Men in Black is a cosmic anomaly - a neuralyzing cocktail of comedy, horror, absurdity, and existentialism wrapped up in a brisk 98-minute runtime.
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Add in a ruthless interstellar cockroach the size of an SVU parading around Manhattan in the skin of Vincent D’Onofrio, and you’ve got something that is almost impossible to recreate. Their crackling chemistry is what every buddy cop comedy aspires to achieve. Tying it all together is the pitch-perfect marriage of Tommy Lee Jones as no-nonsense veteran, Agent K, and Will Smith as the wisecracking rookie, Agent J. From Ed Solomon’s tight and whip-smart screenplay, to the dynamic cinematography of Don Peterman, to Danny Elfman’s quirky score, to the cheeky world-building. Everything in director Barry Sonnenfeld’s adaptation of Lowell Cunninghuman’s Malibu comic (and yes, this is is a comic book film) works in perfect harmony. The tragedy of Men in Black is that the slew of sequels that followed were never quite able to capture the strange magic of the first movie, which thrusts us into the mysterious - and sometimes Kafka-esque - echelons of a quasi-government agency that monitors and regulates extra-terrestrial life on this little blue marble we call home. Independence Day is currently streaming on HBO Max 7. Plus, the electrifying odd couple chemistry between Smith and Jeff Goldblum in the movie's latter half helped lay the groundwork for Smith's next alien team-up flick, Men in Black, the following year. Anyone else still scarred from when they watched Doctor Brakun get possessed by one of the aliens at Area 51 as a child? No? Just us? Ok, fair enough. When one of their massive ships razes the White House in one of the most iconic set pieces of any summer blockbuster in history, you know these E.T.s haven't popped by our planet to play around.Įven without their advanced technology, the extra-terrestrials are still formidable.
Where Tim Burton aimed for a more light-hearted and darkly satirical tone, Independence Day treated its own alien menace with gut-punching seriousness. It also confirmed Will Smith - fresh off Michael Bay's Bad Boys - as one of the hottest rising young stars in the entertainment industry.
Released five months before Mars Attacks!, Independence Day solidified Roland Emmerich as Hollywood's resident master of disaster (a title he continues to live up to with Moonfall) who showed a knack for juggling intersecting narratives set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic event. The destruction of famous landmarks, an ensemble cast of memorable characters, and Bill Pullman's rousing speech make this film so beloved.