Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Men in Black (1997) Review:


Right from the beginning of this film, the story grabs the viewer's attention because the audience will have no idea to what is going on. It is not until minutes later when everything is revealed. Even then, the audience will have questions galore. No problem folks, all your personal questions will be answered when Will Smith enters the equation. Once that happens, things speed up real fast.

Tommy Lee Jones (K) & Will Smith (J) pair up in this funny
Sci-fi comedy
Starring as the attractive lead in this film is Will Smith. Smith is New York cop who does his best to be the cop that he is. He's much better than his fellow officers, that's for sure. I love the way Smith talks. It seems very natural for him to talk the way he did. This is funny to watch because Smith's character has a wisecrack for almost any comment or explanation. Tommy Lee Jones plays the mentor of Smith. What makes Jones a good teacher is how he describes things, how he reacts to things, and how he handles things. It's all very serious but in a way, Jones is always goofing around. I really don't think he intends to, but that's how he comes off; as a joker. For example when he hands out the hand guns to Smith, he says "Series 4 De-atomizer". Smith's response, "Now that's what I'm talking about", but instead Smith is handed the "Noisy Cricket" which is not even big enough for a hand, more like your ring finger. Is Jones being serious, absolutely, but Smith doesn't know that! I was amazed that in the script they didn't have Smith go crazy trying to understand the logic behind every reason that was given.

Vincent D'Onofrio as Edgar....
a bug with some serious skin problems
Playing the villain, Edgar, is Vincent D'Onofrio. Really though he's not a villain, he's just one ugly bug-like alien. He's my favorite character in this film. The reason behind this is how his character is in general. The personality of Edgar is just plain rude. A rudeness where he just wants to get what he needs in a very cumbersome fashion. One of the best characteristics I like about Edgar is the way he walks. It's a very choppy walk, almost like he has ants in his pants (pardon the pun). Edgar too, has some really funny lines. And that's is just three characters! There is so much to see here, it is unbelievable. So many aliens, so many weapons, so much fun.

To wrap things up, this movie does have action, but it heavily relies on science related material. So the viewer will see a lot of explosions but that's because the Men in Black always have little trinkets up their sleeves that's not done the old fashion way. It's almost like they make reference to Inspector Gadget (1999) with all the tools they have at their disposal. The difference is that none of those things come flying out of their hats or something like that. The other great thing is the music, provided by the talented Danny Elfman. The main title itself is very catchy. The music has a very science fiction tone to it, which is good, because that magnified the feeling of it.

Men In Black has witty humor and great characters that can make all the scenes a blast (sometimes literally). As for the special effects, they have their own uniqueness that makes it irresistible to only see one at a time.

Points Earned --> 10:10

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