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Men in Black II (Full Screen Special Edition)

Men in Black II (Full Screen Special Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Back in black
Review: Five years ago, planet Earth was highly entertained by a relentlessly funny movie called "Men in Black" or simply "MIB." At first glance, it would seem like the kind of movie that could be ruined by a sequel; however, this sequel lives up to almost every shred of the promise of the first.

Agent Jay (Will Smith) saves a subway car full of people from a giant alien worm known as Jeff, and then neuralyzes his latest partner (Patrick Warburton), who caused the worm to go berserk in the first place. Evidently Jay has done this many times since Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) was neuralyzed and left the Men in Black. He's dissatisfied with his new partners, not least among them the latest, Frank the Pug.

Frank and Jay end up investigating the mysterious landing of a teeny weeny spacecraft, that belongs to the alien mass of green tentacles disguised as a lingerie model, Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle). Serleena is after the "Light of Zartha," a mysterious object supposedly sent AWAY from Earth twenty-five years ago -- and she doesn't intend to let anyone stand in her way if it is on Earth. The problem is, the only person who knew where the Light is... was Kay. Jay and the reneuralyzed Kay must locate the light and figure out how to defeat the seeming undefeatable Serleena.

There are a lot of repeated jokes in this movie, but a great number of new ones as well. Michael Jackson's cameo was surprisingly funny; Worm Guy Twister; the cheesy 1960s Star Trek-style video clip of the Zarthons and Serleena; Serleena eating her attacker, then spitting him up when she sees the bulge on her modelesque body; the locker civilization that enthusiastically worships Kay; the jewelry plot element, which turns out to be a clever twist on what the viewers are expecting; the Worm Guys in their little bachelor pad, complete with bar and hot tub; the racial-profiling joke; Zed's turn as a Jackie-Chan-wannabe; and of course Frank the Pug.

Will Smith is at his John-Cleesian best, yelling and jibbering and flip-flopping in a giant pile of plastic tubing and biting giant green tentacles. But there is a slightly more adult edge to Jay in this movie; he doesn't yell or jibber or flop as much. Kay is Kay, even when he cannot remember who he is; he's still the hard-nosed alien-kicking cop who finds Jay very annoying but essential. Serleena surpasses the "bug" of the past movie, simply because she is far more subtle while being every bit as nasty and omnivorous. Rosario Dawson fills in for the love interest, but she is funny and smart in her own way rather than being a generic girlfriend; Dawson can be expected to go far. Frank really steals the show, however: the talking alien-dog sings, barks, smokes cigars, zips his little pug lips, and wears a tiny little suit.

The special effects are slightly more sophisticated than they were in the prior movie; the Worm Guys, for example, do some gymnastics. The finale has some brief but dazzling effects. But MIIB never loses its touch with the slightly gross or the cheesy; Jeff the giant worm, for example, is quite cheesy, and the death of the Zarthon is more than a little disgusting, in the sort of unreal way that the morgue scene in MIB was. The scripting is slightly different; while it has the same sort of silly humor and pitfalls, there is a little more emphasis on love and how the MIB can't form long-term emotional attachments. There are some very poignant moments, both in the present and in flashback form.

Be sure to listen to Will Smith's very catchy "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)" during the closing credits. And once the movie has been watched, the viewer will be left with deep emotional and philosophical questions, like: Wouldn't "Frank and the Worm Guys" be a great name for a band?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: that rare event-- a sequel as good as the original
Review: MIB2 is that rare movie indeed-- a sequel as good as the original.

As MIB opens, Will Smith's character unearths yet another major alien threat-- one that endangers the entire planet, but he can't seem to get an adequate partner to help him neutralize the threat. He then gets Tommy Lee Jones' character out of retirement, and they team up to fight the aliens just like in MIB.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld also directed MIB... the formula wasn't changed much for MIB2, either. The team must have realized that the less they change, the better. It's an action/sci-fi/comedy extravaganza that promises a lot, and if you've seen the trailers, you know what I mean. Well, MIB2 lives up to that promise.

Are there any differences between MIB2 and the original? Sure. Lara Flynn Boyle plays a mean villain. She's gorgeous, but she pulls the part off well. Her beautiful exterior is a cunning cover for a grotesque alien character, which outdoes the villains in MIB, the original. Also this film is more cutesy; it's a movie which advertises itself as a movie end to end, and you never quite forget you're watching a movie-- it's self-referential to the point of self-parody, at times. You'll laugh along with it, even though it doesn't really envelop you in the movie experience. Smith, Jones, and Sonnenfeld clearly had a lot of fun making MIB2-- but not as much fun as the audience has.

