Men in Black (1997) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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At least they don’t have to worry about what to wear after Labor Day.

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them….maybe you can hire the Men in Black. This film takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the world of conspiracy theories about aliens walking amongst humans. And it’s so much weirder than you might expect!

First Impressions

The trailer for this film tells of the existence of a top secret, clandestine organization called the Men in Black. And they’re recruiting Will Smith to work with them. There are some aliens and fancy technology shown in this slightly tongue-in-cheek preview of the movie. This organization apparently protects the Earth from the scum of the universe. From conspiracy theory to reality, these are the Men In Black.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

On a small road at night, the driver of a box truck (Jon Gries) is pulled over by police and discovered to be carrying a load of Mexican immigrants. Two men, Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent Dee (Richard Hamilton), wearing black suits, show up in a nondescript car, and take one of the migrants away, revealing it’s an actual alien. When it flees, Agent Kay shoots it causing it to explode, blue goo flying all over one of the officers. Kay uses a small, pen sized device called a neuralyzer, to blank the cops memories. Dee admits to being too old for the work, and Kay erases his memories as well.

In New York City, NYPD officer James Edwards (Will Smith) chases a suspect onto the roof of the Guggenheim museum. The man rants about someone coming before diving off the roof to his death. Elsewhere in upstate New York a spaceship crashes at the farm of Edgar (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Beatrice (Siobhan Fallon) where the alien kills and assumes Edgars body, like a suit. James is pulled from his NYPD interrogation by Kay who takes James to a local pawn shop run by Jeebs (Tony Shaloub), an alien, in order to get some information. Kay gives James the history of the Men In Black, including showing him a photo of a young man who wandered into the first alien meeting site. After that he neutralizes James and gives him a business card on where to meet him in the morning.

James takes part in a test for new Men in Black, administered by Zed (Rip Torn), accepting a position when offered to him. The organization protects the planet from aliens and serves as a border patrol for aliens visiting or living on Earth. James has his past erased and becomes Agent Jay. At a diner in New York, the Edgar-Bug kills two humanoid looking aliens, stealing a container that he thinks is “the galaxy.” The autopsy of the two “people” is performed by Laurel (Linda Fiorentino), the coroner which Agent Kay has already neuralyzed at least once. Jay and Kay arrive to investigate as well. Helping Laurel, Jay stumbles onto a small alien inside the man’s head–which is a cockpit operating a robotic body. The creature says, “to prevent war, the galaxy is on Orion’s belt,” before dying. Laurel is once again neuralyzer.

Jay catches Kay looking up a woman on satellite imagery and realizes that Kay was the young man spoken about during the first contact with aliens in 1961. At a jewelry store owned by the old man/alien, Edgar-Bug ransacks the place but is chased off by Jay and Kay. To get further information on what’s going on, Kay interrogates Frank the Pug, an alien that resembles a small dog. At this point Jay realizes the meaning of the alien’s earlier statement–Orion is the name of the man’s cat, and the Galaxy is on its collar. Meanwhile, an Arquillian battleship arrives in orbit and makes an ultimatum to the MIB.

Edgar-Bug too realizes the location of the Galaxy he seeks and returns to the morgue where the cat has continued to hang out. He kills the attendant (David Cross), takes the collar,  and kidnaps Laurel. He forces her to drive to Flushing Meadows, the site of the World’s Fair, where two UFOs were turned into giant towers for the event. Jay and Kay race through the tunnel to Queens, transforming their Ford POS into a jet car that drives on the ceiling. Laurel manages to escape the aliens’ grasp as he boards one of the ships. The Arquillian delegation indicates it will destroy the planet if the Galaxy is not returned in eight minutes.

Jay and Kay shoot down the departing UFO over Shea Stadium. The bug pulls off the Edgar suit, revealing a giant insectoid creature, which eats the Agents’ guns. Kay forces the bug to swallow him, while Jay smack talks the alien, buying time. Kay blows up the alien from the inside and retrieves the Galaxy in time. He admits to Jay that he was not training a partner, but a replacement. Jay neuralyzes him so he can go be with the woman he loves. Laurel becomes Agent L and the two work new cases. The final shot pulls out through the Milky Way galaxy, revealing it is contained within a marble being played with by an alien hand.

