MEN IN BLACK II

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, Rosario Dawson, Lara Flynn Boyle and Johnny Knoxville
Director: Barry Sonnenfield
Running Time: 88 mins
Certificate: PG

Available to buy on DVD 27th January

A spaceship, which has left a trail of destruction on its journey through the universe, lands in Central Park. The most dangerous alien in the MIB files, Serleena (Boyle), has returned to Earth looking for something the Men In Black hid from her twenty-five years earlier. As she attacks MIB headquarters Agent Jay (Smith) has to find the only man who knows what she is after and where it is located. That man is MIB legend, Agent Kay (Jones). The only problem is that he is now a postal worker called Kevin who has no idea of his former life.

After five years the Men In Black are back and we are greeted with more of the same Sci-fi fun. The much delayed sequel has been along time coming but fans of the first one will not be disappointed as this is more of the same. All the hallmarks that made the first film such a huge hit are back with the Worm Aliens and Frank the talking dog both returning and the guns and gadgets are bigger than ever.

After a brief update to the story and the introduction of the new villain, it does take awhile to get up to pace but the movie comes alive as soon as Tommy Lee Jones returns to the adventure. Will Smith seems to be on autopilot until Jones returns but when he does the chemistry is back with abundance and the film seems to shift up a gear.

The main disappointment is the special effects. You can't fault Rick Baker's amazing makeup effects and alien creations but the computer-generated imagery in parts is truly awful. Lara Flynn Boyle and Johnny Knoxville's characters are extremely poor and the opening sequence looks like something that was produced 10 years ago. Whether this was anything to do with the rumoured extensive re-shots after September 11th or ILM not having enough time to truly live up to their extremely high standards we will never now but you'd expect more from a movie of this size.

This aside, the movie is just as much fun as the first one. While is doesn't really improve on it and does retread a lot of the same ground, you can forgive it when the chemistry between the characters as good as ever. Lets hope its isn't as long until the third time we get protected from the scum of the Universe.

Disc 1:
Audio commentary from director Barry Sonnenfeld with Telestrator diagrams, Men In Black training video, The award-winning Chubb Chubb's short film, Theatrical trailers, 'Alien Escape' Infogrames trailer and Alien broadcast

Disc 2:
Alternative ending, Blooper reel, 'Creature Feature' featurettes, 'Behind The Scenes' featurettes, including 'Rick Baker: Alien Maker', Multi-angle scene deconstructions, Director Barry Sonnenfeld's guide to intergalactic comedy, 'Black Suits Coming (Nod Ya Head)' music video from Will Smith ,Filmographies, Photo gallery & DVD-Rom features