[7/15/2002 11:24:56 PM | Andy Kovacs]
Men In Black II

I loved the movie Men In Black. My only problem with that movie, one of the better sci-fi movies in a while, in my opinion, was that it was too short. it rang in at very close to 90 minutes. The movie felt rushed, but it was still a good summer popcorn flick. It was smart, fun and quasi-original. I liked how it seemingly lampooned its own genre at times. I thought that the chemistry between the three principals (J, K and L) was near perfect. The special effects were very good and the humor was natural.

Men In Black II, however, had only one thing in common with the original: the running time was too short. At 88 minutes, MIB 2 felt very rushed. The characters didn't have a chance to say no, to argue or to even debate whether or not their course of action would be good or bad. the humor was contrived and very forced. I really regret having seen the trailers and the commercials over and over again because i knew almost all of the funny parts already.

The chemistry between Jay and Kay wasn't there this time, either. Maybe because Kay wasn't introduced until about 1/3 of the way through the film and didn't get his memory back until very close to the final conflict, during which the two leads were mostly separated.

Of course, the special effects were very good, but that wasn't enough to save this monstrosity. You would think that, having five years to work on this movie, the producers would have been able to come up with something a bit better. Such is Hollywood.

Oh well. I was really hoping I'd like this film. I really wanted to. But I just couldn't. I don't recommend this movie. I'd give it * star out of 4.