Terrific sci-fi comedy with stylish special effects stealing the show...

Rating: 7/10 (16 February 2007)

For sheer entertainment, MEN IN BLACK hits the jackpot with its stylish and startling CGI effects--and is no slouch in the acting department either, with TOMMY LEE JONES and WILL SMITH making a great buddy team.
Based on a Marvel comic book, it's really a series of well staged encounters with aliens as Jones and Smith attempt to save the galaxy from extinction by being able to cope with alien terrorists in our midst. No easy matter, since Smith is a rookie on the job, stumbling onto it by accident after his stunning chase scene wherein he has a brief encounter with a thing he recognizes has super capabilities. He's soon being groomed for the job of sidekick to Jones, having proved his mettle in that chase.
The wisecracks back and forth never stop, the gadgets are fascinating, the plot wildly improbable--but most of it is enough to cause more than a few chuckles of laughter, if not hilarity. LINDA FIORENTINO does nicely as a sassy morgue doctor exchanging some double entendre quips with Smith as they examine one of the aliens.
Aside from all the sight gags and some inside jokes at the expense of some well-known celebs, the visual splendor of the film and its New York City settings will grab your attention. A nifty score by Danny Elfman provides some appropriately zestful background music and it's all meant to be nothing more than pop culture entertainment for the masses--which it is.
WILL SMITH gets to do most of the physical stunts in what has to be one of his most strenuous roles among all the action films he's done. Jones has his share of derring do--and the scene where he gets gulped down the gullet of a giant bug is quite a sight--and, of course, he lives to tell about it.
The comic book capers of the MEN IN BLACK should please most fans of sci-fi fiction tinged with outrageous humor.