Men in Black
Composite Score: 81.48
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub, and Siobhan Fallon
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Lowell Cunningham and Ed Solomon
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Crime
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language and sci-fi violence
Box Office: $589.39 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Men in Black is a 1990s buddy comedy about a fictional agency of people who manage the extraterrestrial involvement on planet Earth. From that description it honestly sounds like a tough sell, but Men in Black was successful on release and has aged comparatively well. The comedy holds up, the action holds up, the emotional connection remains; Men in Black is still a good film. It entertains, it gives some social commentary, it has solid alien action sequences, and it has Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as extraterrestrial agents with plenty of charisma to make the film’s odd premise work for most audience members.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
As is true of most science fiction films that utilize special effects, these have not aged particularly well. Some of the practical effects that the film uses remain fairly impressive, but the CGI only sometimes holds up. Particularly, the CGI effects of the film’s villain (after he sheds his human suit) look highly cartoonish from a modern perspective. Obviously, giving emotive features to an insectoid creature will have a cartoonish effect, but the villain of Men in Black, when he is finally fully revealed, looks like a giant version of Hopper from A Bug’s Life, which would be terrifying for a young child, but for most adult audiences, just feels like a big cartoon character.
The film’s more emotional elements also fall short of the rest of the film’s largesse. While the comedy, action, aliens, and mystery are plentiful, the film’s heart is brought about by basically three scenes at the beginning, middle, and end of the film. On a very basic level, they work, humanizing the character of Kay and showing the more emotional side of both Kay and Jay. However, the scenes feel like an afterthought against the broader story of the film. There is little build-up to the emotional pay-off that the audience is expected to feel with Kay’s return to society and separation from Jay at the end of the film. Perhaps the film’s sequels, which bring the two main characters back together, also lessen the emotional impact of Kay’s decision because we now know that they will be back together again in very little time.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
At its most basic level, Men in Black is a highly entertaining film. It delivers on the comedy, with only one or two jokes that have aged poorly and a solid mix of low-brow and high-brow humor for all levels of audiences to connect with. It delivers on the action with a mix of chase scenes, heavy fights, showdowns with high-stakes, science fiction weapons dealing massive amounts of damage, and a showdown with the villain that sees the heroes teaming up to save the world from a destructive alien threat. The world it creates is also fun, embracing the idea that we are not alone in the universe and running with it, encouraging the audience to learn the world and accept the world that Tommy Lee Jones’s character (Kay) introduces Will Smith’s character (Jay) to. By bringing the audience alongside Jay into the world of the story, it engages basically from the jump.
The film’s leading actors – Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith – are truly the selling point of Men in Black, and without them, it is doubtful that the film would be as commercially or critically successful as it is. Both men are now Oscar winners and clearly have the acting capabilities to carry a film. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as the fast-talking, no-nonsense Agent Kay who comes into the film as the one familiar with the world wanting to bring Will Smith’s Jay (and the audience with him) into the fold as a partner and, eventually, a replacement. His deadpan delivery of some of the most outlandish lines any actor has ever been asked to say impresses and entertains, acting as its own form of comedy for those willing to follow along with such fast talking. Will Smith acts well as the cool, determined, and anti-authority L.A. cop who has a run-in with an alien while on duty and is thrown into a brand-new world. The difference between Smith’s Jay and Jones’s Kay is most well-stated by Jay when he first dons the titular black suit and he says, “I make this look good.” – an iconic line delivery that also helps explain why audiences like Will Smith’s character so much. Will Smith is cool, good-looking, and he still has a connection to the world of the audience that keeps them engaged. His bumbling through the unfamiliar alien business still feels cooler than it would if just about any other actor had been cast, helping sell this “nerdy” premise to a wider audience.
Charismatic leads and a host of well-crafted entertainment factors define Men in Black, making it not only one of the best sci-fi films ever but one of the greatest films ever. Poorly aged special effects and a weak emotional through-line keep it from being higher on the list, but no less deserving of its place. Rent it, find a friend who owns it, or go out and buy it, because Men in Black stays entertaining this much later and well-deserving of its place in cinematic history.
