Men in Black II (2002)

Director:

Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers (WGA):

Lowell Cunningham (comic book "Malibu Comics")
Robert Gordon (story)

Release Date:

3 July 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Same Planet. New Scum.

Plot:

Agent J needs help so he is sent to find Agent K and restore his memory.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Lingerie Model | Lingerie | Planet | Spacecraft

Awards:

2 wins & 8 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Dec. 20	10:00 PM	MTV
Mon. Dec. 21	1:00 AM	MTV

Cast

Tommy Lee Jones	...	Kevin Brown, Agent Kay
Will Smith	...	Agent Jay
Rip Torn	...	Zed
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Serleena
Johnny Knoxville	...	Scrad / Charlie
Rosario Dawson	...	Laura Vasquez
Tony Shalhoub	...	Jack Jeebs
Patrick Warburton	...	Agent T
Jack Kehler	...	Ben
David Cross	...	Newton
Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine	...	Hailey (as Colombe Jacobsen)
Peter Spellos	...	Captain Larry Bridgewater, The Motorman
Michael Rivkin	...	Man with Harvey, the Dog
Michael Bailey Smith	...	Creepy
Lenny Venito	...	New York Guy

Also Known As:

MIB 2 (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
MIIB (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
Men in Black 2 (USA) (alternative spelling)
Hombres de negro II (Argentina) (Colombia) (Spain) [es]
Men in Black II (Austria) (Germany) [de]
кЧДХ Б в╦ПМНЛ 2 (Russia) [ru]
Barbati în negru II (Romania) [ro]
Faceci w czerni 2 (Poland) [pl]
Hommes en noir II (Canada: French title) [fr]
MIB II - miehet mustissa 2 (Finland) [fi]
MIIB - Homens de Preto II (Brazil) [pt]
MIIB Homens de Negro II (Portugal) [pt]
Men in Black 2 (France) (alternative spelling) [fr]
Men in black II (Hombres de negro II) (Spain) [es]
Oi andres me ta mavra II (Greece) [el]
Siyah giyen adamlar II (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and some provocative humor.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:10 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Malaysia:U | Denmark:11 | Canada:G (Quebec) | South Africa:PG | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Austria:10 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:MG6 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38095)

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

The stickers on Scrad's/Charlie's fridge door: "LOSER" "MY OTHER CAR - IS A SKATEBOARD - ALTERNATIVE PRESS" "HARASSING ME ABOUT MY SMOKING MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH" "Your Kid's An Honor Student - But You're A Moron" "The Truth is NOT out There!" "BARTHAT - *SUCKS* - TIGERMASK - ..." "NEW YORK - MAFIA" "Greetings from New York City" (on postcard showing a heist)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Agent J is holding onto a thin leash when he and Agent K go with the dog into MIB headquarters. Once they're inside and the lift drops to the floor we see J drop the leash so the dog can go off screen.

Quotes:

[as Jeff devours the commuter train from one end, the passengers crowd at the head of the train in panic. The conductor comes out]
Captain Larry Bridgewater, The Motorman: You people clear out of here before I start knocking heads together!
Agent J: You get back in that cabin, and you put the hammer down on this thing!
Captain Larry Bridgewater, The Motorman: I'm Captain Larry Bridgewater, and *I* decide what happens on this train.
Agent J: Oh, you decide? Okay, come on.
[puts an arm around Larry, steers him to the rear of the crowd, and points]
Agent J: Larry, this my man Jeff.
[Jeff takes another huge bite out of the back of the train]
Captain Larry Bridgewater, The Motorman: Larry just made a decision.
Agent J: Yeah, Larry need to get his ass back in that cabin.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mou gaan dou (2002)

Soundtrack:

Who Let The Dogs Out

bland sequel

`Originality,' is, almost by definition, a one-time thing. In 1997, the original `Men in Black' struck a nerve with movie audiences by showing that even a big budget blockbuster, heavily loaded down with state-of-the-art, computer-generated special effects, could still manage to seem light on its feet. The makers of that film pulled off this feat of gravitational legerdemain by coming up with a concept and a script overflowing with creativity, wit, imagination and a cachet of `hipness' to go along with its tone of anarchic playfulness.

Well, five years have passed and we now have `Men in Black II' to confirm what most of us suspected all along: that works that rely on `uniqueness' as their prime selling point are rarely ever able to duplicate their success a second time around. Five years can be a lifetime in pop culture and what seemed `cool' one summer can appear decidedly `old hat' the next. Without that aura of cutting edge newness that defined the original, `Men in Black II' seems like just another loud, over-the-top summertime blockbuster.

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back playing Jay and Kay, agents for the government's top secret organization whose job it is to monitor the activities of the thousands of aliens who have secretly infiltrated earth's societies and to help protect the planet from any possible threat from interstellar space. Smith and Jones still appear to be quite comfortable in their roles and they are aided by Lara Flynn Boyle, as Serleena, the baddest alien this side of Darth Vader, and Rip Torn, delightful as Zed, the slightly cracked head of the Men in Black agency.

Although the special effects in this film are, as one would expect in this day and age, astonishing and virtually seamless, the same can definitely NOT be said for the film's screenplay. The story moves along at a fairly fast clip, but it rarely makes us laugh. In fact, the script comes across as undisciplined nonsense, lacking both logic and coherence. Unlike in the earlier film, we get the sense that literally everything here has been placed at the service of the special effects. There's an awful lot of running and bouncing around but rarely to any point or purpose. Indeed, we end up feeling at the end somehow more exhausted and drained than exhilarated and euphoric. It would appear that director Barry Sonnenfeld thought that if he could just keep the thing MOVING we wouldn't notice that he had nothing new to offer in this retread. It doesn't work. In fact, if `Men in Black II' shows us anything, it is that just because something MOVES doesn't mean that it can't bore us at the same time.