Men in Black (1997 film)

This article is about the 1997 science fiction film. For the 1934 Three Stooges film, see Men in Black (1934 film).

Men in Black
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenplay by	Ed Solomon
Story by	Ed Solomon
Produced by	Walter F. Parkes Laurie MacDonald
Cinematography	Donald Peterman
Edited by	Jim Miller
Music by	Danny Elfman
Production companies	Amblin Entertainment MacDonald/Parkes Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 2, 1997 (1997-07-02)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$90 million
Box office	$589,390,539

Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald and starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The film was based on Lowell Cunningham's The Men in Black comic book series, originally published by Aircel Comics. The film featured the creature effects and makeup of Rick Baker. The film was released on July 2, 1997, by Columbia Pictures and grossed $589,390,539 worldwide against a $90 million budget.

An animated series based on the film, titled Men in Black: The Series, ran from 1997 to 2001 on The WB. A live-action sequel, Men in Black II, was released in 2002. This was followed by Men in Black 3 in 2012. The success of the film inspired Marvel (who, by 1997, owned the property) to option other properties for development, later collaborating with Columbia Pictures to produce Spider-Man amongst other projects.

Plot

Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of the Men in Black (M.I.B.), a secret non-government agency that polices extraterrestrial aliens seeking refuge on Earth, living normal lives in disguise as humans around New York City. Operating from a base at a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority ventilation station, they fund themselves using patents on alien technologies released to the public and maintain secrecy using neuralyzers to erase memories of alien sightings, also disguising aliens as humans and pets to maintain their secrecy, and that way they monitor currently 1500 aliens around the vicinity of New York.

One night, K and K's partner D (Richard Hamilton) are on a regular shift and intercept a truck containing Latino illegal immigrants - and one extraterrestrial illegal immigrant disguised as a human. They intercept the truck, only to find the Border Patrol have already found it. After the alien panics and tries to flee, they are forced to destroy him and to neuralize the troopers. D, feeling too old to work anymore, asks K to neuralize him to "retirement". Agency's leader Agent Zed (Rip Torn) suggests that he should find a new partner.

Meanwhile, James Darrell Edwards III (Will Smith) is a rookie New York police officer pursuing a man. He chases him through the rooftops, where the man reveals himself as an alien (his eyelids close horizontally rather than vertically), before committing suicide by jumping off the roof. K arrives at the office and questions Edwards before neuralyzing him and giving him an M.I.B. business card. At the base Edwards competes in tests alongside other potential recruits from the military and law enforcement, and K takes him aside while the others are neuralyzed and offers him the choice to join M.I.B. Edwards accepts and his identity is erased, becoming Agent J.

Suspicious of extraterrestrials suddenly leaving the planet en masse, the M.I.B. investigate a farmer named Edgar (Vincent D'Onofrio), who was acting strangely after an alien craft crashed on his farm. K determines that Edgar has been killed and his skin is being used for cover by a "Bug", a member of a giant cockroach-like species that are at war with several alien races, including the Arquillians. An Arquillian prince on Earth named Rosenberg (disguised as a human jewelry store owner) is attacked by the Bug, and tells J "the galaxy is on Orion's belt" as he dies.

M.I.B. informant Frank the Pug (Tim Blaney), a Remoonian dressed as a dog, explains that the galaxy is a massive source of sub-atomic energy that would allow the Bugs to destroy the Arquillians, and is housed in a small marble or jewel-like casing that Rosenberg was guarding. Unfortunately, The Bug deduces the galaxy is hanging from the collar of Rosenberg's cat Orion, which has been at the morgue taken care of by Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino) since his death. J makes the same deduction and goes to the morgue as the Bug attacks Weaver, kidnapping her and seizing the galaxy. To prevent the Bugs from getting the galaxy, the Arquillians deliver an ultimatum to M.I.B. to secure the galaxy within an hour, or they will destroy Earth.

The Bug arrives at the site of two concealed alien crafts, the observation towers of the New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows, and K and J arrive to confront it, shooting down one of the crafts. The Bug sheds Edgar's corpse disguise and swallows their guns, then swallows K when he antagonizes it and attempts to board the second ship. J lures it back to the ground by crushing cockroaches to anger it, and the Bug is shot in half from the inside by K, who retrieved his gun in the Bug's stomach, and its bisected torso is destroyed by Weaver using J's gun -- she had been at the site and witnessed the battle. The three return to M.I.B. headquarters and K tells J that he hasn't been training him as a partner, but as a replacement since he is ready to retire after decades of service. J accepts K's neuralyzer and uses it on K, using a coma cover story to allow him to return to his civilian life. Weaver joins M.I.B. as J's new partner, Agent L.

Hello

As they prepare to continue M.I.B. operations, the camera pans out from Earth, showing the solar system and eventually the galaxy, it is revealed that the galaxy is itself in a marble. A pair of alien hands finish playing with it and place it inside a sack with other such galaxies, echoing Frank's statement about size not being important when it comes to galaxies.

