Blu-Ray

  Anime 
  DVD's
  Soundtracks
  Graphic Novels
  System Video
  Interviews
  All Features

Areas

  3DS
  Android
  iPad
  iPhone
  Mac
  PC
  PlayStation 3
  PlayStation 4
  Switch
  Vita
  Wii U
  Xbox 360
  Xbox One
  Media
  Archives
  Search
  Contests

 

Men in Black

Score: 90%
Rating: PG-13
Publisher: Sony Pictures Home
                  Entertainment

Region: 1
Media: Blu-ray/1
Running Time: 98 Mins.
Genre: Sci-Fi/Comedy
Audio: English, French, Portuguese
           Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Spanish, Thai
           5.1 (Dolby Digital)

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French,
           Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese
           (Traditonal), Chinese
           (Simplified), Korean, Thai,
           Arabic, Bahasa, Dutch


Features:

  • BD Live
  • Intergalactic Pursuit: The MIB Multi-Player Trivia Game
  • Ask Frank the Pug! Interactive Game
  • Alien Subtitle Track
  • Enhanced Telestrator Commentary with Barry Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones
  • Technical Commentary with Barry Sonnenfeld, Rick Baker and ILM Team
  • Extended and Alternate Scenes
  • Metamorphosis of Men in Black Documentary
  • Original Featurette
  • Scene Editing Workshop
  • Visual Effects Scene Deconstructions with Commentary
  • Character Animation Studies
  • Storyboard Comparisons
  • Galleries
  • Music Video Starring Will Smith and Mikey
  • Original Theatrical and Teaser Trailers

Men in Black is one of my favorite Will Smith films. Sure more recent movies like Pursuit of Happyness were tear-jerking and showed his range, while I Am Legend showed his ability to hold a movie on his own, but Men in Black is just a great combination of intelligent comedy mixed with Sci-Fi. Not to mention that his pairing with Tommy Lee Jones as the straight man is just perfect.

Smith plays Agent J, a new recruit in a super secret organization that has existed since the 60's. The Men in Black are tasked with the monitoring of extra terrestrials on the planet Earth. Think of them as INS for the planet. Well, when J, as a member of the NYPD, runs down an alien in disguise and gets a cryptic warning about someone coming and the world ending, he gets the attention of K (Tommy Lee Jones), and is asked to join the organization. Upon joining, J's background is erased, his identity is deleted and his life is now completely different.

It seems that J's first day won't be very easy either, since an unauthorized crash landing has claimed the life of one Edgar (Vincent D'Onofrio), and the being that crashed a giant bug has taken Edgar's skin and is using it as an Edgar Suit. This alien's purpose on Earth appears to be to kill an Arquillian diplomat and gain possession of "The Galaxy," which according to one of the MIB's informants (an alien dog named Frank) is the most valuable source of sub-atomic energy known to exist. Needless to say, this galaxy is a big deal, but the only clue of "The Galaxy is on Orion's belt" doesn't make much sense.

So while the pair run around New York City trying to hold off this intergalactic assassin, they will have to contend with various other alien lowlifes and a city coroner (Dr. Laurel Weaver played by Linda Fiorentino ) who seems to be learning just a bit too much.

Between the crazy cast of alien characters, their boss Zed (Rip Torn) and the alien assassin, Men in Black is just full of great content. What I especially appreciated was the movie's ability to be upscaled to HD. Since a majority of the visual effects are practicals (puppets and costumes), very little upgrades badly. The times when I could really tell something wasn't right were when the movie used a lot of CG and, of course, just didn't hold up. One such scene is J's first assignment. He is trying to deliver a baby in the back of a car and the tentacles come out, grab him and toss him about. Unfortunately, it looks a lot faker on Blu-ray than it did on DVD.

What is great about this release is the amount of special features that come on it. Sure it has the old DVD stuff like Will Smith's music video and that old featurette, but there is a good bit of added content like the ability to view scenes in various production phases (with blue screen, with composite, in story board, etc.) and even a couple of games. One is Ask Frank, where you think of various questions and Frank spits out random answers. Another is the Trivia Game. Unlike most movie-based trivia games though, just because you watched the movie, doesn't mean you know the answers. There are truly some tough questions about actors, bands and just general off the wall topics that are slightly related to the clip you just watched.

Men in Black also offers a new feature called BD Live. This is a program that gets installed on your Blu-ray player that lets you download the most recent previews and features. This means that you not only get the previews for upcoming movies from when you buy the disc, but also the previews that are being put out a year later when you go back and re-watch the movie. This program gives you a few other features, but for more information, check out the link below.

I loved Men in Black when it first came out, and for the most part, it has held up to the test of time. Nothing really dates the movie and the only parts that really don't look their best in HD are the CG-heavy scenes. Unfortunately, one of those scenes is the final fight between the MIB and the bug. If you haven't seen MIB in a long time and you already have a Blu-ray player, then this is definitely the time to get reacquainted with it.



-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Related Links:



DVD Movies What's Happening!! The Complete Series DVD Movies The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: Lip Synchin' in the Rain

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated