Men in Black
Will Smith has some extremely good luck with his films. His previous film, Independence Day, broke several records at the box office and made him a blockbuster star. Coincidentally, his new film, Men in Black, opened on the same day ID4 did--July 2. Not only that, but it also deals with aliens, space, and the battle over earth. Unfortunately, MiB is not quite up to par with ID4. His previous movie was on a level of filmmaking that most movies can only dream about. However, Men in Black has a charming, deadpan sense of humor that makes it almost just as much fun to watch.
Men in Black succeeds on one level, but on other levels, it falls flat. No person can not help but compare ID4 to MiB. In many ways, the latter is much better than the former. But ID4 was a unique experience with a phenomenal first hour of nearly perfect filmmaking. Unfortunately, the film lacked original character or smart dialogue. And these two qualities are what MiB excels at. The characters are very original, even Will Smith's character, because he doesn't just have a kick-ass attitude. He is shocked when he first sees the aliens (remember his reaction to the first encounter with his alien? "Welcome to earth"... oh brother) which makes him much more believable. The best character in the film, however, is Agent K, played with a deadpan comic flair by Tommy Lee Jones, and I have never seen him do this kind of acting before.
MiB begins with a hysterical opening bug title sequence with Danny Elfman's eerie music blending flawlessly with the film (who else could do the music for this film?). The bug smashes into the windshield of a truck carrying immigrants from Mexico, which comes up to a road block to check for illegal aliens being snuck into the States. Out of the black night come two mysterious fellows who claim to work for a government agency which no one has ever heard of. One of them happens to be Agent K and he discovers one of the aliens to be an alien. The scene which follows is visually stunning and very funny. And what makes MiB so fun to watch are its zany aliens and peculiar special effects. And the humor doesn't hurt either.
The flaws of MiB aren't necessarily major, but all of the minor flaws add up to a lesser of a film. The biggest mistake was to have Vincent D'Onofrio act like an alien throughout the film. D'Onofrio becomes an alien when a ship crash lands on his truck, and he gets sucked into the resulting hole. His manic ravings and ugly, loose skin is actually more annoying than funny. However, he does provide one extremely funny line which happens to be shown in the preview. Another one of the mistakes is the story of the earth being threatened to be destroyed. For some odd reason which I can't put my finger on, I didn't think the earth was really in trouble. I just felt that it provided them with a reason to get bigger guns and shoot aliens. And yet another reason was that the script was too predictable and illogical. Nothing held together really well and some things were too implausible to take seriously.
However, director Barry Sonnenfield (Get Shorty) is able to keep everything extremely interesting and well paced (and at a mere 96 minutes, it seems a little too short). Sonnenfield realized that plot isn't all that important in a film like this, but he managed to get a plot that interested us (even if it was a little underplayed). Yet he has created a magnificent, visually intriguing film with as many weird visuals as he can get into one scene. The MiB headquarters is especially awesome. Some of the aliens reminded me of Star Wars but they were original in their own way. And it is such a delight to watch with all the weird characters on the screen (watch for the fruit that one of the aliens brings out). His direction is one of the best things of the film (but his direction of Get Shorty is impressively better).
And, of course, there is the cast which actually have to act because they don't get overpowered by the special effects. Will Smith is much better and much more fun to watch than his cliched character in ID4. Smith provides most of the one-liners, and he does get quite a few laughs (the biggest being his delivery of a baby from a car). Tommy Lee Jones steals the film, of course, and his deadpan humor is hilarious. Jones has never been funnier than in this film, which shows that he can play almost any part he wants. Linda Fiorentino gives a witty and humorous performance as a mortician, and she provides one of the best lines in the film ("I hate the living."). Fiorentino also provides a bit of seriousness that is almost needed in the film. D'Onofrio... what can I say? I got tired of him after a very short period. Rip Torn (Trial and Error) gives a good performance as Agent B. Torn isn't one of the best of the cast, but he manages to hold his own against Jones and Smith.
Men in Black is rated PG-13 for language and sci-fi violence. This is one of those few films where everything works well together (the script, the actors, the special effects, the music, etc.) and yet it isn't a great film. It's a pretty good one, but it doesn't reach the comic genius of Get Shorty or the intensity of Independence Day. Many critics have compared this film to Ghostbusters, but that film was much better mainly because it had many memorable moments. The only memorable moment in this film could be the very last scene which answers that unforgettable question: "What if we were just part of someone's dream?" Well, it answers it in its own way.