Review of Men in Black II (2002) by Filipeneto — 12 Feb 2018

For a handful of dollars... more.

In this movie, we return to the world of MIB to follow a crisis where, business as usual, the Earth can be destroyed by aliens who are very angry with us. In the first line of defense is Agent Jay (Will Smith), that we saw in the first movie. Now he is a senior officer with much experience in his work, however, he will need the help of his former partner, Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) who is retired and whom the memory has been erased. Its a sequel to the first film, made a few years later and keeping the same actors and director. The script, this time, its signed by Robert Gordon.

Like many sequels, this one failed to keep the original movie level. If the first film was a comedy that worked well, this one barely works as comedy, focusing too much on a kind of "re-reading" and "rewriting" of situational and contextual jokes that we saw in the first film. So, who saw the first may not find funny the second one. It's like eating every day the same dinner: sickens and loses joke. Not much to talk about the interpretations of two protagonists: both kept well their characters and, if the film didn't please someone, probably the fault was not theirs but the one who wrote the dialogs and jokes. What saves the film from being a total and complete failure are the massive special effects (they always sell) and the romantic sub-plot associated with Kay's past, who gives some dramatic depth to the story.

When we watch the release of a sequel there are always two possible justifications. First: critics loved the first film and this has resulted in awards and notoriety; second: the audience loved the first film and this has resulted in a commercial success, a blockbuster. Personally, I think this sequel was launched with only one objective: to profit at the expenses of those who liked the first film. Its the cinema industry making money as best she knows. It's pity.