Men in Black II Review
by Eugene Novikov (eugenen AT wharton DOT upenn DOT edu)August 2nd, 2002
Men in Black II (2002)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Why do you think you're so comfortable here?"
Men in Black II has none of what of what made Men in Black a hit. I didn't much like the first one either, but I appreciated its mischievous sense of play, as well as its appropriately deadpan, businesslike description of the titular organization. This movie is much more self-confident and much less entertaining; without even a nominal attempt at a story line, it's all in-jokes and cocky stares. Director Barry Sonnenfeld takes away the one thing that made the predecessor watchable: the day-to-day operations of the Men in Black.
The gimmick behind the sequel is that Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who was neuralized (to be "neuralized," for the uninitiated, is to have one's memory of certain events erased) at the end of the first movie, has to be brought out of retirement to save the world from an evil alien named Sorilea (Lara Flynn Boyle). He is the only one that knows the location of what she apparently wants: a talisman that controls the world, or something.
Sorilea takes over the Men in Black headquarters, taking head honcho Agent Zet (Rip Torn) hostage. She recruits a two-headed alien, played by MTV's Johnny Knoxville as her henchman while talking dog Charlie serves as J and K's eyes and ears on the inside. Rosario Dawson plays a waitress who becomes J's love interest, the only person he's ever met whom he couldn't bring himself to neuralize. She doesn't have much to do.
One thing this franchise has going for it, strangely, is an underlying impression of the vastness of the universe. This may seem a silly thing to say about a movie whose idea of extra-terrestrials is a "Ballchinian" (use your imagination), but the spirit of the final shots of both films -- the first turned our universe into a marble in the bag of a weird-looking alien -- is an undercurrent throughout. How interesting that a movie this inane can turn out thought-provoking, if unintentionally.
Unfortunately, "inane" is very much the word for the remainder of the film. If the original was more clever than funny, this is neither. The best part of MiB, the organization itself, is nowhere to be found. I loved the audacity of the "Men in Black" as the CIA on hallucinogenics, with its bizarre security measures, inhuman secretaries, celebrity double agents, spacious offices, etc. I loved the fact that the tabloids was their primary news sourse, as well as the rationale for this ("once in a while, they pick up on something"). And their seemingly endless supply of gadgetry was treated nonchalantly, with a deadpan dismissal that the more portentous James Bond flicks could never muster.
I could perhaps have dealt with the novelty of these elements inevitably wearing off. It is significantly more problematic that they are dispensed with entirely, replaced by... well, not much. J and K roam around New York City, doing things like surprising families who unwittingly house a secret store of weaponry behind their living room walls and nerds whose video collections contain important evidence needed to derail Sorilea's plans. Though there are sporadic moments of superficial "coolness," none of it is very funny, and I got the distinct feeling that Sonnenfeld and Co. weren't even trying. It isn't uncommon for sequels to attempt to simply coast on the bare skeleton of their predecessor, not bothering with actual material -- think Speed 2 and Scream 3 -- but the Men in Black concept wasn't stellar to begin with.
Most movies find they must tell a story, even if they desperately don't want to. Only the Austin Powers franchise has figured out how to bypass this; the likes of Kevin Smith have tried and failed. Men in Black II is also a failure, and not even a noble one, a rather heinous example of cinema as crass commercialism, in which creativity goes on strike so that a past box-office success can be insipidly recreated. Not even a gratifyingly wide-eyed vision of the cosmos can help.
Grade: C-
Up Next: Like Mike
© 2002 Eugene Novikov
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
