Men in Black II (2002)

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

Director:

Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers:

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

Stars:

Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Rip Torn

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Kay
Will Smith	...	Jay
Rip Torn	...	Zed
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Serleena
Johnny Knoxville	...	Scrad / Charlie
Rosario Dawson	...	Laura Vasquez
Tony Shalhoub	...	Jack Jeebs
Patrick Warburton	...	Agent Tee
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

Storyline

Kay and Jay reunite to provide our best, last and only line of defense against a sinister seductress who levels the toughest challenge yet to the MIBs untarnished mission statement: protecting the earth from the scum of the universe. It's been four years since the alien-seeking agents averted an intergalactic disaster of epic proportions. And now it's a race against the clock as Jay must convince Kay-who not only has absolutely no memory of his time spent with the Men In Black, but is also the only living person left with the expertise to save the galaxy-to reunite with the MIB before the earth submits to ultimate destruction.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | lingerie model | lingerie | planet | pug | 

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Taglines:

Back In Black.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Columbia [us] - info,trailer (Flash) Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 July 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

MIB 2

Filming Locations:

American Museum of Natural History - Central Park West and 79th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$2,254,566 (Italy) (13 September 2002)

Gross:

£22,018,371 (UK) (27 September 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Amblin Entertainment, MacDonald/Parkes Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original ending of the film included a scene in which the World Trade Center towers opened up, releasing a swarm of UFOs into the air. Following the towers' destruction, the film's ending was changed. Unfortunately this meant the film had a short running time, so when it was shown in theaters it was packed with trailers and the short film The Chubbchubbs! to fill the gap.

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Goofs

When we first see Serleena's ship, we see Jay reflected on the ship. In the reflection we see him using the communicator and talking to Zed (with one hand up to his ear) which doesn't happen until a few shots later.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mysteries in History Narrator: Mysteries in History with your host, Peter Graves!
Peter Graves: Although no one has ever been able to prove their existence, a quasi-government agency known as the Men in Black supposedly carries out secret operations here on Earth in order to keep us safe from aliens throughout the galaxies. Here is one of their stories that never happened, from one of their files that doesn't exist...

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Crazy Credits

In the Chilean version of the film, at the end of the movie they show the "Nod Your Heads" music video for the movie, and afterwards the cast credits appear.

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Connections

Featured in Barry Sonnenfeld's Intergalactic Guide to Comedy (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Who Let The Dogs Out"
Written by Anselm Douglas
Performed by Baha Men
Courtesy of S-Curve Records

User Reviews

A huge step down from the original.

Sequels are almost inherently inferior to their original films. The reason that a sequel is ever made is because the original film was a huge success and therefore people want to see more, but at the same time have developed high expectations from the original film, expectations which are rarely if ever completely fulfilled. In my opinion, every sequel has a right not to live up to the original that it followed, but Men In Black II abuses the privilege almost as much as Austin Powers has already done twice so far. Roger Ebert makes an interesting comment in his review of Men In Black II, stating that the original was so enormously successful because it was unexpected and we had not seen anything like it, while the second one is a rehash of the original, and now we HAVE seen something like it. The expected result is that, like the two Austin Powers sequels, what we have here is little more than an extension of the same jokes that we saw in the original film.

The entire cast has come back, of course, since this is guaranteed to be a hugely popular film (although at the same time guaranteed to be an artistic failure), and we also see a few more introductions to the cast of actors and artists with flailing careers like Lara Flynn Boyle and even Michael Jackson, who embarrasses himself in the film by playing the part of someone desperately trying to secure himself a position as one of the Men In Black (`I can be Agent M! Pleeeeeeeeeease???'). Naturally, everything that got a laugh in the original film is milked to death here, although not entirely without effect. I thought it was really funny when K blows off Jeebs' head (feeding off of one of the more amusing scenes from the original during J's introduction to the aliens amongst whom he lives), and J asks him how he knew that Jeebs' head would grow back if his memory had not been restored, and K replies, `It grows back?' Not very creative, but certainly amusing.

The movie has its strong points, I am not saying that it was a stone-faced bore, but the problem is that it completely feeds off of whatever was successful about the original film. There is virtually nothing creative presented in this film, it is much talkier and drier than the original and doesn't seem to have a personality of its own. MIB followed an alien disguised as a redneck named Edgar as he tries to get his hands on a galaxy that is small enough to fit on a cat's collar. In the second film, we not only have a charm on a bracelet that is the most sought-after item in the film, but we also catch a couple of overly brief glances at some tiny populations of life forms that are able to fit into an airport locker but are still not able to secure themselves a larger part in this film, which chooses instead to entertain us with a talking dog. How's that again? Why is it that there were so many interesting creatures in the original film but this one gives us a quick glimpse of some fascinating creatures but then tries to distract us with the talking (and sometimes singing) antics of a tiny dog, which had just the right size role in the original film?

Things like this and the fact that the movie had nothing new to add to the Men In Black story bring the quality of MIIB way down, leaving it to tag along behind its predecessor like an annoying little sister. We already know there is going to be a Men In Black III (hey, if they made a second sequel after the ridiculous Austin Powers 2…), so we can only hope that the producers and director will take a little more time in deciding how to entertain us and what kinds of life forms to focus on, because this was entirely overlooked in this sequel. Even the enormously sexy Boyle was not comfortable on her role and therefore unconvincing as an alien villain in disguise (indeed, it was more convincing that the writers were so unconfident in their script that they felt the need to gloss it over with a sexy villain than it was that she was a threat to the MIB), and Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones had little to nothing to work with in their roles. There is still something left to be salvaged in the Men In Black story. Like the story for Hollow Man, there are nearly endless possibilities, but they were unfortunately largely ignored in this film. At least it's all uphill from here…