A Perfect Blend of Sci-Fi, Comedy, Action, and Will Smith at his Blockbuster Best

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2013)

Whenever I'm in a movie discussion with friends and the topic drifts towards top comic book movies, I really need to remember to start including MEN IN BLACK. Released in 1997, I suppose you could say it was the first real mainstream Marvel comic adaptation (remember, BLADE wasn't released until 1998). To be honest, I wasn't even aware that it even was based on a Marvel comic until many years later. I guess the series was pretty short-lived, and the movie doesn't really do much to remain faithful to the source material. Still, a comic movie it is and it remains one of my favorites. It's funny, there's some great action, and the effects continue to hold up well even now. The Men in Black are a top-secret government organization dedicated to monitoring and policing extraterrestrial activity on Earth. When his partner retires, Agent K (Jones) sees potential in NYPD officer James Edwards (Smith). He recruits Edwards and exposes him to the truth: aliens are out there and they just want to go about their lives. Well, most of them. Edwards, rechristened as Agent J, has got his work cut out for him on his first investigation. An interstellar bug has arrived on Earth with galaxy theft on his mind, and an Arquillian battle cruiser has settled into orbit with weapons powered and intent to destroy the planet if the MiB don't provide them with said galaxy. The problem is: where does one hide an entire galaxy in the city of New York? Agents J and K had better figure it out or they won't have long to regret it.
MEN IN BLACK comes from a time when Will Smith was king of the summer blockbuster. He was at the top of his money making game, and MEN IN BLACK is one of his best summer action hits. MEN IN BLACK has all of the ingredients for a hit that continues to entertain long after it's left theaters. First and foremost, it's got a perfect blend of action, comedy, and science fiction. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have perfect chemistry, with Smith doing his usual routine (or what once was his usual routine) and Jones as his no-nonsense partner/mentor in the life of a MiB agent. The Smith/Jones partnership is the only factor that remained cool well into the sequel, despite everything else about it failing miserably. The creature effects in this movie are, somehow, better than both sequels combined. I imagine it's because it relies more on practical effects and makeup for the various alien creatures populating this world. Rick Baker's creature effects in MEN IN BLACK are fantastic. Mikey (the illegal alien), the worms, the Arquillian ambassadorthe practical effects are the best effects. From the moment I first saw the original MEN IN BLACK, I'd hoped it would become an ongoing franchise. In my defense, that was before I knew how they'd nearly kill the franchise with the garbage that was MEN IN BLACK II. But there is still potential in the franchise; MEN IN BLACK 3 was nowhere near the train-wreck I was expecting and I would love for the series to continue on with new agents and the right writer/director.
What a new MEN IN BLACK will need that the second film forgot was a strong villain. The original movie had a great alien baddie: a giant cockroach crammed in the skin of a white trash human farmer named Edgar, as played by Vincent D'Onofrio. D'Onofrio was great, giving Edgar a host of bizarre ticks and stiff movements with a full-on hatred for humankind. Then there is Linda Fiorentino as local mortician Laurel Weaver, who's only really there for plot purposes. She's also supposed to fill the role of a possible love interest for Agent J, but nothing really comes of it and, come to think of it, she doesn't really do anything in the movie. I guess Weaver could be seen as the weakest link in the film. Weak love interest aside, the rest of the film is populated with appropriately weird faces to fill it out. Rip Torn is Zed, head of the MiB, and Tony Shalhoub is intergalactic arms dealer and local pawnbroker Jack Jeebs. MEN IN BLACK is still a lot of fun more than ten years since it was originally released. After having watched the original again after so many years and finding that I love it just as much as when I saw it the first time, I think the series is due for a reboot with new agents and new sci-fi craziness.