I think MIB2 apparently tries to be funnier than the original, if that makes any sense. And it succeeds. And it has villains which are more bizarre, bigger weapons, and more action.

MIB2 is everything its audience wants it to be-- the sci-fi/action/comedy blockbuster of the summer.

ken32

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It wouldn't be summer without a Will Smith blockbuster!
Review: This is a very fun plot, two men from an agency of the government who are assigned to "cover up" evidence of the existence of aliens, and who battle those troublesome aliens who harbor ill will for us "inferior" humans ("Human thought is so primitive that on some planets it is considered an infectious disease," says Tommy Lee Jones in the original MEN IN BLACK).

This movie promises many fun things, like an appearance by MTV's Johnny Knoxville, and the ever popular "worm guys." And, in this sequal, Tommy Lee Jones's character, "Agent K," who is now a postal worker in Massachusetts, is brought back to the "Men In Black" team (recall, he had returned to his wife and a normal life in the original Men In Black), because his expertise is needed to save the planet.

To be released July 2: "MIB2 - Men in Black II: Music form the Motion Picture." Most of the soundtrack is by noted film score producer Danny Elfman, but track 20 is "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)" by Will Smith. Watch it top the charts this summer.

Already available: MEN IN BLACK II, the novelization of this movie by Robert Gordon, Esther M. Friesner. If you want insight into the story line before you see the movie, this is the place to turn.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I think its better than the first!
Review: Even though the movie has not been released as of the day I type this review, I have read the book to it and in my opinion its better than the original.

An alien comes to Earth looking for the "Light of Zartha". She disguises herself as a supermodel and takes over MiB Headquarters. Once again, Agent J and K (who at the time did not have his MiB memory back) are together and must save MiB Headquarters (with the help of the hilarious worm guys).

People say sequels are not as good as the original, but I think this is an exception. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return as Agents K and J, along with Zed (Rip Torn), Jack Jeebs (Tony Shalhoub), along with new cast members Johnny Knoxville as Scrad/Charlie, and supermodel Lara Flynn Boyle as Serleena. Once again, Frank the Pug and the worm guys are back.

If you liked the first movie, you'll love the second.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The invetible sequel!
Review: Men in Black 2 gives what you expect. Comedy, action, and big, bug explosives! Kay has been neutrailized in the first movie so Jay has to refresh Kay's memory and get ready for a new scum of the universe out to destory our little planet! Johnny Knoxville from MTV'S Jackass will be starring as the two-headed alien. Men in Black 2 will hopefully live up to the first movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I'm upset
Review: Somebody said that second parts weren't good as the first one. I think that0s true because this one it's bad, it's not as good as the first one, the situations here are boring, they aren't funny. The rythm goes up and down all the movie and plenty of CGI. Not to mention the bad performance of Lara Flynn Boyle and Jonny Knoxville. I had stop watching the movie because I was very bored.

One word: abominable

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pales in comparision to the original
Review: It's a shame really. The promise of what MIB2 could be was so strong, especially after seeing the promos where Agent J (Will Smith) rescues his old partner, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) from a remote post office. Sad to say, the promos are better than the movie.

The Earth is in jeopardy again, and once again it's up to MIB to save it. The bad guy, this time Laura Flynn Boyle as a multitentacled creature (imagine Medusa, but where she's all snakes, not just the hair) looking for a powerful weapon. Everyone thinks it was dispatched from Earth 25 years earlier, but it seems the only person who knows it's true whereabouts has been neutralized of his memories and thinks he's a postmaster who was in a coma for next to forever -- former MIB Agent K. And so Zed sends J to retrieve K, the alien takes over MIB headquarters, and it's up to J and K to save the day.

Really, there's not much more to the story than this. This is a noticeably shorter film than the original, which makes for a very rushed feeling throughout. Add to that, the roles of Frank the Pug and the worm guys have been noticeably expanded; their bigger roles bring nothing extra to the film, and chew up already limited screen time for Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, who's chemistry in the first film made the movie what it was.