Cast

• Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K / Kevin Brown: J's grizzled and humorless mentor. Clint Eastwood turned down the part, while Jones only accepted the role after Steven Spielberg promised the script would improve, based on his respect for Spielberg's track record. He had been disappointed with the first draft, which he reportedly said "stank"; he felt it did not capture the tone of the comic.
• Will Smith as James Darrell Edwards III / Agent J: A former N.Y.P.D. member, newly recruited to the M.I.B. Smith was cast because Barry Sonnenfeld's wife was a fan of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Sonnenfeld also liked his performance in Six Degrees of Separation. Chris O'Donnell turned down the role because he found the role of a new recruit too similar to Dick Grayson, whom he played in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. David Schwimmer also turned down the part. Like Jones, Smith said he accepted the role after meeting with Spielberg and cited his success as a producer.
• Vincent D'Onofrio as Edgar the Bug: A giant alien insect who eats a farmer and uses his skin as a disguise. He comes to earth to kidnap the Galaxy and use it to destroy the Arquillians. John Turturro and Bruce Campbell were both offered the role.
• Linda Fiorentino as Dr. Laurel Weaver / Agent L: A deputy medical examiner who has had a few run-ins with the M.I.B. in the past.
• Rip Torn as Chief Z (Zed): The head of the M.I.B.
• Tony Shalhoub as Jack Jeebs: An alien, posing as a pawn shop owner, who deals in illegal weapons.
• Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Beatrice, the wife of the Edgar.
• Mike Nussbaum as Gentle Rosenberg, Arquillian Jeweler: Guardian of the Galaxy, which he has attached to his pet cat's collar.
• Jon Gries as Van Driver
• Sergio Calderón as Jose
• Carel Struycken as Arquillian
• Fredric Lehne as INS Agent Janus
• Kent Faulcon as 2nd Lt. Jake Jensen
• Richard Hamilton as Agent D: K's partner at the film's start, he decides he is too old for the job and has K erase his memory so he can retire.
• David Cross as Newton the Morgue Attendant
• Tim Blaney as Frank the Pug (voice): A smart-talking pug-like alien.
• Patrick Breen as Redgick
• Sean Whalen as Passport Officer

Production

The film is based on Lowell Cunningham's comic book The Men in Black. Producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald optioned the rights to The Men in Black in 1992, and hired Ed Solomon to write a very faithful script. Parkes and MacDonald wanted Barry Sonnenfeld as director because he had helmed the darkly humorous The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values. Sonnenfeld was attached to Get Shorty (1995), so they approached Les Mayfield to direct, as they had heard about the positive reception to his remake of Miracle on 34th Street. They actually saw the film later and decided he was inappropriate. Men in Black was delayed so as to allow Sonnenfeld to make it his next project after Get Shorty.

Much of the initial script drafts were set underground, with locations ranging from Kansas to Washington, D.C. and Nevada. Sonnenfeld decided to change the location to New York City, because the director felt New Yorkers would be tolerant of aliens who behaved oddly while disguised. He also felt much of the city's structures resembled flying saucers and rocket ships. Production designer Bo Welch designed the M.I.B. headquarters with a 1960s tone in mind, because that was when their organization is formed. He cited influences from Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who designed a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Being the arrival point of aliens on Earth, Welch felt M.I.B. HQ had to resemble an airport.

ILM provided most of the special effects. Rick Baker led the film's special effects, which was the most complex in his career to date. He had to have approval from both director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producer Steven Spielberg: "It was like, 'Steven likes the head on this one and Barry really likes the body on this one, so why don't you do a mix and match?' And I'd say, because it wouldn't make any sense." Sonnenfeld also changed a lot of the film's aesthetic during pre-production: "I started out saying aliens shouldn't be what humans perceive them to be. Why do they need eyes? So Rick did these great designs, and I'd say, 'That's great — but how do we know where he's looking?' I ended up where everyone else did, only I took three months."

Filming began in March 1996. Five months into the shoot, the crew realized their ending was unexciting. It was originally meant to be a humorous existential debate between Agent J and the Bug, and five potential replacements were discussed. One of these had Laurel Weaver being neuralyzed and K remaining an agent. The change to a fight sequence annoyed Rick Baker, as their animatronic Bug had to be replaced with computer-generated imagery. Further changes were made during post-production to simplify the plotline involving the possession of the tiny galaxy. The Arquillians would hand over the galaxy to the Baltians, ending a long war. The Bugs need to feed on the casualties and steal the galaxy in order to continue the war. Through changing of subtitles, the images on M.I.B.'s main computer and Frank the Pug's dialogue, the Baltians were eliminated from the plot. Earth goes from being potentially destroyed in the crossfire between the two races into being possibly destroyed by the Arquillians themselves to prevent the Bugs from getting the galaxy. These changes to the plot were carried out when only two weeks remained in the film's post-production, however, the film's novel still contains the Baltians.

Soundtracks

Main article: Men in Black: The Album

Two different soundtracks were released in the U.S.: a score soundtrack and an album, featuring various songs. In the U.K., only the album was released.

Danny Elfman composed the film's score, making use of his usual combination of orchestra and electronics. The score also makes prominent use of jazz for the M.I.B. theme, which consists of an ostinato, usually played on lower instruments. In the trailer, it played "Confronting The Chief" by Elliot Goldenthal from the film Demolition Man.

Promotion

Galoob released various action figures of the film's characters and aliens. An official comic adaptation was released by Marvel Comics. The official Men in Black game is a third-person shooter developed by Gigawatt studios and published by Germlin Interactive. Released to lackluster reviews in October '97 for the PC and the following year for the PlayStation. Also a very rare promotional PlayStation video game system was released in 1997 with the Men in Black logo on the CD lid. Men in Black: The Animated Series was created by Sony Pictures Television, and also inspired several games. Men in Black was the inspiration behind the Men in Black: Alien Attack ride at Universal Studios Orlando, in which Will Smith and Rip Torn reprised their roles. A Men in Black role-playing game was also released in 1997 by West End Games.

Will Smith released a single concurrent with the film, also called "Men in Black".

Reception

Men in Black won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and was also nominated for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Art Direction. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, having a 90% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes film critic website. On Empire magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, "Men in Black" placed 409th.

Following the film's release, Ray-Ban stated sales of their Predator 2 sunglasses (worn by the organization to deflect neuralyzers) tripled to $5 million.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Agent J & Agent K - Nominated Heroes
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • Men in Black - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good." - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Science Fiction Film

External links

• Official website
• Men in Black at IMDb
• Men in Black at AllMovie