Review 51: Men in Black

What makes Men in Black a cool science fiction comedy film is just because its a whole lot of fun, It's it's mixture of comedy and cool,

Based on the comic book The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of the Men in Black (MiB), a secret agency without ties to any government, whose goal is to maintain Earth as a "neutral zone" for extraterrestrial aliens, whom they disguise as humans around New York City. After his partner retires, K recruits James Darrel Edwards (Will Smith) a New York City cop with an athletic physique and a flippant, anti-authoritarian attitude towards law enforcement, dubs him Agent J and he becomes his new partner. For their first case, the duo investigate a mass Exodus of aliens from Earth. It turns out they're are leaving the planet because a "Bug," a member of a giant cockroach-like species that is at war with an alien race called the Arquillians, has come to Earth searching for an object known as the Galaxy. It's infinite power could turn the tide of war in favour of the Bugs. To prevent this, they are willing to destroy the Earth. K and J have a standard galactic week (1 hour) to retrieve the Galaxy and stop the Bug from escaping.

The plot is a brilliant mixture of instensity, humor and cleverness. The Men in Black started out as a three issue black-and-while comic book that originally published by Aircel Comics. 

But the rest of the film is really quite simple, MIB is a secret organisation that monitors extraterrestrial activity on Earth, there are around 1500 aliens secretly living among us at any given time and the Men in Black are the Police, Diplomats, Immigration Officers, Peacekeepers and Damage Control all rolled into one. They handle the day to day complications of trying to keep these aliens hidden all the while avoiding unnecessary conflicts with any other civilization.

Although it's about the possibility of life on earth being whiped out in less than an hour, it is very much a comedy mostly having to do with the cocky and arrogant Agent J attempting to reconcile with the more  and by-the-book Agent K. Their partnership is the emotional core of the film, watching it develop and seeing their different personalities clash as they try to stop as they try to stop the end of the world. 

There's a scene when James/J comes into for recruiment for MIB, he and all of the other candidates with military backgrounds  J is immediately isolated from the other candiates in multiple ways; he's the last to arrive, he sits at the end of the row and he's the only candidate not dressed in military uniform. What, on the surface, comes across as an odd man out gag, reveals so much about J's character and why he's the ideal partner for K. Whereas the rest of the candidates are just happy to follow orders and simply hope to get a position that they no nothing about, J is the only one who questions what's going on.

There's lots of visual comedy and slapstick humor that gives the film an bizzare, oddball and goofy charm that gives the film its own sense of identity.

With a runtime of just 98 minutes, Men in Black is very nippy, within the first 12 minutes, we're introduced to this film's two leads and its main antagonist. This tight scripting from screenwriter Ed Solomon lends the film a great sense of pacing.

 

Director Barry Sonnenfeld's directing is quirky, the score by Danny Elfman is catchy, the special effects are all marvellous, an amazingly, seemless blend of make up, practical effects and CGI to create a dazzling array of , the makeup is incredible, the action scenes are thrilling, the production design is high tech, the cinematography is cool, the costume design is brilliant and the sound effects are teriffic and the ending features on of the most inspired gags seen in a blockbuster movie of recent years.  

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith play their roles effortlessly. K's grizzled, stern, world weiry demeanor    juxaposed against J's more anti-authoritarian, impulsive and wisecracking persona are why K & J make for such as great double act. K recruits J as part of MIB because of his problem-solving skills, resourcefulness and attention to detail. J is our audience surrogate, given that he's new to the world of aliens hiding in plain sight, we experience the majority of the events through his eyes and he's not afraid to call out K on his more harsh action. K, on the other hand, is the most exageratted version of a straight man: He's not just serious, he's comically serious.

Vincent D'Onofrio is also a lot of fun playing Edgar/The Bug. Originally an aggressive farmer, he (deservedly) gets devoured and his skin gets taken over by a Bug so he can "discreetly" steal the Galaxy. Unfortunately, he doesn't do a very good job as he's loud, aggressive and and growls a lot. Looking like an anemic person doesn't help. All of this is played to hilarious comedic effect. Bugs thrive on carnage; they consume, infest, destroy and live off the death and destruction of other species. Every Over the top reaction is his body language gives him a cartoonish but at the same time creapy demeanor.

At the end of the day, he just wants to help his people feed, it just so happens that the Earth will be destroyed and loads of alien civilizations will be devoured.

 

During their investigatin, K and J comes across Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino), a deputy medical examiner who hates the living. Fiorentino brought a sardonic wit to the role which worked perfectly alongside K & J’s contrasting personas.

 

Throughout the film, K and J come across some truly wacky characters such as Frank the Pug (Tim Blaney) and Jack Jeebs (Tony Shalhoub), most them are played for laughs but add so much to the film.

Men in Black is cool adaptation of a little known comic book and I look forward to the third film coming out soon, 4.5/5

The Anonymous Critic