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MIIB: Men In Black II
01/03/2003 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Video: Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment/Amblin Entertainment. CVR 32718. 84 minutes. Price: varies upto £11.99 (UK) so shop around. If ever there was a film waiting with expectations, the sequel to the original 'Men In Black' was one of them.
I watched this film with some knowledge that it had poor box office sales and reviews. Often when I hear such things, I tend to keep an open mind when watching. I mean, I'm hardly jaded by going to the cinema regularly after all.
OK. Synopsis first. Agent Jay has to restore Agent Kay's memory because he needs him to locate what a renegade Kylothian monster is looking for - which is a secret - and has taken over their headquarters. With such a simple plot structure, how can it go so wrong?
Will Smith's character, Agent Jay, in the first film had the attitude to look cool in any situation especially when he discovers aliens are co-existing with us on Earth. The problem is that we re-join him in the sequel, he's changed rather radically.
Very soft-hearted, he uses the memory eraser to wipe the memories of fellow agents whom he regards as being unhappy in their jobs. Quite why his boss never questions this action is never explored. Autonomy is one thing but it does raise questions about the command structure.
The problem is that Jay comes over as being less than cool and at times, rather blank-headed. Whether this was the intention of either the scriptwriters, director or Smith himself is debatable but it is a serious flaw.
If it wasn't intentional then it certainly wasn't exploited enough to use it as a strength.
Tommy Lee Jones, as Agent Kay, still deadpans but without the necessary foil seems lost in the story. There's very little difference in his character before and after getting his memory back.
All right, so there might be areas of comparison personality-wise but you'd expect to see some sort of cultural shock adjustment between the two stages. They act together but Kay turns Jay into a lacklustre side-kick with neither benefiting from the transition.
In some respects, a lot of the in-jokes are variations of what was done in the first film.
It's a pity that no one was pushing to develop it further rather than leave it at a 'B' movie level. With all the money that was spent on this production, I'd have expected more.
When the alien dog gets the best lines, there has to question marks over this production.
Where's the memory zapper when you want one?
GF Willmetts
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