Into the Blu

Men in Black

Posted on 17. Aug, 2008 by Bill Geiger in 1.85:1, 1080p, Action, BD-Java Enhanced, Comedy, Dolby Digital 5.1 (Spanish), Dolby Digital 5.1 (Thai), Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English), Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (French), Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (Portuguese), Reviews, Sci-Fi / Fantasy, Sony Pictures

If I said it once, I have said it a thousand times; Will Smith just knows how to make money when it comes to movies. Sure, he has had some flops, but for the most part, a 100 million box office is almost a given. Tommy Lee Jones is no slouch either, with films such as The Fugitive, No Country for Old Men and Man of the House; he also has a box office draw. Put those two together and what do you have? Well, you have yourself a money making team that is almost sure to entertain.

As stated on the back of the box, “Men in Black follows the exploits of Agents J (Tommy Lee Jones) and J (Will Smith), member of a top-secret organization established to monitor alien activity on Earth. The two MiB find themselves in the middle of a dealt plot by an intergalactic terrorist (Vincent D”Onofrio) who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from the opposing galaxies. K and J face a simple imperative; track down the interloper or Earth will be destroyed.”

Men in Black still holds up well after 11 years since its release. The movie never seems dated and if released today, the film would work just as well as it did back in 1997. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones work very well with each other. Jones is given the role of having the serious demeanor, yet still getting some laughs. Will Smith provides the full comedic relief while not being totally cocky in doing it.

Also, Rip Torn, Tony Shaloub and Vincent D”Onofrio also provide a nice supporting cast making Men in Black a nice, well-rounded film.

The work of Rick Baker and his creations of the alien characters was truly impressive. The aliens are so life-like and never seem to be too over the top crazy. They really make the film that much better.

Video

The 1.85:1 1080p high definition transfer for MiB was not bad. During many of the daytime scenes, there was a slight hint of grain but really did not detract from the film. If you look at the blue skies, you’ll notice the grain. Nothing of color really pops out at you either during the film. The image is clean and looks nice, but, as previously stated, nothing eye popping.

The action sequences are a pleasure to watch and the images of the bugs are almost reali-like.

The transfer is clean of any specs of dirt and blacks are spot on here. Sony does produce a decent transfer but nothing that will blow you out of the water. The audio is the true champion with this disc. I will say that this transfer blows the previous Superbit out of the water, easily.

Audio

The TrueHD 5.1 audio on Men In Black was pretty darn good, aside from the few times I noticed a little bit of tin-like sound. Bass was exceptional. Surrounds were pretty perfect as they were in play throughout this action packed film. Definitely close to showcase audio for your home theater.

TrueHD is also available in French and Portuguese. For those listening in either Spanish or Thai, you are stuck with plain on Dolby Digital. There is also a boatload of subtitles here for almost any language.

Special Features

There is a boatload of special features here, many of them ported over from the MIB 2 Disc that was released long ago. However, three new extras are given to us that were not on the previous DVD discs. Accessing the extras on this disc was a bit troublesome and quite slow. Honestly, if you have the patience, then give it a shot. My disc actually froze during the extras, and I have updated firmware and a fantastic Panasonic BD30. I gave up after the Creatures: Concept to Completion.

• Commentaries
  • Telestrator commentary with Director Barry Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones
  • Audio commentary with Barry Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones
  • Technical commentary with Barry Sonnenfeld, Rick Baker and Industrial Light & Magic Team.

• Intergalactic Pursuit: The MIB Multiplayer Trivia Game

• Ask Frank The Pug
  • This is quite a silly extra. Here you can ask the dog questions about money, health, career and what not. Don’t waste your time here.

• Extended and Alternate Scenes
  • Outside Leschko’s Diner
  • Jay MIB audition
  • Mrs. Edelson
  • Chinese Restaurant
  • Bouncing ball with special effects

• Metamorphosis of Men In Black
  • Not a making of but more of a creation of Featurette. Talks with Rick Baker, the actors and the like about how the aliens were created. Definitely a really neat extra and shows how much a genius Rick Baker actually is.

• Original Featurette
  • As the title suggests, this is the basic Featurette of the film. As I always say, if you have seen one, you have seen them all. Just your basic fluff piece.

• Visual Effects scene deconstruction
  • Quite a neat extra that can be a littler tricky to use as I had some issues, but maybe it was just me. You can see storyboards, bluescreen shots and a bunch more from the Tunnel scene and the Edgar Bug Fight.

• Character animation studies
  • Just like the previous extra, here you can view the character animation study of Mikey, Jeebs and the Worm guys. I tried to get some of them to work, such as the adding skin and texture but was unable to get it working. Again, this extra, as well as the previous one is very glitchy. Since it didn’t work right for me, I can’t say I recommended this extra.

• Creatures: Concept to Completion
  • Finally, an extra that worked right. Here you are shown the original concept of the character and then their completed transformation and finished product.

• Galleries

• Scenes editing workshop

• Storyboard Comparisons

• Music video: Men in Black

• Men in Black trailers

• Previews

• BDLive

Final Thoughts

What is nice about Men in Black is that it doesn’t take itself seriously. It is a sci-fi comedy with a boatload of action. I remember watching it the first couple of times and I had a hard time liking the movie. I didn’t know what it was. Maybe at the time it was a case of Will Smith overload. Since then, I have grown to like the film, although I hated the second installment of the film.

With a fantastic audio track on this Blu-ray disc and a pretty decent video transfer, recommending this disc for purchase is easily done.