Oh dear!

Rating: Null/10 (11 August 2002)

I went to see this film for my younger brother's 18th birthday - his choice not mine. I am a fan of the first film. The partnership of young-blood Will Smith (Jay) and veteran Tommy Lee Jones (Kay) was a surprising success and the special effects were fantastic. Sadly, Barry Sonnenfeld has been unable to recapture the magic that made MIB1 such as success.
The Smith/Jones partnership that had been such a success in the first film simply wasn't rekindled. As some have already said, Smith has returned to his Fresh Prince roots and has become, in my opinion, irritating and childish! Tommy Lee Jones, an otherwise fine actor, was obviously drawn by dollar signs, as his poor performance demonstrates (although his performance is by far the more memorable of the two). Rip Torn (Zed) is the cast's only remaining asset and the new faces in the film are pretty poor. Vincent D'Onofrio's villain is replaced with yet another 'bug-in-human form', Serleena, this time played by the nonentity Lara Flynn Boyle. Her character is completely wooden and nowhere near as effective as D'Onofrio. She is partnered up with a crappy two-headed counterpart, called Scrad, who, as usual, is a complete idiot. Scrad was also the subject of a bizarre casting decision, as Sonnenfeld opted for MTV's Jackass-star, Johnny Knoxville. Knoxville doesn't perform too badly but there is nothing in the least bit compelling about his character.
The lifeless Rosario Dawson comes in as Smith's new love-interest and he falls in love with her within seconds of meeting her. There is absolutely no chemistry between them, unlike there was between Smith and Linda Fiorentino in MIB1. Add to this a surprisingly poor performance from Tony Shalhoub (reprising his Jeebs role) and a nauseating nerd character (David Cross) and you're left with nothing to keep you interested. This situation is compounded by the mandatory array of stupid alien characters (worst of all was the one with testicles on his face), those annoying worms, and Frank the Pug, who begins to grit within ten minutes. The only useful addition was that of Tee, played by Patrick Warburton, but he is dispensed with in the first fifteen minutes (perhaps Smith feeling deservedly threatened). It was Warburton who made me laugh and after he disappeared I sat stony-faced through the rest. Smith just made me cringe.
I was prepared for this film to be crap. Sequels always are. However, MIB2 manages to retain the essence of the first film but it doesn't recapture the pace and I think most people will prefer the original. The story is just a recycled version of the original, with all the style and wit removed, and the script is absolutely dire! Anything memorable or original about this film you will have already seen in the trailer. No doubt this francise will just be hammered into the ground until the studios are absolutely positive that it's no longer profitable. Like the Austin Power's films, MIB3 will doubtlessly be the death-knell for the Men in Black but, like the Aliens films, they'll probably make a fourth anyway.
Stick with the original.
3/10.