*** Official "MEN IN BLACK 2" Discussion Thread (2 Viewers)

[Shawn C]

 

[Steve_Tk]

Well it was not as terrible as some people say. But to tell you the truth it was boring. I enjoy buddy movies but this one, just kinda boring. The most funny part for me was when he was trying to get off the bubble rap.

Anyway, TT, Signs, and T3 were the best part. That little dinosaur short film was pretty funny too.

 

[Jacob Perry]

Ya I thought the bubble wrap scene was pretty funny also.
The best way to wrap up my feelings on MIB 2 would be "eh"
Not a great movie, not a horrible movie. Just a movie.

 

[Chris Brunner]

I woke up this morning and red the first few posts regarding how bad this film is. I began to regret that I had promised last night to take my family to see MIBII this morning.

Well, thanks to you guys, I set my standards down a few notches in anticipation for a big stinker... AND I LOVED IT!!!.

Oh, not as much as the first one by any means. But I laughed out loud several time with my son. That pug really cracked us up!!

A lot of the chemistry WAS bad though. And, I agree that TLJ was not doing a very good job of looking interested in taking part.

Still, glad I waw it and will pick it up on DVD.


My 2 cents,

C

 

[VinhT]

The main point of the movie: Mercedes. The massive zoom-in on the Sprint cell phone was like a slap in the face. And then... they try to pass off an iMac as some sort of super computer capable of deneuralization. This is the first time that product placement has actually bothered me, that's how lifeless the movie was.
But, I definitely liked Frank. Best character in the movie.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Speaking of people not getting jokes (and I don't mean that anyone here had that problem, just speaking about my audience), I was telling my fiancee about some of the jokes (because she still wants to see it and is mad I went without her).

I was talking about one that I thought was VERY funny and typical of MIB1 Jones' humor.

Smith "We used to work together."
Jones "I don't think so, I never worked in a funeral home."

She didn't get that joke till I explained it to her. She then saw it in the trailer and said "I wouldn't have got that if you hadn't pointed it out."

To me that is the kind of line you would get out of Cary Grant or Groucho Marx, the quick insulting quip that zips right by you. And it was stuff like that which made the film fun.

Another place where a joke became funnier, Frank singing. We have seen that in the trailer. It's not funny because a dog is singing, he's just the annoying partner singing. Smith sells it with his vocal reaction. But the real joke (which the audience did laugh at) was when Frank then started to hum because he still couldn't contain himself.

And the spin on "Who let the dogs out". I can honestly say I really didn't see that angle coming (where dog would sing along by only doing the barking parts). I thought that was rather inspired and a clever use of the talking dog.

And as I said and others have agreed with, some of the best stuff comes from Smith's reactions like when he does the "last suit you'll ever put on....again". Following that he has that semi-stutter and facial reaction of frustration over the explaination of the situation. Again, I thought that was standard good MIB humor.


None of this is to defend the overall because there are lots of problems with the story around the comedy. That was the biggest problem to me. And I agree on the Knoxville head thing. The guy is too talented to waste with a poorly done cheap FX gag. Boyle is also wasted, primarily on lame CGI too.


Anyway, I'll put this one down as one that worked for me and some others, but I will understand a lot of you not liking it. Just the way it goes I guess, especially with comedy.

 

[Seth Paxton]

BTW, let me qualify myself by saying that I have really enjoyed much of Barry Sonnenfeld's work. I love Get Shorty, MIB and the 2 Addams Family films. I even enjoy For Love or Money. (I did hate WWW with a passion however)

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Sonnenfeld seems to bat .500 with me. Loved The Aadams Family. Hated Aadams Family Values. Hated Get Shorty. Loved MIB. "Liked" WWW, hated MIB2. I think one of the big problems I have with him is his set pieces just seem too staged. Everything seems too surgical and sterile (at least in the films I didn't like). The films I did like, he is better at walking a tight-rope as far as campy and cool goes.

Bruce

 

[Patrick Sun]

Too much of the "funny" stuff is in the trailer for MIB2, so when you see the setup, the payoff seems tired, or "been there, done that" even though I'm seeing the film for the 1st time.

