 hit. A good part of that film's charm resided in the novel and amusing notion that there are thousands of aliens living amongst us, and that the Men in Black, a secret group of federal agents, keep humankind in ignorance of this fact to prevent widespread panic and large-scale psychological breakdown. This time around, however, the secret is out, so there needs to be something new to generate interest and humor. But, alas, there's nothing fresh here.

The plot doesn't stray far from the original. After an initial sequence showing the lonely but dedicated life of Agent Jay (Will Smith), he is sent to retrieve his old partner Kay (Tommy Lee Jones), who alone knows the secret whereabouts of a precious item hidden on Earth and sought by the murderous alien Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle). Jay must reacclimate Kay to the strange world known only to the Men in Black, and then, when their headquarters is overtaken by the enemy, Jay and Kay are left on their own to save the planet, reforge their bond with witty banter, and trade sappy sentiments about how they must give up the things they love for the life that is their destiny.

The aliens, who get far too much screen time, are mostly carryovers from the first film and are supposed to be amusing simply because they have names like Frank or Jeff and act like (obnoxious) humans. While it was a funny surprise in the original to discover that the cute little pug, and not his cadaverous-looking owner, was the extraterrestrial, here we are expected to be amused for about 15 whole minutes by the fact that the dog can talk and sing and be randy. (If you think it's disturbing to see a dog talking about his lusts, wait until you see a bunch of horny worms trying to cop a feel from a human woman while playing "Twister.") The humans don't fare much better. While the budding friendship and sexual tension between Will Smith and Linda Fiorentino was exciting in the original, here we are treated to a ludicrous, completely undeveloped "romance" between Smith and poor Rosario Dawson, a virtual non-character. Smith and Jones work nicely together, but seem to be largely going through the motions; this must have been one of the easiest ways to earn $40 million (one estimate of Smith's haul for the film) in history.

All of which isn't to say that "Men in Black II" is a bad movie. There are a couple of good laughs (particularly a very apt but strange cameo by Michael Jackson), and I liked the funny little twist at the end. Still, as with so many sequels to big summer hits, I was disappointed that the creative team did only as much as they needed to do to keep the franchise going, without expanding the story or their minds.

Copyright © 2002 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.