Stars:
Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Lara Flynn Boyle, Johnny Knoxville, Rosario Dawson,
Tony Shaloub, and Rip Torn
Writers:
Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro
Based
On A Story By: Robert Gordon
Based
On The Malibu Comic By: Lowell Cunningham
Director:
Barry Sonnenfeld
Feature
length: 88 minutes
Extras:
Director’s Commentary With Optional Telestrator Diagrams, Alien Broadcast,
Special Animated Short Film, Alternate Ending, Blooper Reel, Featurettes, Will
Smith Music Video, Multi-Angle Scene Deconstructions, Theatrical One Sheets,
Filmographies, Trailers
DVD-ROM
Extras: Crossfire Men In Black II Game Playable Level, Screen Saver, Costume
Design, Men In Black II Script, Web Links
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Two-Disc Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Agent
Jay (Will Smith) calls his former partner and mentor, Agent Kay (Tommy Lee
Jones) out of retirement and has him deneuralyzed in order to stop a sexy, but
ruthless alien renegade (Lara Flynn Boyle) from obtaining the mysterious light
of Zartha and causing an intergalactic disaster. With former alien thugs freed
and on their trail, Jay and Kay must rely upon the assistance of Frank the Pug
and those obnoxious worm guys while trying to protect an innocent witness
(Rosario Dawson) that Jay has grown an emotional attachment for.
“Men
In Black II” covers a lot of the same story points that made the original
“Men In Black” entertaining and also benefits from five years’ worth of
advancements in special effects courtesy of Industrial Light And Magic and
Special Makeup and Animatronics by Effects Master Rick Baker. Like the first
“Men In Black” film there is not much of a story here and yet like the first
film there are some great funny and witty moments that give both the human and
alien characters in the story a chance to shine. The gags are not overused and
the film never takes itself too seriously, but still delivers a good mix of
surprises and thrills. If you hated “Men In Black” I think the odds are you
won’t care much for this one, but if you enjoyed the first one, you pretty
much know what to expect. Personally I liked this film in some ways better than
the first one. I think the original benefited from some witty jokes regarding
the human perception of their place in the universe that this film tries to
duplicate, but in a different way. Where “Men In Black II” benefits over the
original is that with the characters and tone already set from the original, the
action moves much faster now.
There
are some cameos that I would not spoil just in case you still have not seen this
film and Smith and Jones still have good chemistry on screen. However after five
years, Smith has lost a bit of his boyish charisma as he settles into his
thirties and as much as I like Tommy Lee Jones, I think if they wait another
five years to do a movie, he may need more than a little screen makeup and
enhancement courtesy of Rick Baker and ILM so if there is ever going to be a
third film, do it sooner please.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has released “Men In Black II” in both a
widescreen and pan and scan special edition two disc sets, which are sold
separately. The anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) image looks terrific with not a
visible spec of grain or any anomalies to note. Colors and tones are consistent
throughout. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is great too. I
wish a DTS soundtrack option was included here, but I guess in order to keep the
picture as sharp as possible with the extra features on the first disc, they
couldn’t include one. I also think this would be a great candidate for the
“Superbit Deluxe” collection and while I have no knowledge at the time of
this writing if there ever will be one, it would not surprise me if it ever came
to pass. As it is this is both a good sound and picture transfer from Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment.
A
French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack option is also provided
along with optional English Captions and Closed Captions and French Language
Subtitles. Director Barry Sonnenfeld gives a characteristically dry humor take
on the making of the film in his feature length audio commentary and there is an
optional Telestrator Diagram where he can literally point out on the screen for
the viewer what he is referring to. There is also an “Alien Broadcast” icon
option that when enabled gives access to extra featurettes for the viewer to
access by pressing the “enter” button on their DVD Player’s remote control
when the icon appears on the lower right-hand side of the screen and then after
the featurette ends; the DVD player returns back to the moment where the viewer
left off in the film. These featurettes are fluffier in nature than the ones on
the second DVD.
There
is a cute CGI animated short called “The Chubb Chubbs” that is presented in
a widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound. This is accompanied by widescreen (1.85:1) trailers that feature English
5.1 Soundtracks that include “Men In Back II: Teaser” (1:59), “Men In
Black II: Theatrical Trailer” (2:09), and “Spider-Man” (1:20). In addition
there are (1.33:1) Stereo Home Video Trailers for “Men In Black” (: 18),
“Ghostbusters” (2:11), and “The Mask Of Zorro” (1:07) along with a
trailer for the “Men In Black II Crossfire Game.” The menus on disc one are
fully animated to represent the worms’ bachelor pad and feature full motion
scene selection menus too.
Disc
two has animated interactive menus set within “MIB Headquarters.” There are
nine featurettes that can be watched individually or one after the other
automatically that include “ADR – Looping Men In Black II” (8:32),
“Alien Esoterics – Production Design” (9:04), “Serleena Animatics” for
the landing scene (1:49), “Rick Baker – Special Makeup Effects” (9:49),
“Foley Artists” (7:07), “Composer Danny Elfman” (11:55), “Jeff The
Worm” (2:37), “Frank The Pug” (4:04), and “Four Alien Thugs” (4:27).
There are some excellent multi-angle demonstrations with as many as five
different stages for one to switch to and from to see how the action and effects
were composited together. An alternate ending that is a bit mean spirited and
not nearly as fitting as the ending the feature has now is included (2:10) along
with a blooper reel (5:06).
Under
creature featurettes we have “Scrad/Charlie” (2:00), “Worm Guys” (2:50),
“Serleena” (3:05), “Jeebs” (2:31), “Jarra” (3:22), and “Jeff The
Worm” (2:37). Some of these are links to the same featurettes that appear on
the previous section of the second disc. “Barry Sonnenfeld’s Intergalactic
Guide To Comedy” (6:00), which is more about not trying to act funny than to
be funny, wraps up the featurettes in this section. Will Smith’s music video
(4:39), a short gallery of one-sheets, and select cast and crew filmographies
conclude the DVD-Video features on the second disc.
PC
users with a DVD-ROM drive have access to additional behind-the-scenes
featurettes, a “Men In Black II Crossfire Game Demo” with one playable
level, the screenplay, concept designs, a screensaver, and web links. The insert
within the two-disc keep case features some liner notes. As a whole this is a
solid release from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment worth checking out.
“Men In Black II: Widescreen Special Edition” is available on DVD-Video now.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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