Men in Black II (Widescreen Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Rent it, don't buy it.
Review: Only a shadow of the original. Almost no new ideas. Flat uninteresting script. Dull dialogue.
See it only if you are bored and have nothing else to do.
The film was VERY formulaic and non-original. Especially the stupid talking dog gag.
Major yawn.

Rating:
Summary: A great movie
Review: Some said that this movie is just the same old thing with a new villain!!... nu-uh. If you liked the first one you will like this. So what if theres the same writer. He was good and I hope they make a 3rd one.

Rating:
Summary: Painful
Review: One of the bigger disappointments of the summer blockbusters. The movie was not as clever as the first one and the plot was weak. It relied too heavily on CGI as if that would replace the obvious lack of a solid plot. The ending was trite and quite a let down.

Rating:
Summary: Black suits coming. Duck your heads for cover!
Review: They're back in black...and that's really all there is to this film. It's a basic story that reunites Agent K with J to kill more aliens.

The film is not completely without merit. There are some good jokes and humorous scenes involved. There is also a better array of special effects. But at the same time, the goofiness and in-your-face style of the film takes on a more unbelievable edge.

The characters are still well-developed and well enacted. But the story is rather dull and offers little to the imagination (except for the ending locker sequence, but even that scene is bizzare and unbelievable).

I consider the first Men In Black to be much better. I found the sequel to be dull.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Poor and Tired Sequel (1.5 stars)
Review: "Men in Black 2" is a perfect example of knowing when to call it quits. While "Men and Black" was a very amusing and entertaining film, this sequel proves to be just another movie made only with the motive of cashing in more money. Everything that was in the first film has been recycled into this sequel with very unimpressive results.

Once again the world is in danger and it is up to the Men and Black to save it. Jay (Will Smith) has to bring back Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) out of retirement, for he is possibly the only person with the answers and is the only guy who can help him. Using the same tired formula and ridiculously forced jokes, the two are back together again ready to face the alien scum of the earth.

Now, there are some pros to the movie. There are some amusing moments and jokes that do tend to get a laugh or two. The picture quality is great and there are some really cool special effects. However, there are far more cons than pros. Tommy Lee Jones is great at being funny through his seriousness, but it is nothing we haven't seen in the first one. Will Smith seems even more desperate to be the center of attention in this one. There is hardly any lines that come out of his mouth that isn't a joke or a wisecrack. I did like Johnny Knoxville's character and thought he didn't do too bad. However, the rest of the acting in the movie just wasn't there for the most part. The film also is very short, proving that they couldn't even think of a lot of new things to put in this one. It's not even an hour and a half if I'm correct.

If you've seen the first "Men in Black," then you have seen this one. I loved the first film and I think they should've just left it alone. Now, they decided to make a new sequel that is nothing more but a forced product to cash in more money from the moviegoers. This is nothing new, of course, but this one seems a lot more desperate than the rest. While it is amusing at some points, it's just a tired movie that is running out of punch lines. It's that unfunny joke that your buddy keeps telling you over and over again with hope that one day you'll finally laugh and find it funny. Rent this one first if you are curious to see it.

Rating:
Summary: 4 Stars and 3 of them are for Lara
Review: The only reason I even rented this movie in the first place is becuase Lara Flynn Boyle is in it. She does an excellent job as the villianess, Serleena, seeing that her script [was poor] There were some funny parts, and Frank was great. I loved the worms too. This movie was okay, but I only liked it because Lara was in it!

Rating:
Summary: Not highly original but still funny
Review: Like the editorial review says, MIB 2 "safely repeats everything that made 'Men in Black' the blockbuster hit." Which is the reason I watched it; the first one made me laugh, so it was a good bet the second one would, too. And it did.

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are still hilarious as Agents K & J. I love K's deadpan delivery and J's over the top posturing. Sure, maybe the movie could have been more original, but it's still worth a watch if you liked the first one.

Rating:
Summary: Offers nothing new
Review: The only reason this gets an extra star is for the creative energy that went into creating the alien forms in the movie. There are different ones from the first, including an entire population which live, in all things, a locker. It's obvious a lot of work went into this part of the film, and for me was it's only enjoyable part.

This movie has the same problem with the third Austin Powers film "Goldmember". The originals of both of these series introduced us to goofy new worlds that did take chances. With Powers, there was the fun of seeing a 60's character adapt to the 90's. With "Men in Black", we got to see Will Smith see the alien world that has been all around him without him even noticing.

With both of these series, that innocence is gone, and there's nothing new to replace it. In this film, we get another alien threat from another world, and the guys have to find and blast it away. This time the guns are bigger and fancier and new aliens are introduced, but other than that, you are seeing virtually the same movie. If this is your cup of tea, enjoy, but for me it was a waste of time. Even my four kids, who usually eat this stuff up, weren't that enthused about it at all.

Rating:
Summary: Men in Denial
Review: Without question, this is one of the sloppiest, cheapest-looking, witless films (let alone sequels) ever produced. First of all, what were Smith, Jones and Sonnenfeld thinking when they approved this tired script? Don't these pics spend years in development? This is the best that anyone could come up with? And the effects! There might as well be strings attached to the spaceships. This is the kind of film that gives sequels a really bad name -- and in this case, deservedly so. Abominable!

Rating:
Summary: WRITERS WANTED - SEE INSIDE FOR DETAILS...
Review: Before I even saw this movie or heard word-of-mouth, I knew it would be a little less stellar than the first one. I remember looking on a website to see who wrote "Men in Black II" after hearing news of it's summer 2002 release. But, alas. The name "Ed Solomon" was nowhere to be found. I think what made the first "Men in Black" so great was it's script. The dialogue flowed like wine, the jokes were pretty clever and it obviously wasn't written for first graders. The movie itself was very entertaining and, thanks to all involved, never wore out it's welcome.

So, anyway, after recieving news of this, and after months of negative reactions, I expected nothing good to come out of this movie. But, me being the idiot I am, I purchased the DVD anyway. I popped the disc in the machine, pressed PLAY and braced myself. When it was all over, I couldn't believe how dumb this movie actually was. In the 5 years Columbia had to prepare for this movie, couldn't they find the time out of their busy schedule to hire someone capable of writing a decent script? Sometimes things just seemed to happen for no reason whatsoever. If for anything, some scenes were done to simply get a few laughs from the audience. I normally wouldn't mind this coming from a summer blockbuster movie, but the only thing in this movie that made me at least smile was Frank the Pug. I must have seen the part where he was singing "I Will Survive" at least a hundred times from TV spots prior to seeing this film, but it still got a giggle out of me.

Barry Sonnenfeld, who I adore as a director, does everything in his power to make sure this film remains at the very least tolerbale during it's 80 minute run. This guy has directed some of the quirkiest movies I've ever seen (I love quirkiness), but the premise for "Men in Black II" is so stale and stupid, there's nothing left for Mr. Sonnenfeld to save. It'd be like resurfacing the Titanic.

There's really not much to like about this movie. The cast is okay, I guess. I wouldn't know. I was too busy witnessing their characters go to waste. When will Hollywood learn? People (well, most people anyway) would rather watch a fun movie with good dialogue instead of an overblown special effects-ladden rush job like "Men in Black II" was. If you liked this movie, good for you. Keep supporting it. This way, Columbia will distribute yet another sequel, which I will admittedly see. Honestly, it can't possibly be worse than this.