Men in Black

_Fun sci-fi comedy with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith_ An athletic New York City police officer (Will Smith) joins a shadowy government organization that deals with extraterrestrial interactions on Earth. Tommy Lee Jones plays his senior partner, Rip Torn the head of the agency, Vincent D'Onofrio a possessed hick and Linda Fiorentino an attractive coronor. "Men in Black" (1997) is wildly amusing in the first half, but loses its energy a bit in the last act. Nevertheless, it fills the bill for when you’re in the mood for fun & thrilling popcorn entertainment. It inspired three sequels as of this date: “Men in Black II” (2002), “Men in Black 3” (2012) and “Men in Black: International” (2019) with the last one being the only movie in the series without Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The film runs 1 hour, 38 minutes, and was shot in New York City & surrounding area (e.g. Jersey City), as well as Semi Valley, CA (the saucer crash sequence) and nearby Los Angeles/Culver City. GRADE: B-

Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend. This was a better movie historically than actually. It at least felt like it introduced some concepts of having aliens infiltrated Terra into the industry, even if it didn't actually. Maybe it popularized it more, but it was very good at walking the audience across that line that separates our normal Terran view to that of an integrated society. Or maybe I just love the concept of aliens on our planet that much. I definitely don't think it was the manner they took: the humor is as annoying as it is funny most of the time, and Tommy Lee Jones is just as funny as Will Smith (that's saying something, personally) as the straight man, credit to both of them. That said, they were a perfect for the movie, and all the supporting cast did wonderfully. Vincent D'Onofrio, as "Not Edgar", was probably the funniest character in the movie to me, and I don't think he was supposed to be. The "haze the rookie by leaving out vital information" bit is cliche and worn out, but that's have the jokes here. I definitely like the movie, and I love what it could have been.