Men In Black II


Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rip Torn, Rosario Dawson, Tony Shaloub, Johnny Knoxville, Patrick Warburton, Tim Blaney. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.

Agent Jay (Smith) is working cases, saving the planet, and going through partners like Austin Powers goes through leading ladies. His current one is Agent Tee (Warburton), who can't follow procedure and cries for the lonely life he leads. Kay (Jones) is no longer an agent, working for the U.S. Postal Service. Zed (Torn) is still the boss, running the Men In Black unit. Jay's gets a new partner, Frank the Pug (Blaney), a mutt sick of working the mailroom and itching to join the agents in fighting the scum of the universe. On an assignment, the agents meet a beautiful pizza parlour cook (Dawson) who witnessed her boss being split in two by beautiful, lingerie-clad serpentine Serleena (Boyle) who kills using a huge number of slithering tentacles. Serleena has returned to Earth looking for a magical jewel of light, and she will stop at nothing to get it.

Unfortunately, Kay was supposed to have sent the jewel of light away some 25 years before, but never did for personal reasons. Serleena is looking for Kay to unlock his memory and discover where the jewel of light is hidden. Jay goes to the the Truro, Mass. post office to get Kay, deneuralize him so he can remember the past, and work to stop Serleena. Unfortunately, Kay can't remember all of the past, and the agents must work against the clock to safely remove the jewel of light from Earth before Serleena gets her slimy tentacles on it.

Sequels tend not to be as good as the originals. Most sequels aim towards the familiar, using characters, jokes and references from the first. The ones that are as good or better - Godfather II, the second Star Trek Movie, for example - tend to be entirely new movies, with new characters and new ideas. Men In Black II opts for the former strategy, and the result is adequate comedy that is fairly entertaining, but lacking in the wit and freshness of the first film. There are many characters from the first movie - the worms, Jeebs, Scrad - a time-honoured sequel device to make things comfortable and familiar. We see the worms again enjoying smokes, booze and leering and we see Jeebs lose a few more heads. There are some original elements. One of the best moments is Michael Jackson as an alien - and who hasn't suspected that - begging to become an agent. And Martha Stewart appears as a running gag - an insider-trading alien. Frank singing "I Will Survive" is amusing, the post office staffed by aliens is amusing, a lot of things are amusing. But a lot of the wit, much of the oomph is gone. And the plot, well lets just say Men In Black films have never been about plot.

Two strengths from the original film remain - Smith and Jones. Their chemistry is intact, the deadpan Jones nicely playing off the fast-talking Smith. When they are together as agents, starting about the middle of the movie, the film gets better. Patrick Warburton's deadpan style can be put to good use, but not here - we are glad to see the back end of his whiny, dunderhead character early in the film. Lara Flynn Boyle has perfected the humourless, icy persona, and it generally works, especially in her deadpan funny moments. Nice lingerie too.

The laughs and sharp wit are not as plentiful as in the first movie, but the film still contains enough to be entertaining. I just wish Sonnenfeld had been more adventurous and less safe. There might have been a better, fresher film.




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