review: men in black ii

by sumir, adam, and ganesh on 07/06/2002 17:06:35 -0700

Reviewed by: Adam, Ganesh, Sumir
Transcribed by: Adam
Formatting/Uploading: Sumir
Moral Support: Ganesh

Topic: MIB2

A: Okay, topic MIB2.

G: That's already the title.

A: You just have "mb2"

G: Sumir, what's your general formula for reviewing a movie?

S: I try to go through some stuff, like the overall plot, then try to review the characters and stuff.

G: Adam, are these trash? [Holds up some sunglasses]

A: Uh, not really. Why, you want them?

G: I don't know, do they look good on me?

S: Didn't you have some like that?

G: I did, but I lost them on a plane. Do these look good on me?

S: They're okay, but silver doesn't look too good on you. I think wireframe might be better.

G: Yeah, wireframes are good. Adam's furiously typing away. I don't know, I think these glasses look good on me.

A: So, um, what do you think about the character development of the movie?

[Silence]

G: One sec, I'll be right with you.

[Adam reads his copy of EGM magazine]

G: I thought it was... [mumbles] searching for words while buzzed... Umm... Muddled at best. Horrible at worst. As compared to the first movie, I actually found it a little worse. Um, I believe this movie requires an "educated" audience in the sense that they are expected to have seen the first movie. Without prior knowledge, the second movie would not make nearly as much sense.

S: It didn't to me.

G: That is to say that it didn't make any sense at all.

S: Isn't that a bit harsh?

G: No, what's harsh is Will Smith pawning off his thuggish mannerisms as acting.

S: Oooh, come on, you're being hard on him. This is the guy that did "Fresh Prince."

G: Right, but I liked that guy. After all, his character was supposed to be that way. Whereas, I believe this character should have more depth than meets the eye.

S: [as he peruses The Art of WarCraft] What? I dunno, what's the question?

G: My second thought is that although his character is similar to the one in "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," they are markedly different insomuch as the Fresh Prince character is a young man learning the ropes of life in Bel Air, not at all like the initial character in the first MIB; in the sequel, however, his character lacks the depth that alleged five years would allot him. As K himself puts it, he's still a rookie. That I find a little bit hard to swallow.

S: Reading too much into MIB2? It's supposed to be kind of a mindless flick. Not having seen the first one, I wasn't expecting too much out of this one. I can see how much more character development would have been nice, but I wasn't..

G: [Reading Sumir's away message] Is this from a video game?

S: No, it's from a book I read.

G: You read some morbid shit, dude. [Note: the next day, Sumir realized it was an away message he had written himself; he was thinking of the wrong one when replying to Ganesh.]

A: Back on topic, please.

G: Where were we?

S: Hey, can Oog! talk?

[Note to reader: This is Oog!]

O: OOG! ARG! BLARGH! SPLARG! (Translation: He was disappointed in the lack of metaphysical transcendtalism in this art noveau film of a semi-postmodernistic military industrial era. It is apparent that the character that Tommy Lee Jones portrayed is influenced by his inner-zen theological rationale. Although the aliens in this film were certainly social constructs of a capitalistic society focused more upon the individual than the whole, the film managed to convey an essence of Marxist analysis upon modern civilization in a non-confrontational and methodical manner.)

A: I hate you guys. [Spends about five minutes trying to type that out] What does that mean, anyway?

S: Oog! says "Two thumbs up."  What do you feel about the special effects?

G: I think they were better in this one than in the first, because there weren't as many. I wanted more to be entertained with the dialogue and action than with the special effects. If I wanted to see special effects, I'd go see Star Wars or Spider-Man. Yeah, I feel here this had more plot than effects, whereas the first had more effects than plot.

S: Sound? Nothing really out of place, it was okay, there's not much to talk about there. Ganesh?

G: Yeah, I think that kind of goes with soundtrack.

A: Here I think it was Danny Elfman.

G: I think the acting was kind of flat here. I thought the Will Smith chracter was relatively decent, the Tommy Lee Jones character was purposefully vague, so I can't really comment on that, the Zed character was idiotically funny.

A: Well, he is played by Rip Torn, and I think that's supposed to be his thing.

S: I was about to say that the dog actually did a pretty good job. I didn't really understand him, though, since I didn't see the first one.

G: If you had seen the cartoon, you would have known that the dog was more important. Also, there was a woman who worked at a morgue that didn't even show up in this one, they kind of totally dismissed her. I guess the highlight might have been Frank, the pug dog. He was hilarious. What I did not care for, though, was the downplay of the worms. They played a more integral part in the first one. They were sort of the comic relief. In the sequel they were more decentralized from the plot, serving to spark comedic scenes, although the scenes they were in were relatively funny.

O: [Sings "I Will Survive"]

G: The plot was sketchy, although I believe this was all expected from a movie about aliens, that's purposefully vague.

S: Yeah, I agree with Ganesh. It was a little simple, but I'm not expecting Road to Perdition here [none of us have seen this, however]. Looks like it'll be a good movie.

A: While the plot was fairly simple, it did elicit somewhat of a greater emotional bond with the characters and their development than in the first MIB. A little bit of the agency's history was revealed, as well as some love interests by both the protagonists.

G: Interesting. I would also like to add that the inter-dynamic father-son relationship was more explored between J and K than in the first.

O: [Wonders what Cambodian lobster must taste like]

G: [Slaps Oog!, scuffle breaks out; Adam and Sumir break it up] I think it was good to see Laura Flynn Boyle of "The Practice" do a good job, I've never seen her as a sexy figure, let alone a leather-wearing sexy figure. However, I completely bought her role as an attractive nemesis to the formidable pairing of Smith and Jones. The last few minutes of the film were poorly put together...

S: ...rushed...

A: ...and pretty anti-climatic.

G: Agreed.

O: [Wishes he tight black leather pants, exchanges coy look with Ganesh; again Adam and Sumir break it up]

S: Overall, I say if you have nothing better to do, why not? Don't spend too much on it.

Men in Black II

Adam: 7.1 | Ganesh: 6.5 | Sumir: 6.5
Oog!: He can't count!  He's a fucking stuffed monkey!

Average: 6.7

	Best thing about it: Frank the pug, Will Smith and his one-liners, Increasing depth of relationship between J & K
	Worst thing about it: Last 5-10 minutes, Poor climax, Premature spoiling of movie via commercials with key humorous parts
	What I thought as I left the movie theater: "I wonder why they didn't play 'Back in Black' during the movie?", "Does Will Smith have a rap song for every movie he's in?", "I wonder what MIB3 is going to be about..."
	Would I watch this on a date?: No, there's better movies I could go to right now; No, it's just too short!; Yes, it was humorous, simple, and short: in my opinion the making of a great relationship
	Profound thought after the movie: "Why ARE most aliens concerned with anal probing?"; "Damn, popcorn is expensive"; "And I thought I was the only one who really liked watches... forward my mail to locker C-18."