" I could be Agnet M "

Men in Black II

Agent J (Will Smith) is trying to find a replacement partner after Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) retired from the service. J soon realises that he needs the help of his old partner when an enemy of Men in Black, Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) returns to earth, threatening to annihilate the planet unless she retrieves The Light of Zartha.  In order to stop Serleena, J must enlist the help of Laura Vasque (Rosario Dawson) who witnessed Serleena murder her boss as well as restore K's memory of of his earlier encounters with Serleena.

There is no doubt some of the magic is lost. It's hard to top the mystery and intrigue from the first film, as the audience discovered for the first time that aliens exist all around us. The first film was a box office and critical success, yet it took a long time (5 years) for the sequel, making the wait for the second film almost too long. Men in Black II isn't a bad movie, in fact its actually quite a good movie, yet it has a reputation for being much worse than the original. Granted some of the originality is gone, this film is just as much fun.

In this film the roles are almost reversed for Agents J and K, with Agent K now a civilian who works in a post office, having to rediscover the hidden wonders of the extraterrestrial world that exist all around him. Agent J has a new sense of authority in the partnership as he helps K get his memory back. Will Smith relishes his role as the cocky yet lonely Agent J, that has become one of his more memorable characters. The Men in Black movies rely on the buddy cop set up where two mismatched agents or cops are teamed together whether its Starsky and Hutch, Murtough and Riggs even Turner and Hooch the result is successful. Yet Agents J and K are never just partners solving crime with J being recruited in the first film, K having to regain his memory in the second and then resorting to time travel in the third film. There has never a honeymoon period in this series where both agents are simply solve crime together, it's as if the writers or directors never felt comfortable enough in the casting of the actors which is a shame as they are both perfect for their roles.

The storyline is practically the same as the first film with a different villain simply slotting into place. Serleena provides a strong villain as the shape shifting triffid who is helped on her quest by Scrad/Charlie (Johhny Knoxville) a two headed buffoon who really doesn't provide many laughs. The visual effects for Serleena's vines, the various extraterrestrial life forms and characters such as Frank the pug are effective, but for a big budget film such as this you would expect nothing less. The characters which I really didn't like both for their visual effects and annoying voices were the worms, they added nothing to the plot and were just not funny.

By the end of the film I felt like not much had happened as events seemed to rap up very quickly without encountering too many different aliens apart from Jeff the giant worm. The most notable scenes involve J's replacement partner Agent T (Patrick Warburton), when J is rediscovering the world he had forgotten and an amusing cameo in the form of Agent M. Men in Black II is an easy movie to relax with when you want a funny, entertaining film for a rainy afternoon.