Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black is one of the most popular science-fiction films of the past half-century. Joining the ranks of Star Wars, Star Trek, and most recently Dune, the Men in Black franchise has the benefit of being one of the most internationally recognizable science-fiction I.P.’s in recent memory. While the sequels and reboot of the M.I.B. property have certainly done a lot towards hindering the brand, the first Men in Black remains a propulsive, thrilling, and funny entry in a landscape that often sees more failures than successes.
While movies like this come and go, Men in Black has staying power. The film and its characters and themes have been emblazoned in culture, and that doesn’t happen often. While sequels and imitators have tried and failed to recapture the magic that was found in this 1997 classic, nothing beats the original. Men in Black is certainly comprised of the ‘right stuff,’ but why does it work so well? Here are three reasons why film fans won’t soon forget the original Men in Black.
Jones and Smith
Without the power of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, it could’ve been easy for a movie like Men in Black to come and go. Had two stars been hired for the roles of K and J that lacked chemistry, the entire enterprise of the film would’ve been dead on arrival. With Jones and Smith, however, the film morphed from what could’ve been throwaway sci-fi trash into something magnetic and superbly affecting.
Fresh off of the hit show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and movies like Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Six Degrees of Separation, Will Smith was at the forefront of American entertainment in 1997. An actor with charm, charisma, and leading man looks to rival the best, Will Smith was just starting to prove to the world that he would soon be one of the film industry’s most indisputable talents. While he’s looking to win his first Oscar later this year for his performance in King Richard, in 1997 Smith was a hotshot trying to scrape his way to the top of the leading man ladder.
Tommy Lee Jones, on the other hand, had been in the business for decades before 1997. Three years removed from his Oscar win for The Fugitive and just having starred in a string of hits including JFK, Natural Born Killers, Batman Forever, and Volcano, Jones was in the midst of a career high. Director Barry Sonnenfeld struck gold when he decided to pair the two. By playing off of the well-worn trope of odd couple films, the director saw that the two leads sunk into their roles with ease and grace.
Not enough can be said about the effectiveness in the interplay between Jones and Smith in Men in Black. Smith plays the audience surrogate as a man who is being introduced into the world of criminal aliens, and Jones is the perfect contrast as a curmudgeonly veteran showing him the ropes. Not all love is lost between the two, however, as a beautiful bond forms between the two throughout the runtime. Jones and Smith are the pillars of Men in Black, and what strong pillars they are.
Axel Foley vs. aliens
By eschewing dark and depraved sci-fi tropes as had been seen in recent films like Dark City and 12 Monkeys, Men in Black decided to go with a dime-store novel approach to its storytelling. Beginning with a cheeky intro that acts as a homage to 50’s science-fiction entertainment, Men in Black immediately lets the audience know that it’s not going to take itself too seriously.
The comedic tone mixed with jaw-dropping action set-pieces combined to create a film that reaches the absolute peak of popcorn movie-making. Sonnenfeld deftly mixes the buddy cop tones with the overt science-fiction landscape to produce a movie that attaches itself to the audience by sheer likability. By allowing the audience to lose their breath laughing one minute then making them cling to the edge of their seats the next, Men in Black entertains and then some.
A simpler filmmaking team would’ve produced something dispensable, but Sonnenfeld and co. had the skills enough to ensure that the picture would feel vital instead of wheel-spinning. Stories like these had been around for quite some time at this point. Had the film been a pale imitation of something else, it likely would have failed. Never feeling less than original, Men in Black is a creation that had no competitors at the time of its release.
Playing like Beverly Hills Cop mixed with extraterrestrials, Men in Black was able to tap into audiences hungry for comedy and suspense alike. Never allowing his script to meander too long in already trodden territory, Bill and Ted and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show writer Ed Solomon struck the right balance of sci-fi absurdity and relationship comedy. It’s the combination of these two elements that keeps audiences returning again and again and that has left the entertainment world scrambling to re-create it ever since.
A green heart on its sleeve
While Men in Black perseveres because of its casting and mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and bracing science-fiction action, its addition of pure heartfelt intention takes it beyond the stratosphere. Coming in the decade after masochistically violent films like Commando and the Rambo sequels, Men in Black actually has a heart. While it gave audiences characters to care for, it also let them know that the characters cared for each other and the world around them.
The characters in Men in Black don’t exist solely to kill aliens, they exist to help them. While a Stallone-led film where the famous muscle man peruses the streets of New York looking for green goons to blast away sounds like a great time at the movies, it is Men in Black’s subversion of this expectation that helped to make it so special. Agents J and K will kill bad aliens, that’s for sure, but it’s all in the service of making good aliens’ lives as livable as possible.
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are both capable action heroes here, but they never wield their violent capabilities in ways that suggest that the characters aren’t true of heart. The film is filled to the brim with awe-inspiring ideas, and it suggests that the only reason that these two got into the alien crime stopping game is because of their childlike wonder and love for the universe.
In 2022, it’s refreshing to see even fictional law enforcement officers wield not just weapons, but a sincere desire for peace. K and J are characters that have demeanors of stone but hearts of gold, and it’s nearly impossible to not want them to succeed. The film ends on a touching note between K and J that has the power to bring a tear to one’s eye. This powerful moment does not come from a place of violence or turmoil, rather the learned respect between the two men. Men in Black is a positive blast of euphoria and laughter, and it’s only gotten better in the 25 years since its release.