Men in Black (1997)
Seen on 3 July 1997 with Andrea for $8.75 at the SONY 84th St. theatre, where MiB played in all six threatres.
My initial fear: Once again I was going on opening weekend to an already overhyped movie, another idiotic supersummermegablockbuster with "hit" written all over it simply because a lot of money has been put into advertising and Newsweek has seen fit to ignore North Korean famine and put Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones on their cover last week.
Needless to say I was very pleasantly surprised.
The writing was quickly paced and witty; the special effects were excellent; all the performances on target. The likelihood of a sequel welcome. The only thing missing, thank god, were the fag jokes.
In *Men in Black*, Earth is a planet-sized safe house for a variety of aliens, most of whom are conveniently located in the New York Metropolitan Area. A special unit, the Men in Black, keep track of alien activity and keep the world "safe for humanity." This involves chasing down renegades and making humans forget they ever saw anything. This has some emotional price, though: all MiBs must cut off all ties with their lives and dedicate themselves to their task, using the *Star* and the *National Enquirer* as authoritative news sources.
Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) recruits NYPD officer James Edwards (who becomes Jay) t. His agility and offbeat ways suit their needs, and K and Zed (Rip Torn) decide to mold him into one of their agents.
By the second day on the job, though, the world is in danger, and it is up to J and K to save it. They inadvertently get help from Laurel (Linda Fiorentino), a NYC coroner who prefers the dead, and sometimes a cat, to the most living humans.
Just as Jay and Kay are introduced in dramatic fashion, so is the villain, whose ship crashes into farmer Edgar's (Vincent D'Onofrio) truck. Edgar's body is quickly used as a host to an intergalactic giant cockroach who has come to assassinate an alien royal and start interplanetary war. He sort of "deteriorates" along they way, so the talented but hard to place D'Onofrio (Household Saints, Full Metal Jacket) is even harder to place here, as his voice sounds more like Christopher Lloyd's than his own.
There is something joyous about a movie that hits so many marks so well. The dialogue crackles without sagging under innuendo (like Batman & Robin). The opening sequence, accompanied by Danny Elfman's score (great as always), draws you in, and almost every scene succeeds, whether it is involving special effects, sight gags, or truly evocative mise-en-scene (note the later scene in the coroner's office). New York City is used in every outdoor shot, but it is not the New York people are used to seeing in the movies--the Bridge and Tunnel Authority building, the armory on 25th Street, the rotting ruins of the 1964 World's Fair (used in the finale).
Men in Black comes at a perfect time, when UFO movies abound, The X Files is part of the national consciousness, and the Roswell incident celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. It's a relief not to see the "unravelling conspiracy" scenario for the umpteenth time, and it's fun to watch Jones, Smith, Fiorentino, and Torn chew the scenery.
Major Motiion Picture Distractions: Sat next to a man who sucked his teeth and laughed like the cartoon character Muttley. I am sure that explained his sex appeal, as he had a young lady friend in tow. He snacked on pretzel nuggets and spilled salt all over his pants. How dreamy.
Copyright 1997 Seth J. Bookey, New York, NY 10021
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8588/kino.html
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