Men in Black II (2002) on Netflix
PG-1320021h 28mActionAdventureComedy
Agent J keeps neuralyzing partners he finds unfit for the job. The shapeshifting alien Serleena comes hunting a power source, and J must bring back K, whose memory was erased.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.2/10436,425 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes38%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1978, Zarthan aliens led by Princess Lauranna came to Earth asking the Men in Black to keep a powerful object known as the Light of Zartha safe. The agency's neutrality kept it from agreeing, and Agent K seemed to launch the object away in a rocket. By 2002, Agent J sends partners he judges unfit to be neuralyzed. The alien Serleena comes to Earth after two-headed Scrad and Charlie tell her the object never left, and she seizes the agency's headquarters. Chief Zed orders J to bring back K, whose memory was wiped before he retired.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Men in Black II (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The climax of Men in Black II was first filmed against the World Trade Center's twin towers, but after the September 11 attacks the climactic scene was completely redone at the Statue of Liberty, other scenes showing the towers were edited or reshot, and filming was suspended.
- Michael Jackson wanted a part in Men in Black II; director Barry Sonnenfeld first wanted him to cameo as an alien, but Jackson refused and insisted on cameoing in the MIB suit, which convinced Sonnenfeld.
- Famke Janssen was originally cast as the shapeshifting villain Serleena but dropped out because of personal issues, and Lara Flynn Boyle was hired to replace her.
- Barry Sonnenfeld objected to the producers' focus on the romance between Will Smith's and Rosario Dawson's characters, saying he learned on Wild Wild West that audiences did not want Smith as the straight man; writer Barry Fanaro then condensed the film's first part and brought Agent K in earlier.
- For the scene where the subway train is attacked by Jeff the Worm, a specially designed vise was used to crush a subway car so it looked as if it had been bitten in half.
- For some scenes with the alien Serleena, the sound crew took tree branches, put them inside a rubber membrane, pushed that around and added water.
- Supervising sound editor Skip Lievsay used a Synclavier to recreate and improve the first film's neuralyzer sound effect, the noise of a strobe flash recycling, by removing some distortion.
- Men in Black II took $52.1 million in its opening weekend, the highest Fourth of July three-day opening, beating its predecessor Men in Black, and within five days grossed $87.1 million, breaking Independence Day's five-day Fourth of July Wednesday opening record.
