The noted screenwriter William Goldman believes that anyone who returns for a sequel of any kind is a whore, just in it for the money. This seems a little harsh, but with the amount of evidence to back up his theory, you have to think he has a point.
Case in point: Men in Black II. The original film was a wonderful little movie, with an interesting premise, likeable leads, good special affects, humour, and a story that didn’t outstay its welcome. The sequel isn’t any of those things. Well, the special affects are still good, but they seem to be the point of the story, instead of serving the story. And there is humour, only it is very strained, riffing on many of the same jokes from the first film. The story itself is some silly nonsense that doesn’t really make sense (an evil alien, disguised as a lingerie model, how funny, who wants something that will help her do some ill-defined bad things, but only Agent K, Tommy Lee Jones, has the answers to where this plot device is) and the narrative journey is rather dull. Agent J, Will Smith, makes some jokes, and lots of bizarre looking aliens wander in and out of the scenery, just to show off CGI and the make-up department.
It’s all much of a much-ness, really, and suffers from all the problems that sequels entail (everyone from the first film has to turn up, just because they were in the first film; special guest stars cameo just for the sake of being in the film; nothing new happens because the filmmakers are just doing the same thing all over again.) The twist they use to differentiate things is that, while the first film had K as the expert and J as the novice, MIIB has J as the seasoned veteran while K has no knowledge of his expertise (and, when you think of it, how do memories that were erased from K at the end of the first film get un-erased?) Only, that doesn’t last very long, as they feel that the original chemistry must return, with Jones playing straight-faced to Smith’s comedy antics. So, the feeling we are left with is that everyone involved just wanted to make some money, and William Goldman might be right.
Rating: DA
