Review Date: July 06, 2002
Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by: Robert Gordon & Barry Fanaro

Starring: Will Smith (Agent J)
Tommy Lee Jones (Agent K)
Lara Flynn Boyle (Serleena)
Johnny Knoxville (Scard/Charlie)
Rosario Dawson (Rita)
Rip Torn (Zed)

Men in Black II begins with a delightful opening sequence that plays as a parody of the first film. In what also serves as a precursor to the story to come, the Men in Black concept is made fun of through the presentation of an over-the-top underground video that consists of poorly constructed special effects and a story that would be rejected by even the least known science-fiction television serial. When the sequence reappears at a later point in the film, the comment is made that it must be something from Spielberg. Had the rest of the film captured the playful mood of this opening sequence, Men in Black II would have been right on par with its predecessor. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen.

The biggest problem with Men in Black II is that it simply isn't very entertaining as nothing much happens throughout the majority of the film (a quality that makes the film feel much longer than its 88 minute running time suggests). Given the summer-popcorn nature of the film this would have been somewhat forgivable had the problem only plagued the plot. But the same problem also plagues the film's action sequences, special effects and jokes (a problem that is compounded for anybody who has seen the film's trailer before seeing the film). There isn't enough of the devices that made the first film so much fun, and when such devices do appear, they often feel recycled from the first film and or were already revealed in this film's marketing campaign. Its almost as if the film is running on cruise control.

So what does happen in Men in Black II? Mostly just a lot of Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) traveling back and forth throughout New York City in an attempt to stop the evil alien Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) from destroying the planet. Every now and then there is a plot twist that comes out of the blue, with such twist usually revolving around the romance between Agent J and Rita (the only witness to a murder committed by Serleena early in the film). The character development of Rita (Rosario Dawson) is developed to a much lesser extent than the character of Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino) in the first film. This feels highly awkward given the importance Rita plays in both the love story and eventually, the narrative as a whole. The end result is a love story that makes the something-to-be-desired love stories of both Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones look much more impressive in comparison. At least both of those films tried.

One area of Men in Black II that still works, at least to a certain extent, is its use of aliens for comedic value. While many of the non-alien based jokes fall flat, the film's use of alien-based jokes is the one aspect that comes closest to duplicating the enjoyable nature of the first film. Return appearances by the worms, Fred the talking dog, and especially the appearance of a new alien-race who live inside of a locker, provide some of the film's better moments. But such moments are too few in between, and for every moment that does work in this regard, there seems to be an equally unfunny moment just around the corner (with many of them involving the two-headed alien played by Johnny Knoxville).

In any area of comparison, Men in Black II doesn't live up to its predecessor. The first film succeeded in being a strong piece of summer entertainment, that stood out from the rest of the summer crowd at the same time. Men in Black II does neither, when it could have and should have done both.

Rating: 1.5 of 4.0 Stars