Too much of what they think we liked from the first...

Rating: 4/10 (28 June 2002)

I'm not going to summarize the movie, just give my reactions.

MIIB delivers exactly what the producers believe the audience wants. It brings back many of the same characters and effects, and most of the same sets, over and over. The makers found incredible success in the first film, so they took the safe--and bland--approach to the sequel.
Hey, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken have done the same thing and made billions.
But in MIIB, the jokes are flat and the plot is stale.
One example of more of the same: the funny looking alien in the pawn shop who can grow a new head. We get to see his head blown off and grow back twice. With only 90 minutes to fill, we get way too much of the same gags from the first film. (When you see the film, you can count 'em for yourself.)
Think about sequels that have offered a new dimension to a great idea: TEMPLE OF DOOM, ALIENS The new version of MEN IN BLACK offers nothing new, and in fact undermines what was so wonderful in the first movie, the humor, chemistry, and clever satire of government agencies, New Yorkers' apathy, and X-FILES.
The producers gave us more of what they thought we liked in the first oneand nothing else.