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it.” – Agent Kay

History in the Making

Men in Black is a decidedly different type of science-fiction film from the majority of films in the mid-90s. Many of the films being released were adapting a hard SF tone (dealing with realistic and more science-based ideas) or co-opting an action/adventure hybrid with lots of explosions and shoot-outs. Barry Sonnenfeld’s quirky adaptation of a little known comic book property ended up becoming one of the bigger hits for the year. It brought a lighter, comedic tone, while still engaging with some of the action tropes seen in other popular films. Comedic sci-fi was not the norm at the time, though Mars Attacks! had been released the previous Christmas. However, Men in Black provided a more mainstream type of comedy utilizing television and recording star, Will Smith.

This was only Smith’s third starring role and a return to the genre that elevated his career the previous summer with Independence Day. His portrayal of NYPD Officer James Edwards created a wise-cracking and action-oriented character that provided audiences with much to enjoy. He became the surrogate for the viewer entering this hidden world of super-spies, aliens, and fringe conspiracy theories, but never felt threatened. Smith played the part with excitement and eagerness to experience this world, just as the audience would want to experience. To compliment his exuberance, Tommy Lee Jones was cast as his dry and efficient partner. This was not Jones’ first sci-fi role. He starred in Black Moon Rising the previous decade, but he was primarily known for his dramatic roles in films such as The Fugitive or JFK. He would return to the genre occasionally for films like Space Cowboys with Clint Eastwood, and Ad Astra with Brad Pitt, as well as the two direct sequels to this film.

For viewers paying attention during the opening credits, they will notice the credit “based on the Marvel Comic by Lowell Cunningham.” At this time, Men in Black was one of a very short list of non-superhero films based on comic books properties that also included The Mask, Timecop, and of course Howard the Duck. Referencing the comic as a Marvel property is technically correct, but slightly disingenuous. The history is much richer than that title implies. A comic entitled The Men in Black, was first released in January 1990, written by Lowell Cunningham and illustrated by Sandy Carruthers. This three-issue series was published by Canadian comic publisher Aircel Comics. Sometime within the next year, that company was acquired by American publisher Malibu Comics which published the second three-issue series in mid-1991. In turn, Malibu was purchased by Marvel Comics in 1994 leading to the credit as listed in the film.

Genre-fication

In 1993 The X-Files television show broke new ground in the paranormal and science-fiction genres. The show, which featured FBI agents Mulder and Scully, adapted stories of urban legends and conspiracy theories into a weekly series that proved aliens, shadow governments, and other far-fetched ideas were real. Jump to 1997 when Men In Black took a similar yet more comical approach to the same topics. The term “men in black” refers to the officious gentlemen in black suits that often appear at the sites of UFO sightings or other mysterious phenomena. In popular conspiracy theories they work for a secret branch of the government that uses their anonymity to silence people who claim to have seen flying saucers, either by cover-up, threats, or assassination. Rather than tell the story from an outsider’s view, the audience is taken within this secretive organization to see the reasons why they do what they do.

The film opens with the police stopping a van carrying migrant aliens. The joke here becomes that one of these hispanic workers is actually an extraterrestrial alien, with the men in black acting as a border patrol organization for the entire planet. The humans that witness this exchange are “flashed” by the neuralyzer into forgetting that they saw anything. The post-hypnotic suggestions that are made to them include seeing swamp gas, weather balloons, or refracted light from Venus–all real-world theories that have been touted as explanations for UFO sightings. This memory wiping technique is used instead of killing witnesses, which makes the organization seem less scary and harmful than anything on The X-Files. To them, the potential destruction of Earth is just another Tuesday, and their jobs are to safeguard the world from all manner of threats.

With the concept of aliens living among us, Men in Black explains the strange assortment of people that can be found in New York City, as well as certain celebrities. Any weird or odd-looking individual gets revealed as an alien, from cab drivers, James’ third grade teacher, and of course, Michael Jackson. The film presents aliens as being among us, and for the most part friendly. Earth becomes another member of a galactic organization not unlike Starfleet in the Star Trek universe. However, rather than focusing on the star-spanning adventures, Men in Black sticks to the events on the ground, as the planet is routinely threatened by some alien species for various reasons. The film ends with a depiction of a famous thought experiment. The camera pulls away from the Earth, showing the size and expanse of the universe, before emerging from a marble in the hand of an alien. If a galaxy can be located in a container on the collar of a cat, then maybe our own galaxy is located inside an alien’s toy.

