MEN IN BLACK
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Men in Black (1997) ***1/2 out of ***** - Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Rip Torn, Vincent D'onofrio. Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld. Running Time: 98 minutes.
Finally a decent summer movie has arrived. Not a great one, but decent. But as far as the summer of 1997 is concerned, decent is equal to greatness.
"Men in Black" is probably this summer's most hyped film. In it, secret government agents are responsible for monitoring all alien activity here on earth. Yes, it seems aliens have been amongst us for years now. Smith is a New York cop who unknowingly chases down an alien, and Jones recruits him to join the secret organization.
The film does two things right, it's basic premise and the script. The concept is refreshingly original and the dialogue is very funny. What it fails at is character development and the actual story itself. Any details of this secret organization are hardly mentioned, and we are led to believe that there are only two actual agents in this group. Not much, but just a tiny bit of development for the two main leads would have been nice.
As far as the meat of the story goes, an evil alien comes to earth to get a little jewel or something he needs for some reason. That is how clear that part gets. This evil alien, who earlier in the film is really built up to be a forceful presence, crashes his ship into earth (if aliens are so advanced, why are they always crashing into earth?) and attempts to use the body of a farmer (D'onofrio) to blend in. I use the word "attempts" because for the whole movie D'onofrio staggers around grotesquely disfigured because the skin doesn't quite fit the alien's body, or the alien doesn't really have a handle on how to use it. It's partly amusing to watch, but overall it seems to defeat the purpose of even having a villain. Do we care if the slothing mutant gets whatever it is he needs or if Jones and Smith stop him? There's never any sense of danger whatsoever. You can make a zany movie like this and still have a threat to deal with in the end, just take a look at "Ghostbusters". And the film's final scenes are just plain wrong, as it goes in all sorts of different directions, none of which did it need to go in.
Unfortunately, some of the special effects aren't created well, and do not interact well with the scenes they are used in. The filmmakers should have studied the computer effect techniques from "Mars Attacks!", as those are still some of the most flawless interactive computer effects I've seen.
"Men in Black" does entertain however, despite it's flaws. Jones and Smith have some great lines, and there's a scene where Jones forceably interrogates a small dog that's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. It's a fun flick, as summer movies should be. [PG-13]
-- Chuck Dowling --
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