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Men in Black II (Widescreen Special Edition)

Men in Black II (Widescreen Special Edition)

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $17.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Silly Little Planet...
Review: It's not as much fun as the first MIB, but that film was something most of us had not seen before: science fiction that's intentionally funny. Still, Men in Black II, or as the marketing hype would have it, MIIB, has its own diversions and perversions - just enough to keep you laughing on the same frequency with the designs of director Barry Sonnenfeld.

The villain this time is not some ugly bug played by Vincent D'Onofrio, vacationing from Lawn Order, but the beautiful temptress Serleena, played by the beautiful temptress Lara Flynn Boyle. She's really a Kylothian monster who had been tricked into looking elsewhere for something she wants to steal, but which Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) hid from her before he was "neuralized" and took the identity of lowly postmaster Kevin Brown, lacking the memories that could save the planet. His trainee from last episode, Agent J (Will Smith), is now a full MIB and must restore K's memory and save the day. He isn't helped this time by sexy coroner Linda Fiorentino (did I really just write "sexy coroner"?), but enlists Laura Vasquez (Rosario Dawson), an employee at a pizza parlor. The action gets cracking when K is de-neuralized with the help of returning alien/citizen, and pawn shop procurer, Jack Jeebs (Tony Shalhoub), although Jack loses and grows back a couple of heads in the process.

Having directed the original MIB, Sonnenfeld has a sure hand on this sequel. The performances by Smith and Jones were equal to their previous efforts. It was good to see Rip Torn in his role as Zed, and the aliens, including the expanded presence of the "worms," and the rather annoying Frank (a dog/alien voiced by Tim Blaney), were well used. Ms. Boyle is believable both as a villain and as a Victoria's Secret model (way too thin!). As sequels run, this is one of the better models.

My favorite line comes from Lara Flynn Boyle as Serleena: "Silly little planet. Anyone could take over the place with the right set of mammary glands."

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Terrible Rick Baker make-up designs
Review: If you know anything about Mr. Baker, then you know that he designs very cheesy/fake looking make-up for various movies. He designed the all too guy in an ape suit for the 1976 remake of King Kong. He also designed the very fake looking ape make-up of Tim burton's Planet of the Apes remake, did the alien effects make-up for the two MEN IN BLACK movies, and also did the Hellboy look for Ron Peralman in the up-coming Hellboy movie. All very dubious efforts on film. There are tons of other more talented make-up artists in Hollywood, and they actually work for a living.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A two or three Joke movie.
Review: A great example of how the second movie can make money without being so hot.

You have good actors trying their best but they can't raise this picture beyond a B movie let alone come close to the first one.

Smith is funny but not believable, I think they could played te love interest angle different but that's not his fault. Jones overplays the lost agent, Tony Shaloub is a bright spot in the cast and Rip Torn delivers.

The over use of Frank the dog didn't help (he's no K-9) and the worms got old real fast.

Its also not clear when he K remembers the solution. That hurt too.

Rent this one and buy the first picture

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sparkle is off, but still fun!
Review: Okay, some of the sparkle is off, because we know what to expect, but it is still very entertaining, with a lot of really funny jokes. Lara Flynn Boyle is an alien (ala Critters sees a magazine pictures and assumes that form) coming to earth in search of the Light of Zartha. She is not as menacing at Vincent D'Onfrio, so that lacks, which means the film rests solely on the the shoulders of superb Tommy Lee Jones and great talent of Will Smith. All the old character from the original are back, like the marvellous Rip Torn as Zed. This is not long originality, but if you loved the first one you will enjoy this one. If you did not, then don't bother. Simple as that.
It is fast pace, with lots of in-jokes from the first film, a funny running joke of Michael Jackson wanting to be a MIB, Frank the Dog Alien hanging out of the car singing I Will Survive, and Jones and Smith's fussing over who will get to drive the car,
The Duo DVD is loaded with goods, the extra features on par with the set of the original, including a cartoon shown with the movie in theatres.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dress in Black and bury this one.
Review: Men in Black 2 plays it utterly safe. Even the couple of very minor gross outs are wanna-be's (the new Harry Potter film has a couple of scenes that are edgier than this one). Will Smith still has lots of charm and charisma, but he doesn't get much of a script to work with here. Tommy Lee Jones enters the film late, gets a few dead-pan laughs and he too doesn't get enough to say or do that's very interesting. Rip Torn blusters well in a coule of scenes, Laura Flynn Boyle is skinny and cartoonishly menacing, though there's no feeling of danger or suspense to any of it. You wait to see a cool alien or laugh... and you don't laugh very much, I'm afraid. Rick Baker and his team come up with some cool aliens, but 90 percent of the film is re-tread and what's worse it's watered down re-tread. The 10 percent remaining aren't enough to make me want to purchase this one. Heck it was barely worth sitting through once.

The commentary track is a pretty spirited fun listen thanks to Director Sonnenfeld's sometimes blue frankness, but he has no shame and after Wild Wild West, the bomb about the bomb with Tim Allen, and this one, he's miles away from Get Shorty or Addams Family Values.