Societal Commentary

Unlike almost every other film with alien threats (with the possible exception of E.T. the Extraterrestrial), Men in Black does not play into the anxiety and fear that is associated with alien visitation. James doesn’t freak out when confronted with a man who has two sets of eyelids. He seems to understand the weirdness that his job can bring. And when he is tested on the gun range at MIB headquarters, he doesn’t shoot any of the alien targets, but a small, blond girl instead. His reasoning is that she’s the one out of place, in a ghetto, with books on quantum physics. He reflects the filmmakers wishes that this would be a cool job, if you are fascinated with this sort of thing. James gets to experience things that few people ever will and gets answers to some of life’s strangest questions. All he has to do is give up his identity.

And that’s the main theme for the film. Would you be willing to give up everything and everyone in your life for a chance to understand the universe a little better? James doesn’t seem to have anyone in his life, and is consumed by his job, so the transition to the MIB team, and having his identity erased, is of little consequence to him. But for Agent Kay, there’s a little bit more of a back story. His involvement with the men in black was a little less voluntary. According to the story he tells, he was a young man on his way on a date (possibly to propose) when he got caught in the first contact between aliens and humans. He had to give up his chance to spend his life with his girlfriend in order to do important work. But the life he could have had always haunts him. Which is why in the end, Jay offers him the chance to leave the MIB and live out his days with the woman he loves. At least until the next film.

The Science in The Fiction

Men in Black suggests a plethora of amazing technology on Earth is due to their contact with aliens. MIB is funded by patents on things confiscated from various aliens. According to Zed, these include Velcro, microwave ovens, and liposuction. There’s also the variety of weaponry in the MIB arsenal, their transforming jet car, and of course the neuralyzer. This device, which has settings for days, months, and years, can wipe out a person’s memories for almost any amount of time. Afterwards, they are left susceptible to hypnotic suggestions about what actually happened during the blanked portion of the memories. Jay is concerned about the repetitive uses of the device on Laurel, who, as coroner, sees some of the weirdest stuff happening in the city. It is even able to blank Kay’s memories of the last 35 years, so he can reunite with the woman he loved.

But that’s only a fraction of the interesting devices seen in the film. The alien bug is able to pull the skin off of Edgar and wear him like a suit (very much the next logical step from Face/Off). Another alien, about the size of a Funko Pop figure, sits inside the head of an older man, which is really a robotic body that the alien controls. Jeebs offers tons of deadly devices for sale inside his pawn shop, which is a front for his alien business. But the funniest piece of technology is the conceit that the saucer-shaped restaurants on the observation towers of the New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows (part of the 1964 New York World’s Fair) are in fact actual flying saucers from the first contact with aliens. The ships were built into the design of the fair to hide them in plain sight.

The Final Frontier

Contrasting with the technologically superior devices in the film, is the 60s retro design of the MIB headquarters. Its white minimalist design with organic curves, such as the egg pod chairs, give a weird vibe in comparison to the futuristic technology. The desks of the characters also have retro styled computers and furnishings, while the office workers all have a very simple wardrobe reminiscent of Mad Men or other 60s period films and shows. This goofiness when combining past and present, retro and techno, is one of the endearing qualities of the film and franchise as a whole. Men In Black launched a series of films, four in total, plus an animated television series which featured Frank the Pug in an expanded role. The film’s soundtrack also kicked off the beginning of Will Smith’s solo career. His end credits song, simply titled “Men in Black” (and sampling Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots”) was the first single off his Big Willie Style album, released later that year.

Fans of the film might be surprised to learn that Steven Spielberg was one of the producers of the film. His company, Amblin Entertainment, produced all three of the original MIB films, as well as a whole host of other action, comedy, sci-fi films from the 80s and 90s including Innerspace, the Back to the Future trilogy, and Twister. Men in Black is a fun and fresh take on the idea that humans are not alone in the universe. It simultaneously affirms the slew of conspiracy theories about aliens living among humans, while also pointing out the ridiculousness of the idea. The line between these two ideals are the men in black, who won’t let you remember.

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