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Sometimes, even The Great One (that's me) is wrong.
I loved the first MIB movie, also I have the comic books it was based on. Great concept, very funny, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were great. I had heard MIB2 was more of the same and I was looking forward to it. Little did I know . . .
In fact, there was very little of the same. MIB2 falls totally flat in my estimation. The one good thing about this movie is Tommy Lee Jones. The man is a great actor and even tho he had very little to work with in this movie he still managed to be the center of every scene he was in. Once he got his memory back it was like MIB all over again.
Almost . . .
Except for the rest of the movie, which sucked.
Will Smith was going no place. Normally I like his stuff, but in this movie I'm not sure if it was bad acting, or if it was bad writing. It seemed he was saying the same lines from MIB, only they aren't funny any more. I missed out on any character development here. It's suppose to be years later and he's still the same character, still saying the same lines. I expected to see Will evolve into a man who had been with the MIB for years and confidently assumed that role. Instead he was still in rookie mode. On top of that, Will just wasn't funny this time around.
The plot was basically a rehash of the first movie. They used the same characters to avoid having to think of new ones. The revelation of the location of the object of the alien's quest took me by surprise, but it's not the first time I've seen that plot device (Doctor Who used it years ago). I just wasn't seeing much originality here. Neither was I seeing much humor. I laughed out loud three times during the whole movie, and I don't even remember at what, so it couldn't have been too funny.
MIB2 just never got off the launch pad. I kept waiting for things to pick up, for the tension to build, for the movie to grab me and pull me in, but it never happened. There were a few good moments, but moments don't make up a movie. There has to be stuff between the moments. Don't waste your time on MIB2, just watch the first one over again. You'll thank me in the morning and best of all, still respect yourself.
I still think Star Wars, the original one (A New Hope as it is now called) is the best of the series. The Empire Strikes Back was not too bad. Return of the Jedi was terrible. I don't even want to think about it. Then came Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Plot. I thought I was gonna die. Thank Gods I got that from the library for free. Had I actually paid money to see that crap I would have been ticked off big time. After SWE1 I was thinking George owes the world a good one for that disaster, but I was keeping my expectations low. I went in expecting to see some pretty mediocre stuff -- all the more disappointing after MIB2. Instead, it seems that George did indeed pull this one off.
The plot was much better, the action moved along at a good clip. Granted there was that yucky romance stuff, but it was kept to a minimum and easy to ignore. There were no huge holes in the plot. Oversights always drive me insane. Tho I did have a few questions, such as with the clone army (Stormtroopers) -- paying for the clones themselves would cost a fortune, but then to pay for all the equipment they use? And where/when exactly did they train with all that stuff. In the city in the middle of an ocean? But hey, I can overlook some stuff like that for the greater good.
On the subject of Stormtroopers, at last we see them as soldiers, not as incompetent idiots being knocked off by some little furry things with sticks. I mean come on, these are the soldiers of the Empire. If they were as incompetent as shown in Revenge of the Jedi, how the hell did the Empire conquer all those worlds and keep them under control. Yea, they may be "bad guys" in the later episodes, but nothing pisses me off like seeing soldiers (no matter who's "side" they are on) being show as bumbling idiots. It's like all those World War II movies where the German Army (it was not the Nazi Army) is show as a bunch of fools. Yea. Those "fools" damn near won the war in Europe, and staked claim to a pretty big piece before giving up the ghost. Back to the movie . . .
The special effects were pretty much top notch. The annoying characters (you know who they are) kept to a minimum. Nice light saber action. Yoda kicking some butt. Finally. We always knew he could, but it was great to finally see it.
Characters and motivation seemed much better to me this time around. Watching the future Darth Vader deal with his inner conflicts both emotional and political was nice. There was some well written and believable stuff there. Gods help me if I didn't actually care about the characters, and I don't mean just caring if the really annoying ones live and piss me off, but caring about who they are and where they are going.
However, I have saved the best for last. Now I'm not a big fan of Natalie Portman, not by a long shot, and I don't think her face is all that hot, but let me tell you -- Natalie, in the white catsuit during the last part of the movie. Damn, that got my lightsabre activated. If for no other reason, this is the best justification to go see this movie. And see it over and over and over.
SWE2 comes in second place for the five episodes made so far. Let's hope the sixth episode keeps up this tradition.
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