The series shouldn't have been this tired yet, but it is. I mean Ghostbusters 2 was 10 times the sequel this one was and it was no great shakes.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Least Necessary Movie Ever Made
Review: Ok, so its a tie with hundreds of other movies. An attempt to make a pile of dough out of a successful movie from five years earlier. The principles were willing and it beats thinking of any sort of original concept. The loud mouth dog and the obnoxious worms are kind of funny and deserve one star. Lara Flynn Boyle looks pale & emaciated and Smith and Jones look bored. Like they're just doing this for the rent money. Sad, considering both guys have proven themselves many times over an genuinely talented actors.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The MIB return to kick more alien tail
Review: I really enjoyed Men in Black. I thought the relationship between J & K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) was wonderful. Tommy plays a wonderful straight man to Smith's zaniness.

I went to see Men in Black II last week, and I found that it fit like a thoroughly used, but still kind of comfortable glove. It's nowhere near as good as the first one, and it suffers from recycling too many of the jokes as well. The talking dog returns in a much more prominent role, the worms are back as well and have more to do. While funny (listening to the dog sing Gloria Gaynor is hilarious), ultimately they don't work as well in expanded roles. It feels almost like running the joke into the ground. A much more successful return is the ever-wonderful Tony Shalhoub as Jeebs. He's in for one scene, but he's still great.

Lara Flynn Boyle completely fails, in my opinion, as Serleena. First, she doesn't play menacing very well. Secondly, she doesn't seem to handle the wry humour and the quips that a villain in a picture like this requires. She comes across as very flat. Thankfully, Rip Torn is wonderful, and Jones and Smith slip into their comfortable roles very easily. They really make the movie.

The film is very short (88 minutes), which also tends to make it seem rushed. The characters jump from place to place without much reason. When reason is given, it's usually very quickly so as to move the plot along to the next set piece.

It was a funny film. No doubt about that. It was worth the [money] that I paid for it. Just don't go in expecting something as good as the first one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Sequel that Never Should have Seen the Light of Day
Review: 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.

*1/2, (4.5/10)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT
Review: i love will smith! and this movie kicks ass!! =D
even ur grandma will enjoy it! i highly recommend tis to u! (yep the one who is reading this right now). it's a movie u must c!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Same old, same old
Review: There's nothing new about this movie. It's exactly the same as the first. It's not better, but it's not worse either. Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones reteam as Agent Jay, and Agent Kay respectively, and are joined by Lara Flynn Boyle (super anorexic chick who used to date Jack Nicholson).

What I found with this movie is that the roles of Will and Tommy have been reversed. Now "Kevin" is the one who doesn't have a clue what he is doing.

You've got the same old aliens, some of which are really funny if you look out for them. Frank the pug is back, with a bigger and better role, and a hilarious scene where he sings "I Will Surive" the Gloria Gaynor classic. I nearly had an accident after watching that! It's so funny.

There are quite a few cameos in this, and you need to keep your eyes peeled for them. There is one rather obvious one, which will have you guessing - MICHAEL JACKSON appears as an agent in this. I found it very hard to believe it was actually him. Barry Sonnenfeld is the husband in the family watching TV when Jay, Kay and the Worm Dudes walk in to collect some guns; Tommy Lee Jones' daughter (as the daughter in K's old apartment) and Will Smith's sons (the two boys who look up as J and K fly overhead) - and I'm also sure one of his sons appears in the video for "Nod Ya Head". Rick Baker is the alien makeup effects master who appears in the MIB Headquarters at the Alien Registration counter, his trademark hair gives him away. The little bratty girl who wants Rugrats stamps in the post office is Chloe Sonnenfeld, daughter of director Barry Sonnenfeld. And last but not least, the film's special effects supervisor, John Andrew Berton Jr appears as the split alien guy at the mail post.

There are a lot of extras on this DVD. Most of them are good, and if you wanna hear all about the technical stuff, you'll be in your element. If you're someone like me, who couldn't really give a damn, then watch the "Nod Ya Head" video and be happy. The extras include an audio commentary by director Barry Sonnenfeld with optional telestrator diagrams; an alien broadcast, by Agent Tee (which features celebrity "aliens" - on this DVD it's mainly British stars, Richard Madeley, Caprice and Vernon Kay, but it is quite funny); a special animated short film, which you will find in the trailers, called "The Chubb Chubbs!" It's quite weird, and I thought it was a trailer. The other trailers featured are Stuart Little 2, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Ghostbusters (OK, that looks good) and trailers for the Men In Black games. Then you have all the exclusive featurettes: Looping MIB II, Alien esoterica, Serleena animatica, 'Rick Baker' (Special make up effects), Danny Elfman (Original Score), Bo Welch (Art/Production Design), Foley Artists, Frank the Pug, Jarra, Jeebs, Jeff the Worm, Scrad/Charlie, Serleena, The Worms, Barry Sonnenfeld's Intergalactic Guide to Comedy and finally the video for "Nod Ya Head". Phew!

If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one, and you'll definitely like Frank the pug. Just don't expect anything different or new.


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