As a movie it is very well done, using digital techniques that were in their infancy at the time. It gives some of the effects and the compositing used, some very interesting imagery. A combination of practical and digital effects were used and blended well together.
As a man in black movie and part of the franchise, it is an important middle story: you know how all good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. This is a very important story particularly focusing upon the character of K, Who as we know had "retired", or, as they say in this film, "neuralized" in the first film.
My only issue with this film is that it is way too short and moves way too fast- there are some things that could have been "flushed" out a little bit. That, is actually a hint.
We return to the men in black several years later, five years later as a matter of fact, K is neutral, and a new threat that he had previously dealt with rears its "ugly" Head. And what I mean by that is that Laura Flynn "Boil" plays the badarse Sleazy Alien "Biker Chick" very well here, we believe it. Although she does add a little bit too much humor to her part but that makes it easier to deal with I suppose. Especially her introduction in the park to that gentleman that well, you would have to watch this. Something unbelievable which is also unbelievably funny happens. Eventually she partners with a "dumb" two headed Johnny Knoxville, which was the first time I had ever seen this actor, who plays his part well also.
On the other hand, J, previously known as James Edwards, is going through Partner after Partner. This time, he had been partnered with "The Tick" Patrick Warburton (Sounds like a brand of Briefcase). There is a showdown between the two men in black and an alien that lives in the subway. Enough said about that.
Laura Flynn's character, "Serleena", is on the prowl for something left on earth by the Zarthans, something that was not supposed to even be there.
And it all comes down to K to tell us what this all is about, unfortunately he had been neuralized. Of course the men in black have a way of dealing with such a thing, but "an interesting thing happened to K and J as they went to the men in black headquarters" (once again, you would have to watch this in order to see exactly what that is).
Enter the savior of the day, Jeeves. No longer looking like Humphrey Bogart, now he is all blinged out, no doubt due to five years of influence with J.
Unfortunately other bad guys are also looking for K.
J becomes interested in a woman who had witnessed an unfortunate event. Rosanna Dawson is practically at her best here, very young, very fresh, she plays her character well. Her character has aspects that are revealed as the story goes on. But right from the very beginning they seed us with clues as to what or who she actually is.
Also we get to see a partnership between Frank the pug dog and J, which brings the hilarity up several notches.
There is also a clue which K left for himself involving people living inside of a bus station locker, and then another Interlude with the kid that we saw in the first film that was working in the morgue, the guy that the bug-in-an-Edgar-suit (played in the first film brilliantly by Vincent D'Onofrio) cocooned onto the ceiling with ICK. And I mean, disgusting ICK. This time he works in a video store, with actual videotapes starring Peter Graves, and lives with his girlfriend and his mother and his shovel, and that's another funny but important part of this.
This being 2002 we don't see many modern inventions, we see an old-fashioned Sony WEGA CRT television in Jeeves storage, which at the time was high technology, probably the top of the line SONY Trinitron based television of that day. And Jeeves himself is using an original apple iMac, green. Using Mac OS 9.2.2...
We get to visit with the alien worm guys who play a pretty good role from the middle of the film onward, not to mention a pretty good game of twister.
But the most important thing here is something that we learn about K's involvement with a Zarthan woman. Which is pretty much the focal point of the entire story but I can't really talk too much about that without spoiling anything. Needless to say once this facet is revealed, the fragments of the story fall all into place and we realize something very deep about K.
And J is following in the same path as Kay had once did.
One other thing I should be able to mention is that J had developed a reputation for neuralizing everything and everybody... and this also is a pretty large plot point especially at the very end.
Overall the film was interesting and funny. But for some reason it just did not ring as well as the first chapter.
We also see improvements with the men in black cars, something that was abused in the next two films. Which gives Kay a little bit of trouble when he tries to drive, and of course I can probably say that at one point they end up upside down without J wearing a seatbelt.
I say watch the first movie, and then watch this. It's more important than we think it is. And funnier...
As a man in black movie and part of the franchise, it is an important middle story: you know how all good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. This is a very important story particularly focusing upon the character of K, Who as we know had "retired", or, as they say in this film, "neuralized" in the first film.
My only issue with this film is that it is way too short and moves way too fast- there are some things that could have been "flushed" out a little bit. That, is actually a hint.
We return to the men in black several years later, five years later as a matter of fact, K is neutral, and a new threat that he had previously dealt with rears its "ugly" Head. And what I mean by that is that Laura Flynn "Boil" plays the badarse Sleazy Alien "Biker Chick" very well here, we believe it. Although she does add a little bit too much humor to her part but that makes it easier to deal with I suppose. Especially her introduction in the park to that gentleman that well, you would have to watch this. Something unbelievable which is also unbelievably funny happens. Eventually she partners with a "dumb" two headed Johnny Knoxville, which was the first time I had ever seen this actor, who plays his part well also.
On the other hand, J, previously known as James Edwards, is going through Partner after Partner. This time, he had been partnered with "The Tick" Patrick Warburton (Sounds like a brand of Briefcase). There is a showdown between the two men in black and an alien that lives in the subway. Enough said about that.
Laura Flynn's character, "Serleena", is on the prowl for something left on earth by the Zarthans, something that was not supposed to even be there.
And it all comes down to K to tell us what this all is about, unfortunately he had been neuralized. Of course the men in black have a way of dealing with such a thing, but "an interesting thing happened to K and J as they went to the men in black headquarters" (once again, you would have to watch this in order to see exactly what that is).
Enter the savior of the day, Jeeves. No longer looking like Humphrey Bogart, now he is all blinged out, no doubt due to five years of influence with J.
Unfortunately other bad guys are also looking for K.
J becomes interested in a woman who had witnessed an unfortunate event. Rosanna Dawson is practically at her best here, very young, very fresh, she plays her character well. Her character has aspects that are revealed as the story goes on. But right from the very beginning they seed us with clues as to what or who she actually is.
Also we get to see a partnership between Frank the pug dog and J, which brings the hilarity up several notches.
There is also a clue which K left for himself involving people living inside of a bus station locker, and then another Interlude with the kid that we saw in the first film that was working in the morgue, the guy that the bug-in-an-Edgar-suit (played in the first film brilliantly by Vincent D'Onofrio) cocooned onto the ceiling with ICK. And I mean, disgusting ICK. This time he works in a video store, with actual videotapes starring Peter Graves, and lives with his girlfriend and his mother and his shovel, and that's another funny but important part of this.
This being 2002 we don't see many modern inventions, we see an old-fashioned Sony WEGA CRT television in Jeeves storage, which at the time was high technology, probably the top of the line SONY Trinitron based television of that day. And Jeeves himself is using an original apple iMac, green. Using Mac OS 9.2.2...
We get to visit with the alien worm guys who play a pretty good role from the middle of the film onward, not to mention a pretty good game of twister.
But the most important thing here is something that we learn about K's involvement with a Zarthan woman. Which is pretty much the focal point of the entire story but I can't really talk too much about that without spoiling anything. Needless to say once this facet is revealed, the fragments of the story fall all into place and we realize something very deep about K.
And J is following in the same path as Kay had once did.
One other thing I should be able to mention is that J had developed a reputation for neuralizing everything and everybody... and this also is a pretty large plot point especially at the very end.
Overall the film was interesting and funny. But for some reason it just did not ring as well as the first chapter.
We also see improvements with the men in black cars, something that was abused in the next two films. Which gives Kay a little bit of trouble when he tries to drive, and of course I can probably say that at one point they end up upside down without J wearing a seatbelt.
I say watch the first movie, and then watch this. It's more important than we think it is. And funnier...