Men in Black

Release Date: July 2, 1997

Watch Date: August 4 – August 5, 2023

“They are the best-kept secret in the universe. Working for a highly funded yet unofficial government agency, Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) and Jay (Will Smith) are the Men in Black, providers of immigration services and regulators of all things alien on Earth. While investigating a series of unregistered close encounters, the MIB agents uncover the deadly plot of an intergalactic terrorist who is on a mission to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies currently in residence in New York City.“

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    Did you know the Men in Black was a marvel comic? I didn’t. Now, it’s a fairly recent addition, all things told, and was not technically written by Marvel, but by another company they acquired four years after the comics release – but they do own it, and they did publish a few comics about it around the release of this movie, and we count a lot of movies Disney had later acquired, so there’s no harm in it either. Men in Black are owned by Marvel, and therefore they exist in the MCU. They don’t even have the most intimidating aliens in the Marvel universe.

    What they do have is Will Smith, fresh off of his extremely successful sitcom, and now carving out a space for himself on the big screen. In the late 90s it didn’t seem like the man could ever do anything wrong, and while I propose he is still an excellent actor when cast in roles that aren’t films meant to propel his child’s career, he as a person seems to be struggling a bit in the more recent years. But I am not one to judge, and this is Smith in the prime of his life, at the height of his career, and he is a joy to watch.

    This film hits the spot. It’s sentimental without being overly sappy, and it mostly focuses on the action/comedy side of everything, which is what it does best. They do a fair amount of world building, which is great for the movies that come after it, while still managing to keep things light enough that the characters have room to play and crack jokes. Aliens are thrown in without comment, an accepted fact, and we come to accept it all just as easily as Jay does.

    I like how much of the film they spend on Jay’s training and get him comfortable with alien lifeforms. Yes, the villain is working – and shown – quite often, but they’re not actually on his trail for much of the movie. At least not actively. It’s a nice way of easing you into the world and showing off the myriad of ways aliens have integrated into human life. There’s some poking fun at celebrities and politicians, but mostly it makes aliens just seem like a normal part of life – specifically New York life – and as we know, if a movie heavily features New York as a backdrop, Bob’s going to love it just that extra little bit.

    I love the villain. The ‘human suit’ is disgusting. I love how it degrades over time. I love how it never seems to fit him right. I feel a little bad because they make a couple references to how bad Edgar looked when he was alive, and I don’t think he was particularly ugly. I mean, not my type for sure, but he looked average. Still, the effects on specifically the “Edgarsuit” are fantastic, and they still make me squirm decades later. The CGI effects don’t hold up as well, but that’s to be expected and they don’t break the immersion, especially with the excellent puppetry.

    Our children did not enjoy this film, and stopped actively engaging with it after the first fifteen minutes or so. Our son said it was too loud and scary and our daughter…well I’m going to be honest, she was watching Paw Patrol and didn’t care from the word go anyways, which is good because it occurred to me afterwards she’s having a bit of a moment with monsters and that probably wasn’t the best film to put on in front of her. I watched it as a kid, and honestly it didn’t even occur to me that one might find it scary. I’ve found it gross, I found the bug to be an intimidating villain, but scary? Not really.

    All told, it’s going to top our Marvel list for now, because anything is going to beat out Howard the Duck, and it honestly, to me, has similar vibes to later MCU films. It’s just the right level of comedy and action while holding some characters, well at least Kay, that have a rich internal life and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand as wise-cracking gun toting heroes.

    Plus the rap that they used to make Will Smith do at the end of his films is particularly good in this one, and I’ve been listening to it for sheer enjoyment for years.