'Men in Black': A colorful spin through alien territory
By Bruce Emond
JAKARTA (JP): The U.S. has an immigration problem, and it has nothing to do with the world's have-nots desperately trying to grab a piece of the American pie.
These unwanted guests are aliens, grotesque monsters with deadly powers, which are threatening the stability of planet Earth. So runs the premise of Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black, a huge surprise hit on release in the U.S. last summer.
It is easy to see why -- the special effects are stunning, the monsters frighteningly lifelike, the pace fast and furious, the sprite humor just enough to counter the occasionally staggering violence. But a chorus line of alternately cutesy and threatening critters does not make for exceptional moviemaking.
There is no denying it will keep you in your seat as it hurtles along on its breathtaking pace. But its entertainment quotient is dependent on the ability to forgive glaring lapses in feasibility (easily done), and a simple plot line which becomes unnecessarily tangled and drags towards the end (not so easy).
K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a stoic, by-the-book agent of a division of Immigration and Naturalization Services set up in the 1950s to deal with space aliens. The agency conducts its activities surreptiously, keeping the aliens in line through a sophisticated tracking system and leaving the world's mortal population blissfully unaware of the bizarre life forms living in their midst.
The imminent landing of a destructive alien bent on destroying the world has put the agency on red alert. This alien lands in a Pennsylvania cow patch and assumes the human form of the abusive, dim-witted farmer Edgar (Vincent D'Onofrio), who lives with his wife as American Gothic personified.
K's daunting assignment is to neutralize Edgar the monster but time is running out. He needs a partner, which leads to rigorous testing of the best of the U.S. military academies, plus one odd man out, J, a raw New York city police offer.
While the other candidates are wooden yes-men, J (Will Smith) is glaringly unhindered by the dictates of protocol. While the others struggle over using a pen and paper with nothing to prop them against, J grabs a table and hauls it over to his chair. In a simulated shoot-out with alien terrorists, J picks off the figure of a innocent young girl in pigtails carrying her schoolbooks because, he argues, "no little white girl would be walking around Harlem looking like that".
For his zany ability to think for himself, he is offered the job of K's partner. It comes with a troubling catch. In addition to wearing the standard uniform of black suits and dark shades, J must also agree to give up all relationships on the outside. A potentially serious detour in the film's supremely lite pace is resolved tritely, with one shot of him gazing wistfully over the East River.
Agent J is now on board, and thus begins the chase for the rabid Edgar, riding around in a souped-up pest exterminator van. Along the way, a devoted cat, beautiful coroner (Linda Fiorentino) and thrilling face-off at the site of the 1938 World's Fair are thrown into the cinematic pile.
In his previous movies, including Throw Momma from the Train and both Addams Family flicks, Sonnenberg showed his skill at black comedy. He does it again in Men in Black, nimbly walking the fine line between overkill (literally) and a beguiling comic charm which tells viewers it is all in fun.
Smith, best-known for his long-running role as TV's Fresh Prince of Bel Air, is fed the best lines, playing up the cop's naivete and rough edges. But the real highlight is Jones, undoubtedly one of the most talented actors of his generation (witness his mincing tour-de-force as the fey homosexual in Oliver Stone's JFK).
He subtly sends up the role of the tenacious detective in The Fugitive; his K is a tough guy with a soft center, a man who can swap stories and devour eggs rolls before effortlessly jumping back into his dour agent's demeanor. Despite Smith's grandstanding, Jones is the actor to watch.
Fiorentino has a thankless role as Laurel, the token female interest, sitting around in the morgue waiting for something to happen. But with her larger-than-life persona and reputation preceding her from her steamy turn in The Seduction, she can still manage to milk a few laughs.
As she points desperately to the floor where Edgar lies concealed on a stretcher, K gets a mixed message of amorous intentions. Laurel forgets her life-or-death predicament to launch into a feminist tirade of the double standards on gender and sexuality. Fiorentino seizes on this brief moment to shine, and pulls off one of the funniest snippets in the movie.
Men in Black entertains throughout but inexplicably loses steam towards the end. It is then that one realizes the significance of its adaptation from a little-known comic strip. This may be a brilliant homage to visual and special effects technology, but the stunning vignettes are difficult to string together successfully in a full-length movie.
And the insidious presence of executive producer Steven Spielberg is always apparent. As the myriad product placements and a veritable conveyor belt of aliens, large and small, pass before the eyes, thoughts can only turn to the merchandise spin- offs soon to be decorating the malls. You've been warned.