Like other mid-late 90s movies, this one is hard to please.

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 1998)

Of all the big movies released in the uncertain 1990s, FORREST GUMP, JURASSIC PARK, TOY STORY, and CLUELESS (no joke!) set all-time high water marks in innovation and creativity that equals up to timelessness. Not so with MEN IN BLACK! The costume designs and attitudes of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones was what made it original, making this a franchise worth a hot sell, but that's the whole problem! This was Sony's finest hour back in the summer of 1997 after striving through miserable flops at the box office, only to have stumbled again with the high-tech remake of GODZILLA combined with more than $50 million of promotional advertising. Nobody wins in a game of risk when a product lacks the expectations we take for granted! It's a crying shame that Will "Fresh Prince" Smith's oddball acting performance kept INDEPENDENCE DAY from being a true bona fide science fiction classic, so you know what to expect from him in this movie. I'll wish him good luck on his successful music recording career. The visuals look duplicated as with other recent efforts on a budget of $70 million and the action is mighty scarce. Why in the hell does Hollywood have to blow excess dough on special effects? Just so that the audience can say "WOW!" or "IT LOOKS GOOD!" and keep coming back to the movie theater? The answer is a simple NO!! Even if MEN IN BLACK has the wow factor and looks good, it has no redeeming quality! Despite the luxury it has, the typically stupid jokes and puns contained here means it's branded as a "comedy", a very mainstream but tiring Hollywood genre with virtually no taste. Expect the usual things come the sequel. The future outlook is going to be terribly bleak for the big studios due to the fact that big budget movies will have all show and no go, combined with huge marketing campaigns worth millions. Sony isn't the only one in the red, though. Warner needs to focus more on how not to make a flop instead of endless campaigning over BATMAN movies!