Surprisingly funny!

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2003)

I rented this because I was in desperate need of something mindless, silly, and (hopefully) funny. I knew it would be mindless, and I hoped it would be silly. What a pleasant surprise that it was also funny.
As a sequel, MIB 2 was inspired. After all, no one was going to laugh at the set up again. More of the same would be--ell, more of the same. So what makes it a good sequel is the humor--particularly the great sense of the timing on the jokes. This is true comic writing and comic cinematic direction.
The autopilot, for example, is a perfect, wordless joke--brilliantly conceived and executed. And the train station locker is another, off-the-wall concept--unexpected and unusual.
Another directorial success is in not having Jones exactly reprise his character. His interpretation of the disgruntled, skeptical, and authoritarian postmaster is both dead-pan and inspired--timing, again. K is both crabbier and more in control than he was before his nebulizaiton, even though he has to cope with being 5 years behind on the MIB technology.

He is still sad and wistful about his role in the universe; and moreover, things have happened to him in his 5 years off the force, things that they tell on his personality. Kudos to Jones and Sonnenfeld for sketching in these changes.
There are also some nice one liners. I won't repeat them, because then you won't find them funny. But check out J's response to the dog's advice on romance. Pure wit, crude and simple.
To top it off, this movie is short enough not to wear out its welcome, and is not extended with interminable shoot-em-ups and car chases.