Simply put, Laura Flynn Boyle wasn't nearly as interesting of a bad guy as Vincent D'Onofrio did in the first film (although she was better to look at), and Johnny Knoxville added nothing bad a bad special effect as her sidekick. As much fun as Frank and the Worm Guys were in the first movie, part of what made them fun was their limited time onscreen -- they actually are less fun because we see more of them in this movie. And there just wasn't enough of the bickering between J and K. It might have even been more fun if K had gotten his memories back slowly, so his distrust of everything going on could have given more excuse for him to not trust J, and therefore them to be more at odds the way they were in the first movie -- but then it was because J hadn't a clue what was happening, being the new guy.

One thing that was also dissapointing for me personally was the absence of Agent L (Linda Fiorentino), who became J's partner at the end of the first movie. It is briefly explained why she's not around, which I appreciated because too often sequels completely ignore characters that seemed important and potentially long-standing in the previous movies (such as the lack of mention of Felicity Shagwell in Austin Powers: Goldmember). But I really liked Agent L and thought she would have brought a lot to this movie, had J, K, and L been a trio.

There are a lot of additional items, being that this is a two-disc special edition package, but lets be realistic -- it was a weak movie, so do you really want to see how a weak movie was made? Even the blooper reel just isn't all that funny. And the special effects that went into making the video "Black Suits Comin" were more impressive than most of what's in the movie.

Rent it. Even wait for it to show up on basic cable. But don't spend real money on this film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A really good sequel marred by significant problems.
Review: Unlike many who have virtually thrown cocktails at this sequel to the 1997 original, I still really enjoy this movie alot even though it certainly has it's share of problems.

Agent J (Will Smith) has been a bitter and unpleasant agent at the men in black business since his sidekick from the first MIB movie retired from the force but a new alien enemy has come forth to threaten Earth's future. The alien is named Serleena and is after an ancient artifact named The Light of Zartha and threatens to destroy the Earth and blow it into space dust if it isn't found. Now Agent J must try to get his former comrade out of retirement and back onto the MIB business to once again protect the Earth from the scum of the Universe and the new scum is Serleena.

The acting is once again fantastic by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones but the acting by Lara Flynn Boyle is a bit forced and somewhat tired. The biggest flaw with this movie is that it's so incredibly short being only a measly 88 minutes long. It just feels rushed with it's short running length. It just feels so brief at it. Another but much more minor weakness is that it feels a bit like a rehash of the first one with similar jokes and such but overall though, "Men in Black II" is nonetheless a worthy sequel that is very good.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Give this one a pass
Review: A film by Barry Sonnenfeld

After 1997's wildly successful "Men in Black" film, someone apparently decided that it would be a good idea to make a sequel. After all, the director and the two stars are returning, what could possibly go wrong? A great deal, as it turns out. The first film covered a good deal of ground and a good deal of story points. The second film had the opportunity to really build on that as well as becoming a movie that is just as entertaining as the first. "Men in Black II" fails to measure up to the first film. What felt fresh in the first movie feels tired and just recycled in the sequel. There are some good moments, but if you've seen the trailer, you have seen most of the good moments.

The basic plot is that there is an alien named Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) who is searching for something called the Light of Zartha. It would be very dangerous for the Earth, as well as several other planets if Serleena is able to acquire the Light, whatever it may be. When Serleena holds up a pizza place and leaves a witness, one of the Men in Black is called in to investigate. Agent J (Will Smith) meets the witness, an attractive young woman, and finds out what went down. But Agent J can't solve this case on his own, he needs Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones). Viewers of the first movie will remember that K retired, had his memory wiped and is now working at a post office in some small town. Of course there is a way to reverse this and the partners are reunited and are fighting the evil aliens of the universe.

There are some funny parts to this movie. I loved the talking/singing dog/alien/agent. There were several funny gags and funny lines, but taken as a whole I didn't care for the movie all that much. It passed the time. I know this is not the type of movie that one is supposed to take too seriously, but even on that basis, it's still not that good. "Men in Black II" is not horrible, but everyone involved has done better work.

-Joe Sherry

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Mild Disappointment
Review: "Men in Black II" is by no means a bad movie. There are plenty of amusing moments in the film, and some creative ideas (such as the entire society living in a bus terminal locker). Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are two of the most watchable actors performing today - they both have versatility, and make their craft look almost effortless. The main problem with the film is that much of it seems to consist of rejected ideas from the first film - again, some funny ideas, but ones that didn't quite make the original cut. The cast seems to be just "going through the motions" for much of the film, and that lack of inspiration seems to extend to the writing, and even some of the "creature creation" that was done so well in the original film. "Men in Black II" is amusing at times, but falls well short of the original.


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