| Men in Black II | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by | Robert Gordon |
| Based on | The Men in Black byLowell Cunningham |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Greg Gardiner |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $140 million[1] |
| Box office | $445.1 million[1] |
Men in Black II (stylized asMIIB) is a 2002 Americanscience fictionaction comedy film based on theMarvel Comics seriesof a similar name based on theconspiracy theory. Produced byColumbia Pictures andAmblin Entertainment in association with MacDonald/Parkes Productions, and distributed bySony Pictures Releasing, it is the sequel toMen in Black (1997) and the second installment in theMen in Black film series. The film was directed byBarry Sonnenfeld from a screenplay byRobert Gordon andBarry Fanaro, and it starsTommy Lee Jones andWill Smith, withLara Flynn Boyle,Johnny Knoxville,Rosario Dawson,Tony Shalhoub, andRip Torn in supporting roles. It also featuredMichael Jackson's last feature film appearance before his death in 2009. In the film, the emergence of an alien threat reunitesKevin Brown / Agent K (Jones) andJames Darrell Edwards III / Agent J (Smith).
Development for a sequel film began following the box office success of the original; Jones, Smith, and Sonnenfeld's returns were confirmed by 2001, andDavid Koepp was initially hired to write the screenplay. Koepp then left production to work onSpider-Man (2002) and was replaced with Gordon, who developed the script and story further. Fanaro was later brought in to perform some final rewrites to Gordon's treatment.Principal photography began on June 11, 2001, and lasted until that September, taking place primarily inNew York City; filming was delayed and several scenes were reworked following theSeptember 11 attacks that month. Thefilm's soundtrack contained thetheme song "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)", performed by Smith. Aside from this song, composerDanny Elfman, who scored the first film, returned to compose its sequel.
Men in Black II premiered atMann Village Theater inWestwood, Los Angeles on June 26, 2002, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 3. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, who deemed it inferior to its predecessor, but praised Jones's and Smith's performances and action sequences. Nonetheless, it was a financial success, grossing $445.1 million worldwide and becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2002. Its sequel,Men in Black 3, was released in 2012 to an improved critical and commercial response.
In flashbacks, a group of aliens called Zarthans, led by Princess Lauranna, travel to Earth and beg the Men in Black (MIB) organization for help in guarding a powerful item called the Light of Zartha before ashapeshifting alien called Serleena gets it. Due to their neutral status, the MIB refuse beforeAgent K seemingly sends the Light off-world in a rocket. An angered Serleena kills Lauranna and leaves to pursue it.
In 2002, five years after joining the MIB,[a]Agent J has become one of its best agents while developing a reputation forneuralyzing partners he feels are emotionally unfit to cope with the work. Serleena returns after being informed by a two-headed alien named Scrad and Charlie that the Light is still on Earth and forces them to help her find it. She later kills a Zarthanpizzeria owner named Ben, who refuses to tell her where the Light is. While investigating Ben's murder, J develops an attraction towards a witness named Laura. J breaks MIB protocol and chooses not to neuralyze her. Investigating further, J later discovers that K hid the Light on Earth.
Due to K having been neuralyzed five years ago before retiring, no one knows where the Light is. J finds K serving aspostmaster ofTruro, Massachusetts and convinces him to return after exposing his coworkers as disguisedextraterrestrials. J brings K to MIB's headquarters to use the deneuralyzer machine to restore his memories. However, Serleena, Scrad, and Charlie attack the facility, forcing the pair to escape and find Jack Jeebs, an alienpawnbroker who built an illegal deneuralyzer. Although the machine works, K fails to remember the Light as he had neuralyzed himself and those memories have not returned. Nonetheless, he left himself a series of clues. After locating a locker key at the pizzeria and leaving Laura with a group of alien worms for her safety, the pair head toGrand Central Terminal, where they find a locker containing a society of tiny aliens who worship K as their deity and developed a religion around a video store membership card.
Visiting the store, the owner shows them a fictionalized version of the MIB's previous encounter with the Light and Serleena. K remembers what really happened, but only tells J that the Light must leave Earth within one hour or Earth will be destroyed. J believes the Light is Laura's bracelet, which is now glowing. The pair head back to the worms, only to learn Serleena attacked them and kidnapped Laura. Joined by the worms, the agents infiltrate and retake MIB headquarters and rescue Laura before escaping to return the Light. Serleena chases them across Manhattan until J tricks her into being eaten by Jeff, a gigantic worm-like alien living in thesubway.
Guided by Laura's bracelet, the agents locate a Zarthan transport ship, where K reveals Laura is the Light and Lauranna's daughter before convincing J to let her go so she can save Earth and Zartha. As Laura is about to leave, Serleena makes another attempt at seizing her, having assimilated Jeff, but K and J kill Serleena. K uses a giant neuralyzer hidden in theStatue of Liberty's torch to erase New York's populace's memories of Serleena's actions.
Despite some initial involvement fromDavid Koepp (who left to work onPanic Room andSpider-Man),[2] the script was written by Robert Gordon and later revised by Barry Fanaro, who added pop culture references, something which Gordon had deliberately avoided.[3] Barry Sonnenfeld took issue with the producers' focus on the love story between Will Smith's and Rosario Dawson's characters, saying that "I learned onWild Wild West that audiences didn't want to see Will as the straight man. And until Tommy comes back into the movie, by definition Will's the straight man." Fanaro condensed the first part of the film and brought Agent K in earlier.[2]Famke Janssen was originally cast as Serlenna, but dropped out due to personal issues, Lara Flynn Boyle was hired to replace her.[4][5] Michael Jackson wanted to be in the film, Sonnenfield initially wanted Jackson to cameo as an alien, but he refused as he wanted cameo in the MIB suit which convinced Sonnenfield.[6]
Principal photography began on June 11, 2001, and ended on September 23, 2001. The climax of the story was originally filmed against a backdrop of the twin towers of the originalWorld Trade Center; but after theSeptember 11 attacks, the climactic scene was completely redone to being at theStatue of Liberty.[7] Other scenes incorporating views of the twin towers likewise were edited, or reshot.[8][9] Filming forMen in Black II was also suspended due to the attacks.[10]
Supervising sound editorSkip Lievsay used aSynclavier to recreate and improve the original recording of the neuralyzer sound effect from the first film (which was the sound of a strobe flash as it recycles) by removing some distortion.[11] For some of the scenes with the Serleena creature, the sound crew "took tree branches, put them inside a rubber membrane and pushed that around and added some water."[11] For the special effects scene where the subway train is attacked by Jeff the Worm, a specially designed vise was used to crush a subway car and make it look as if it had been bitten in half.[3]
Unlike the first film and the1997 animated series,Men in Black II did not feature Agent L who was played byLinda Fiorentino, even though the character had a prominent role in the latter. It was briefly mentioned in the film that Agent J had her neuralyzed because she wanted to go back to working at the morgue. According to producer Laurie MacDonald, the studio did not consider her a permanent character in the franchise and decided to remove her from the sequel. There were also reports suggesting that Fiorentino was difficult to work with and supposedly Jones' refusal to work with her.[12][13]
The motion picture soundtrack toMen In Black II was released on June 25, 2002, byColumbia Records.[14]
In October 2001, the first photos forMen in Black II were revealed. A teaser trailer premiered in December 2001, which was attached to the screenings ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring andAli.[15] Just four months later in April 2002, a new trailer was released online. It made its debut in theaters on May 3 with the release ofSpider-Man.[16]
Burger King began selling a variety of kids meal toys themed to the film at their restaurants.[17] Several action figures were also released byHasbro at theNorth American International Toy Fair event.[18]
Avideo game partly based on the film was released in 2002, titledMen in Black II: Alien Escape.[19]
Men In Black II was released onDVD andVHS on November 26, 2002,[20] and onBlu-ray on May 1, 2012. It came with an alternate ending where J is sent to the homeworld of the aliens from Grand Central Station.[21]
In the United Kingdom, the film was watched by 710,000 viewers onsubscription television channelSky Movies 1 in 2004, making it the year's eighth most-watched film on subscription television.[22]
The entireMen in Black series was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on December 5, 2017.[23]
Released theatrically on July 3, 2002,Men in Black II earned $18.5 million on its opening day, making it the third-highest Wednesday opening, behindStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace andJurassic Park III.[24] The film would go on to make $52,148,751 during its opening weekend, becoming the highest Fourth of July three-day opening weekend, surpassing its predecessorMen in Black.[25][26] Within five days, it grossed $87.1 million, breakingIndependence Day's record for having the biggest five-day Fourth of July Wednesday opening.[27]Men in Black II would hold the record for having the largest Fourth of July opening weekend until it was surpassed bySpider-Man 2 in 2004.[28] That same year,I, Robot tied the record for having the highest opening weekend for aWill Smith film. Both films remained so until 2007 when they were taken byI Am Legend.[29] The film was ranked number one at the box office upon opening, beating outThe Powerpuff Girls Movie. It would go on to compete against other summer films, such asLilo & Stitch,Mr. Deeds andMinority Report.[30] The film held the number one position in its second weekend with revenue of $24,410,311, a 53.2% decrease from the previous weekend. The third weekend saw a 40.4% decrease, with box office of $14,552,335, coming in at number three.[31][32]
In its fourth weekend, the film was at fourth place, with revenue of $8,477,202.[32]Men in Black II fell out of the top ten after five weekends.[32] After sixty-two days of release in North America,Men in Black II had grossed $190,418,803.[1] 43.1% of the film's worldwide revenue of $445,135,288 came from North America.[1]
Grossing $1.2 million,Men in Black II had the second-highest opening weekend in Taiwan, behindThe Mummy Returns.[33] In France, the film made $10 million during its opening weekend, which was the country's second-highest of all time, afterHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.[34] Then, it collected $3.1 million in Mexico, making it the fifth-highest opening weekend in the country, trailing the latter film,Spider-Man,Ice Age andDinosaur.[33]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,Men in Black II holds an approval rating of 38% based on 198 reviews, with an average score of 5.30/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Lacking the freshness of the first movie,MIB 2 recycles elements from its predecessor with mixed results."[35] OnMetacritic, the film received a score of 49 based on 37 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[36] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the first film.[37]
A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times said, "Within the trivial, ingratiating scope of its ambition... the sequel is pleasant enough" and, noting the vast array of aliens designed byRick Baker, said that the film "really belongs to Mr. Baker."[38] A review inThe Hindu called the film "worth viewing once."[39] A review fromDigital Media FX magazine praised the spaceships as looking realistic, but criticized many of the simpler visual effects, such as the moving backgrounds composited behind the car windows using blue-screen (which it called a throwback to the special effects of earlier decades).[40] In August 2002,Entertainment Weekly placed the Worm Guys among their list of the bestCG characters, and said that enlarging the roles of Frank the Pug and the Worm Guys inMen in Black II was beneficial for the "tiring franchise."[41]
The film was nominated for bothBest Science Fiction Film at theSaturn Awards and "Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture" at theVisual Effects Society Award but lost to bothMinority Report andThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers respectively.[42] The film also earned aRazzie Award nomination for Lara Flynn Boyle asWorst Supporting Actress.[43]
A sequel titledMen in Black 3, was released in 2012.
A fourth installment,Men in Black: International, was released in 2019.
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