For those that doubt a summer movie can live up to the usual hype, I give you Men in Black as an example of a film that does. It’s full of surprises, laughs and has a story that contains just enough gas to keep your attention for the full run of the movie. (Unlike most summer movies which have great ideas nestled in a script that has no idea what to do with them.)
For those that don’t know or haven’t seen any of the hype surrounding this film, Men in Black tells the story of a secret organization that monitors and polices alien activity on Earth. You see, aliens have been coming to Earth regularly and, according to the film, at least 1500 are present on Earth at any one time. The Men in Black (MIB’s) keep peace by keeping all other humans ignorant of the alien’s presence on the planet.
Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) has recently lost his partner to old age, so he recruits Agent J (Will Smith) into the ranks of the MIB. He does so just as an alien assassin (Vincent D’Onfrio), known as a “bug,” arrives to kill a member of alien royalty. Linda Fiorentino, who was stunning in 1994’s The Last Seduction, plays a medical examiner who continuously finds evidence of the alien’s existence but is never allowed to talk to anyone about it.
Men in Black is one of the few movies to use computer-generated special effects to enhance an already wonderful idea and script. Rather than build a movie around the effects, the effects are used simply to enhance the action. Make-up artist Rick Baker’s aliens are more often rubber-looking than those that have been computerized by visual effects supervisor Eric Brevig. Personally, I feel that the mix-and-match effect works well.
Will Smith is fantastically smug as the newbie in the MIB organization. Tommy Lee Jones deadpans his way through the movie with typical panache and it suits his role perfectly. Fiorentino’s screen time is well-spent, but one wishes she had a little more to do anyway.
All in all, Men in Black is what summertime movie-going is all about.
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
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