In 1997 science fiction comedy Men in Black became something of surprise hit at North American box office. Its success, unsurprisingly, led to a sequel Men in Black II, 2002 film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, which was, unsurprisingly, worse than predecessor.
Plot deals with events that began quarter century ago when aliens from planet Zartha arrived on Earth trying to prevent the precious Light of Zartha to fall in the hands of evil Kylothians. However, Men in Black – supersecret US government service that handles aliens visiting Earth – refused to take such responsibility and Light of Zartha is sent to another planet. Quarter of century later evil shape-shifting Kylothian Seerlena thinks otherwise and comes to Earth in order to search artefact taking identity of lingerie model (played by Lara Flynn Boyle). Her activities endanger Earth, but Men in Black, including their top operative – Agent J (played by Will Smith) – appear powerless. The only one who can help them is veteran Agent K (played by Tommy Lee Jones) but the problem is that he had his memories wiped with neuralyzer and now lives a quiet life of postal worker, unaware that he was once saving Earth from the worst scum in the galaxy. Agent J is determined to restore his memory with the help of de-neuralyzer, even after Serleena gets the device in MIB headquarters.
Barry Sonnenfeld was at first reluctant to make a sequel to Men in Black, but the relative failure of his 1999 film Wild Wild West made him reconsider. His reluctance was partly justified. While combination of science fiction, parody, “buddy buddy” comedy and orgy of special effects looked refreshing and functioned well five years earlier, in Men in Black II looks unoriginal and the inevitable comparisons are bad for 2002 film. While charming semi-documentary prologue featuring Peter Graves looks promising, what follows is recycling of the old material and even special effects create deja vu, with only few gags being actually funny. Even talking dog would only remind audience of similar character in Little Nicky. The cast is disappointing, with Tommy Lee Jones appearing disinterested for the role and Will Smith only marginally more enthusiastic. The worst disappointment comes from Lara Flynn Boyle, one of Twin Peaks femme fatales, who is here hardly in the same league as Linda Fiorentino (whose absence from the sequel was allegedly caused by bad blood with Tommy Lee Jones). Rosario Dawson also looks like nothing more than eye candy and is wasted in unnecessary romantic subplot. Short running time – 88 minutes (with 8 minutes spent on special effects crew in end credits) – is actually one of the most positive aspects of Men in Black II. Despite good commercial results, next sequel Men in Black 3 was made in 2012, followed by Men in Black: International in 2019.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
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