 

[Tino]

I pretty much agree with Seth.
I went in with very little expectations and found myself laughing more than I thought I would. The world within the locker, the cockroach, the dog, and the numerous in-joke references. Some worked better than others.
Now don't get me wrong. MIB II is inferior in every way to MIB, but to me, it wasn't the horribe unfunny mess that
some are making it out to be.
The early A.M. audience I saw it with
laughed at the same jokes I did and actually seemed to enjoy it more than I.
It's hard to explain, but it had a kinda rushed low-budget sequel feel to it.
Sorta like an MIB Lite. Same ingredients
but less filling.
:star: :star: 1/2

 

[Jason Seaver]

The most funny part for me was when he was trying to get off the bubble rap.

Wow. When I saw it, that was the scene that completely and totally sucked the life out of the movie. When you recite Will Smith's skills, physical comedy probably won't be the first thing you think of, but this was extra-special painful. He didn't even look like he was trying to get up. It's one of the most spectacular joke failures I've ever seen.

I guess this could show that comedy really is subjective, but, still... If I ever make a list of "worst slapstick moments ever", this is on it.

 

[Chris]

(No spoilers, as this is a discussion thread, so you should have seen it first to discuss!)
I thought the film was mediocre to middling. The previews were the best part, point blank It was worth it to see the preview of The Two Towers, but the movie itself was at best fair, at worst truly lacking. There were a few moments, but not nearly enough.
But the movie could have gotten a much better opinion had it not been for the tacked on ending, which made absolutely no sense. I don't mean the real ending, you know, where they get victory.. I mean, the ending in the lockerroom.
In an attempt to take on the play "the universe is marbles for god" from the first, they make a play that there is a door out of our universe into a locker into another universe.. but this defeats everything known to be true in MIB's universe, because if that locker was accessible on Earth, then Earth would be the starting point of the new universe, and the new universe would be finite, and gravitational pulls would all center around NYC with everything being in a box after that (the earth would ipso facto be flat with a giant drop at the edge of NYC)
The idea was that hey, the ending of the first was cute.. but that ending took a movie I might have said "eh, it was OK" and just screamed "we had to get a bit like the first movie" and then they mucked it all up.
It could have, should have, ended in the scene before hand; where most of the audience -thought- it ended as they started to walk out, the defeat of the alien and K explaining about the flashy thingy in the statue of liberty.. but no, they had to go and do this crap.
Eh!

 

[Joe Schwartz]

I don't know which is more unbelievable: that MIB2 made $90 million this weekend, or that it cost $140 million to make!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/777229.asp

 

[Bryan_C]

yea, this movie moved too slowly. They should have wrote a better scene for K coming back. What happened to the twins????????? I don't know it just made you feel like "you should know everything about MIB or feel comfortable with MIB by now since you watched the MIB cartoon for years!" It was an ok movie and the final part was too confusing and should have been left out period. HEY what ever happened to that UFO (fying sacuer scene??)

 

[Dan_ M]

Thanks to all of the negative feedback, I went in to this expecting a stinker and came out actually enjoying the movie, i agree that it was sub par to MIB, but descent none the less.
Frank the dog was the star of the movie.

 

[Reni D]

I may be in the minority but I did enjoy MIBII. The only thing I did not like was that to me it seemed that Tommy Lee Jones was not into this movie. Not sure if it was the script focued more on Will Smith carather, but even thought I was disapointed in Tommy Lee Jones apperance on the film the movie was entertaining.

 

[Julie K]

I went into this movie with only one expectation: that it was going to be terrible.

I ended up quite enjoying it. Sure, it wasn't as good as the first, some of the jokes fell flat, and the paper-thin plot didn't really hang together too well. But I did find myself laughing more than I should have and I ended up with a big smile on my face through most of it. Frank and the worm guys were great. I'm looking forward to adding the DVD to my collection - and they better add that short "The Chub Chubs" to it or there will be trouble.

 

[Chris]

I didn't see the short at the showing we went to.. darnit!

 

[Tino]

I didn't see a short either.

 

[Carlos Mendoza]

Quick Warning:

In Houston, stay away from the Edwards Marquee "Enhanced 35mm Presentation" of this film on their "Giant Screen". They cancelled their affiliation with IMAX so now they use their IMAX screen to show regular movies.

After confirming with an employee that the movie was not cropped in any way, I went to see it. I should have asked, "Is this movie being shown in the AR that the director wishes?".

Anyway, I expected it to be an OAR showing, just on a bigger screen with the black bars on top and bottom. But, it was actually shown OPEN MATTE, so it did in fact fill almost the entire screen.

There were many shots where the boom mic dropped into the frame. Of course, when you see this on a normal showing, the matte covers this nicely, but with this open matte format, it was really distracting.

Oh well, lesson learned.

Thought the movie stunk anyway.