Boxed Movie Sets: Men in Black and Men in Black II

NYPD means I will knock Yo Punkass Down!

The Commonalities
Both movies star Will Smith as Agent J, and Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K. The premise is a top secret operation designed to integrate various alien life forms into Earth society... without the knowledge of Earth. The agents employed by this agency are known as The men in black. You've heard the rumors... see a space ship? Watch out! The scary guys all in black will soon be visiting to wipe out your memory. This urban legend is the basis of our two wonderful movies.

You don't matter...in fact, in about 20 seconds you're not even gonna be matter

This 1997 blockbuster, and it's 2002 sequel, were both directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the man who also gave us Wild Wild West and Get Shorty as well as being the cinematographer on Throw Momma from the Train and Raising Arizona. Pretty hard for Sonnenfeld to go wrong with actors like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. His background as a cinematographer no doubt helped him to visualize and execute this script exactly as he wanted it.

Men In Black is Rated PG-13 for language and sci-fi violence, (and the same for Men in Black II) with some provocative humor tossed into the mix. Bah I say. These are both fine for any age.

Men In Black

Where it all begins. Pretty much everyone likes this one to some degree. Agent K (Jones) is a seasoned veteran of the agency and must train a new recruit into the business, Agent J (Smith). The comedy is just non-stop in this movie. Plenty of groaners and laugh-out-loud moments while the two get to know each other and try to save the world from some not-so-nice aliens.

Jones and Smith both do a bang-up job. Smith's sometimes over-the-topidness (it's a word, I used it, you knew what I meant) combines with Jones' understated dry humor like bananas and ice cream: A perfect match.

Men in Black II

Here lies the bone of contention, and the reason for this review. I cannot believe the number of great reviewers that have slammed this one. Maybe I'm just warped, but I loved it!

Silly little planet. Anyone could take over the place with the right set of mammary glands.

This sequel deals with Agent K (Jones) having retired to work for the Post Office. Upon his retirement, as with all agents, his memory of his time in the agency has been erased. Just one problem...there's a new emergency and only he can save the world! Agent J (Smith) is now the top-of-heap and it's up to him to jog K's memory and get the job done.

Jarra, you are under arrest for being that ugly, and for making that many copies!

Again, in my eyes, a stellar comedic performance by both Smith and Jones. This one was released in 2002, five years after the original... yet they step into their roles like it was yesterday. I had just as much fun watching this one as I did the first one. Call me a rebel.

So what's with anal probing?

The DVD
Each movie has two discs. On each movie disc you will find the movie itself and a commentary by Barry Sonnenfeld.

The second disc to each is chalk full of interesting things such as a Creating Men in Black, Visual Effects Scene Deconstructions, Extended & Alternate Scenes, Scene Editing Workshop, Art & Animation and Meet The Men in Black on MIB.

Men in Black II's second disc contains an alternate ending, Will Smith music video, and a blooper reel, along with exclusives such as Take Two: Looping Men in Black II, Alien Esoterica, Barry Sonnenfeld's Intergalactic Guide to Comedy and various specials on the different alien character like Jeff the Worm and Frank the Pug.

There is just waaaay too many extras to list here and if you liked the movies, you will spend many hours enjoying all these very interesting features. There is also a MIIB Crossfire game on the DVD-ROM of MIIB which I have not played yet, but most likely will. There are a total of 15 extras that are supposedly exclusive to this boxed set.

We're not hosting an intergalactic kegger down here.

I highly recommend this Men in Black boxed set. There is enough fun here to make an entire weekend out of it. Throw a theme party! I personally feel that this set is just extreme fun and do not understand the flack on the second movie at all. I don't recall what we paid for this set, but it was worth every penny.