Hello everyone, and welcome back to my series of Men In Black reviews leading up to the release of MIB International. If you haven’t yet please do check out my review of the first one, which is up on the blog right now, and then come back to look at my review of this sequel. But if you have already read that review then you know that I absolutely love that film, and how I love the world, and think it is ripe for more exploration. Unfortunately, this follow up ain’t what you would call the right way to do that exploring.
Taking place 5 years after the end of the first film, where K’s memory was wiped of his time at MIB, Agent J is struggling to find a new suitable partner for him. Not only that but he is also starting to feel like he is not appreciated for the work he is doing at MIB, and realizes just how lonely this job can be. But, when an alien is killed in a pizzeria he goes to investigate, and forms a connection with the witness, Laura, and becomes so attached he does not nueralyze her like is supposed to. She tells him that her boss was killed by Serleena, a shape shifting plant like Klythoian, and her two headed, who is looking for something called the Light of Zartha. Little is known about this device other than it is very powerful, and J finds that the only person who might know anything about it is his former mentor, K who remembers nothing of his MIB service. So J goes to Truro, Massachusetts, where K is working as the town’s postmaster, and convinces him to come back to MIB headquarter for deneurlization. Just before they can go through with the process, however, Serleena attacks HQ, putting MIB on lockdown, and trapping all MIB agents. Luckily J, and K are able to escape, and now must find another way to bring K’s memories back while also fending off the prisoners of MIB released by Serleena. Can they be able to solve the mystery of the light of Zartha in time, and stop Serleena’s plan?
If that plot sounds a bit familiar to the last film, that’s because it kind of is. Once again there’s an evil threat looking for a powerful object that can bring chaos to the universe, and its up to Agents J, and K to stop it along with a strong female character, with a couple of changes this time around because J is the one who wipes his old partners memory, and brings in K, and there is more than one bad guy this time around. The biggest problem with the film is that it doesn’t really bother to change things up, and expand the universe in any meaningful way, and it just sort of play things safe, and inferior to the first film. In fact the film is full of many missed opportunities, like I hated how they just wrote of Dr. Laurel from the last film, as at the end of the first she ends up as J’s new partner, and I would have loved to have seen more of that but, we just end up back with the same old J, and K dynamic, which is kind of a let down since the first one teased something that could’ve been really fun to watch. To be fair though, the two agents’s dynamic is still fun to watch here just like the first, and does lead to some very funny scenes. Speaking of which the comedy overall is fine, sure there is nothing as funny, or clever as the first film but there are a couple of scenes the stand out (In particular, the scene in the mail room when J, shows K some aliens, and when they go to K’s locker in Grand Central Station to find an entire civilization living there). The scale is once again small like the first one which is nice. I also like some of the ideas the film brings up like Agent J’s learning how lonely this job can be since nobody knows him, and how K is more comfortable in the MIB environment than in his normal life. These are all really interesting ideas that could have developed the characters even more, the only problem is that the film chickens out of digging too deep into them and only scratches the surface, which is a real shame.
Barry Sonnenfeld directs again, and its made about as well as the first one, although there is a bit more action here. That action is fine for the most part, and is pretty enjoyable, and where some of the funnier parts are (that final chase scene in particular). Once again I do love the designs of the many different types of aliens that are presented, as many of them are brought to life with practical effects, and the production value is still good as there are some well made sets, and cool gadgets here. There is some clever world-building here, though again nothing as fresh the first one, and it is paced nicely so it doesn’t drag too much. Another thing to note is that there is a lot more CGI used in this movie than there was in the first, and it is over used a little. Many of the giant creatures, look Okay even if they haven’t really aged well, but there were times when the green screen was very noticeable, especially the subway chase with Jeffery the giant worm at the beginning. Once again Danny Elfman’s score is a highlight, which is very intense, mysterious, and sets the mood of the film up very well. I will also say that there are a couple of visually pleasing shots, in particular the light show at the very end.
Of course, Will Smith, and Tommy Lee Jones are fantastic in the lead roles roles, and have excellent chemistry, even if their relationship doesn’t develop that much. While we get some hints at K’s past in one scene, and how he know about the Light of Zartha, again it is not really looked into much beyond that one scene. Rosario Dawson’s Laura is a new love interest for J, and while she is fine in the role, that relationship feels underdeveloped and we really only get one, or two scene with them connecting with one another. Although there is a surprising twist about her character, which I would have cared about more, if the film actually bothered to giver her more screen time. Returning player like Rip Torn as Zed, and Tony Shalhoub as Jack Jeebs, get some funny lines, while characters who were just one off jokes in the last film get more to do like Tim Blaney’s Frank the Pug who is J’s new partner, and the Worms who help out in the climax. This is a bit of a double edged sword, because on the one hand they are funny at times, but on the other they work better as one off jokes because they do over stay their welcome a little bit here. As for the villains, this is another area where the film was downgraded as Serleena is such a generic, and boring world ending villain, I wasn’t a huge fan of Lara Flynn Boyle’s performance as she just lacks the over the top energy of Edgar from the previous movie. It also doesn’t help that I found her two headed servant, Scrad, and Charlie played by Johnny Knoxville to be more annoying than amusing. But I did get some enjoyment out of some of the smaller roles like Patrick Warburton as J’s partner in the beginning of the film Agent T, David Cross as Video store owner, Newton, and even celebrities Michael Jackson, and Martha Stewart make tiny cameos here.
Sadly Men In Black II is a disappointing follow up to a fantastic original. While not a terrible film, and even pretty enjoyable at times, it fails to continue the story in a meaningful way, with it only scratching the surface of some promising ideas. A sequel to Men In Black should have been much better than this, as this one just felt like a downgraded version of the first movie. Luckily the next installment, MIB 3 turned out to be much needed improvement, and we will be taking a look at that one very soon.
Rating: C
Leave your thoughts down below in the comments, and see you guy later!
Review Time 