Will Smith Month - Men in Black II (2002)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. We're almost at the end of Will Smith Month, so let's dive into the second film of the Men in Black series: Men in Black II. Released in the summer of 2002, director Barry Sonnenfeld and actors Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Rip Torn, Tony Shaloub, and David Cross all return from the first film, and joining the cast this time around are Lara Flynn Boyle, Rosario Dawson, and Johnny Knoxville, with minor appearances by Patrick Warburton, Nick Cannon, Peter Graves, Biz Markie, and Michael Jackson. 

      So, the movie opens with a Twilight Zone esque television series called Mysteries in History, where host Peter Graves tells of a mission by the Men in Black in the year 1978. Apparently the people of the planet Zartha, led by Princess Lauranna, sought to hide their precious treasure, the Light of Zartha, from an evil Kylothian named Serleena. The MIB, not wanting to put the Earth in danger, are unable to intervene in the conflict, but are able to subdue Serleena, which allowed the Zarthans to escape and hide the Light elsewhere, with Serleena giving chase. 

        We then see, during the opening credits, Serleena's ship traversing the cosmos, destroying planets one by one. She ultimately returns to Earth in July of 2002, where she lands in Central Park in New York City, and takes on the form of a Victoria's Secret lingerie model, devours a man who tries to rape her, and regurgitates him for his pants, boots, and jacket. 

      We the cut to Agent J, and his new partner Agent T, who are sent after Jeff, a 600-foot worm who lives in the Subway system. After a lengthy effort, which sends him hurdling into a Subway train, J successfully stops Jeff, and neuralizes the train's passengers and driver. J rejoins T, and the two head to a local diner for pie, where J neuralizes T, and sets him up with a waitress. 

         Serleena, meanwhile, goes to see her two-headed associate Scrad, and his second head Charlie, who apparently know where someone with information about the Light of Zartha, which leads them to a Soho pizzeria, where the owner, Ben, names his one employee, Laura, as "employee of the month." Serleena arrives, demanding to know where the Light is, only for Ben (who's a Zarthan, tells how the Light will leave Earth the next night at midnight and return to Zartha. Enraged, Serleena kills Ben, and knows who to ask for the location of the Light next. 

         Back at MIB, J meets with Zed, who tells him of the incident, and berates I for repeatedly neuralizing MIB personnel. Frank the Pug, who's in the office with J and Zed, offers to be J's new partner, and the two head off to the pizzeria, where J learned the exact details from Laura. At the diner from before, Laura and J discuss the fact that Ben and his killers are, in fact, aliens. Unfortunately, J is called away before he can neuralize Laura, and he leaves for Central Park. At the park, J identifies the crashed ship, which is puny, as a Kylothian Class C ship, which Zed recognizes as belonging to Serleena. Zed breaks down how twenty-four years prior, the Zarthans came to Earth to hide the Light from Serleena, and Zed ordered his best Agent to send it off planet. Unfortunately, said Agent has no memory of the event, let alone of being an Agent. Yep, it turns out that K was the one that was assigned to send the Light of Zartha off planet, and Zed orders J to bring in K. 

        So, J and Frank head to the Trouro, Massachusetts post office, where K is Post Master, and reveal that everyone that works at the post office is an alien. K agrees to go with J and Frank to MIB, where Zed is speaking with an individual seeking to join MIB and possibly be Agent M. Zed welcomes K back, and has J get him suited up and sent to the de-neuralyzer to get his memory restored. Unfortunately, Serleena attacks MIB, sending the building into Code 101 Lockdown before the de-neuralyzer is activated. J and K are literally flushed out of the building, and end up in Times Square, where they head to where another de-neuralyzer is located: Jeebs' shop. 

        Serleena releases a cavalcade of alien prisoners, and sends them with Scrad & Charlie to locate K. Meanwhile, Jeebs takes J and K to a ramshackle de-neuralyzer to get K's memory restored. The machine initially doesn't appear to have worked, and the alien criminals arrive to find K, nearly breaking J in half of get the answer to where K is. Out in the street K looks around, stops himself from squashing a bug, and looks at the stars. Suddenly, remembering he's an MIB Agent, K saves J from the alien criminals, and the two head out to meet Laura at the pizzeria. K reveals he still has no memory of the Light of Zartha, but left a set of clues to retrace his steps. The first clue was a photo of himself with Ben, which has K pointing somewhere. J goes on a odd path which leads to a stash of anchovies filets, but K in the picture was pointing to a key to locker C-18 in Grand Central Station. To keep her safe, J and K take Laura to stay with the Worm Guys.

         Residing in the locker are tiny aliens, who worship K for leaving a watch behind for them, but they panic when he takes it back. J leaves his own watch for them, and they begin to praise him instead of K. K also picks up a business card for a video rental shop, where he and J go next, where the geeky owner, Newton, sets them up with the video of the Light of Zartha episode of Mysteries in History. Watching the episode, K begins to remember what really happened in 1978. On a rainy night, MIB Agents and Zarthans we're standing face-to-face with Serleena, with Lauranna begging I to help, as it would mean the end of Zartha if Serleena took the Light. K reminds her that to protect Earth, MIB had to stay neutral, and points to a rocket taking off, angering Serleena, who shoots and kills Lauranna. J and K head back to the Worm Guys to pick up Laura, only too late, as Scrad & Charlie already got to her, so J, K, and the Worm Guys to to pick up some weapons to break into MIB to stop Serleena and get Laura to where she needs to be. 

         After getting rid of Serleena, who is devoured by Jeff in the Subway, J, K, and Laura arrive on a rooftop, where K reveals that Laura is the Light: the daughter of Lauranna. Laura boards a pod bound for Zartha, and J and K finish off Serleena, and K uses his watch to activate a massive Neuralyzer inside the torch in the Statue of Liberty. Some time later, J and K catch up in the locker room at MIB, where it's revealed that the tiny aliens from Locker C-18 in Grand Central Station are now in J's locker. The movie ends with a shot that reveals that the Earth is tied to a locker room for several gigantic aliens. 

         So, Men in Black II is definitely just as fun as the first movie. I definitely enjoyed Lara Flynn Boyle as the villain of the movie, Serleena, I think that it was smart to give her ties with K. Both Rosario Dawson and Johnny Knoxville were great in this movie, and this movie was the first time I saw the two of them in anything. Returning cast members Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Rip Torn, Tony Shaloub, and David Cross were definitely great once again, and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes between J and K. 

         Rick Baker's designs for the aliens are definitely the real stars once again. I thoroughly enjoyed how unique each design was, and each one fits right in with the ones from the first movie. One thing I forgot to mention in my review of the first movie was the title song performed by Will Smith, which was a lot of fun. Well, he performs another song for the end credits of this movie, and while it's definitely a bop, it's not nearly as iconic as the first one. 

       Overall, Barry Sonnenfeld made a thoroughly enjoyable sequel to Men in Black. While some may not have enjoyed it nearly as much as the original, I had a lot of fun with it. So, I'm going to give Men in Black II a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll be wrapping up Will Smith Month this Monday with my review of Men in Black 3.