Superhero Media: Men In Black II

Yes, Men In Black II is not a very good film, I don't think anyone really wants to debate that, even if they enjoy it on some level. The setting of the original Men In Black opened up almost endless opportunity for storytelling, with a universe of colourful aliens and an international team of agents operating in secret to protect the Earth. Sadly, this is a Hollywood production, so the only option for a new story is to retread the old one. What bugs me most about Men In Black II is that there's a great cast backing up a terrible script, but they can't do anything with it, which, implies to me, bad direction and too much studio oversight. Seriously, how bad of a job do you have to do to make David Cross, Tony Shalhoub, Patrick Warburton, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rosario Dawson, Rip Torn, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith uninteresting to watch for ninety minutes? Well, you retread the last film, including all of the jokes, and fail to innovate at all. 

There are good moments in Men In Black II, but in the kind of way that a good Saturday Night Live sketch will endure, rather than being genuinely good parts of the film. Rip Torn and Patrick Warburton are playing great characters, but their appearances are almost rendered vignettes, lest they distract from more Will Smith shtick. The hints that Zed drops about his past as an agent, sex symbol and bon vivant are more interesting than the trail-of-clues plot, and some of the guest spots from comedy actors, yes even Michael Jackson, a the only parts I really enjoyed in this re-watch. So here's my take; redo the Men In Black "franchise" as a sketch series. Not so much a television run in the vein of The Sketch Show, but something more like Amazon Women On the Moon or even History of the World Part I, where there are linking characters, but any narrative only serves to set up a running gag. 

Yes, we still have Men In Black III and MIB International to get to, but hear me out on this one. The central joke of the Men In Black series is that aliens living on Earth have the same struggles as immigrants to the United States, which is not only only pretty ripe for exploitation, but is also a safe way to explore cultural difference for comedy whist [hopefully] skirting away from racism and bigotry. The series already uses unique and iconoclastic individuals as aliens (Shalhoub, Jackson and even Biz Markie), so that's a great way to draw in guest stars for short scenes, especially those with a Sci-Fi background (William Shattner and Mark Hammil spring to mind). I don't know, I'm not really a screen writer, especially the "Late Night Comedy" format that this idea would demand, but it's a thought. Don't bother watching this again, it's not worth the time it would take.