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WILL SMITH, TOMMY LEE JONES, LARA FLYN BOYLE, RIP TORN

D: BARRY SONNEFELD

The worst thing about this movie is not the movie itself but the fact that I was watching 2001: a space odyssey on tv and had to turn if off in order to make it to theatre on time.  Now it wouldn't be fare to compare the two films.  2001 is about ideas and the place of man in the universe. MIB II was created mearly to entertain and blow our minds with effects and funny scenes.  On that level I guess it is a mild success.  The movie is basically nothing more than a remake of the original with Agents J and K teaming up once again to stop a viscous alien and save the world from total inalation.  To the movies defence it's not really set on telling an enthralling story or opening our eyes into some import issue.  It mearly wants to set up one liners and provide a backdrop for Smith and Jones to play off of each other.  A complicated plot I completely understand would have distracted from the main goal.  Like most big budget failures the blaim lies not in the actors or director but in the screenwriters.  The entire movie you just set there waiting for something exciting to happen and all you get is some leftover garbage that wouldn't have passed on the cartoon series.  
  The actors do the best they can do with the material but it's an impossible job.  Will Smith ends up just playing himself and Tommy looks plain old bored.  Poor Laura is given not one good line of dialouge the entire movie.  The director does a good job to keep the pace up and to his credit your never really bored.  The main highlights come from Frank the dog and the worm guys.  Its easy to tell where the writers mind was focussed.  The special effects!  
  The real reason to see the movie is for all the aliens and the overall sleek look of the film.  That ofcourse is a given  since it is a Men in Black movie.  So go see the movie and think about all the great ideas that could have been put on the screen with all that money and great talent.