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Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return for "Men In Black 3D"

^ How's he wrong? I don't know about you, but I love stories about perfectly normal people doing perfectly normal things who are interchangeable with anyone else.
 
Broccoli said:
Gaith said:
Great... more blockbuster fiction glorifying those who mind-assault Muggles who don't deserve to be let into the cool, magical kids' club. Because American audiences' egos aren't big enough already. :rolleyes:
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Uh...what?
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The Men in Black are not strictly "good guys". Like the Wizarding community in Harry Potter, whose memory spells are just like neuralyzers, the MiB have no right to assault and mind-wipe bystanders who happen to witness what they do. And in the larger sense, they have no right to deny humanity at large the knowledge that aliens live among us. I don't have an inherent problem with stories that celebrate supermen, superheroes and super-spies, but I can't exactly cheer on the MiB either.

Mick Lasalle, of the San Francisco Chronicle, on the first movie:

Unlike "Independence Day," which had real exuberance about it, "Men in Black" is never better than its gimmick. At times, it even leaves a bad aftertaste. After all, the Men in Black aren't merry entrepreneurs, like the Ghostbusters. They're cold- blooded bureaucrats whose job is to control and suppress information.... it's intended as lightweight comedy, but if you think about it too much, it's not so funny.
... After the laughs comes the uneasiness. The men in black make the shenanigans in the Nixon White House look naive, a pair of Constitution-flouting functionaries as heroes.
... But "Men in Black" is not about ideas. This is James Bond for an ironic age. Everything is arch, and nothing is to be taken seriously except its set pieces.
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(Emphasis added.) He liked the second better:
The movie's complete lack of seriousness is, if anything, an advantage, serving to soften whatever resistance we might have to the idea of a rogue agency operating outside the Constitution, flouting rights and playing with people's minds. The last movie, though a comedy, took its heroes just seriously enough for them to be unsettling. But in "Men in Black II," everything's played for laughs, and that's a good thing.
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Gotta agree with him on this one.
 
Gaith said:
the MiB have no right to assault and mind-wipe bystanders who happen to witness what they do. And in the larger sense, they have no right to deny humanity at large the knowledge that aliens live among us.
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Why not?

By their very nature, the MIB exist above the law. So they actually have every right to do what they do.

And as Agent K points out, they have a reason for it as well. Like he said, a person is smart; PEOPLE are dumb, crazy, panicking animals. If word about this got out, there'd be mass civil disorder. The MIB act to prevent this, for the greater good. They keep knowledge of aliens from us because we don't deserve to know about them. We're not ready.
 
[Picard]Who the hell are we to determine the next course of evolution for these people?[/Picard]
And when will they decide to let us in on this information? I gotta agree the MIB premise is pretty dark conspiracy stuff, having said that I still prefer the first one to the second
 
Mr. Laser Beam said:
By their very nature, the MIB exist above the law. So they actually have every right to do what they do.
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No. In this country, there is no higher authority than the law: no deities, no kings, nothing. Within the United States of America, the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms", but that's a guideline, not a rule.

US Constitution, Article IV, Section 4:
Section 4 - Republican government
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
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The MiB would be a textbook example of an organized form of "domestic Violence" of the sort that the law requires the United States to combat.

Mr. Laser Beam said:
They keep knowledge of aliens from us because we don't deserve to know about them. We're not ready.
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This statement is entirely irrelevant to the MiB's criminality, but it perhaps bears noting that every totalitarian regime declares itself to be legitimate.
 
:wtf:

Lets not over analyze it now.

Do you also have moral issues with every superhero movie ever made?
 
If people thought there were really sharp-dressed men operating outside the Constitution, wiping the minds of civilians to cover up the existence of extraterrestrials, then the MIB movies would be unsettling rather than funny.

It is a fantasy and people recognize it as such--which is why they aren't bothered. Same reason people are into comic books and their accompanying movies. In fantasy, vigilantes are cool. In reality, I don't think most people actually want superpowered, paramilitary groups operating outside the law.
 
The internet community scares me at times. Are we really discussing the moral implications of a fictional organization that supposedly violates the Constitutional rights of fictional people in a comedy movie that is in fact fictional? Seriously?

And people got after me for worrying about a leading zero in an NCC registry...
 
The Wormhole said:
The internet community scares me at times. Are we really discussing the moral implications of a fictional organization that supposedly violates the Constitutional rights of fictional people in a comedy movie that is in fact fictional? Seriously?
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While there being a "real" MiB is very unlikely, it's worth pointing out the movie was based of the belief of a "real" such organization.

And people got after me for worrying about a leading zero in an NCC registry...
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Which, BTW, it's been almost two years now, I think you can change the avatar.
;)
 
Gaith said:
Great... more blockbuster fiction glorifying those who mind-assault Muggles who don't deserve to be let into the cool, magical kids' club. Because American audiences' egos aren't big enough already. :rolleyes:
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Are you posting "in character" or something? I mean, muggle is only a word in Harry Potter isn't it?
 
Poor choice of title. I initially thought that it referred to a re-release of the first film in 3D.

Also, I had no idea that Men in Black was based on a comic book
 
Robert Maxwell said:
If people thought there were really sharp-dressed men operating outside the Constitution, wiping the minds of civilians to cover up the existence of extraterrestrials, then the MIB movies would be unsettling rather than funny.

It is a fantasy and people recognize it as such--which is why they aren't bothered. Same reason people are into comic books and their accompanying movies. In fantasy, vigilantes are cool. In reality, I don't think most people actually want superpowered, paramilitary groups operating outside the law.
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No, good sir I must disagree. I, too, detected a note of creeping facism in American entertainment whilst watching this popcorn flick. I remember leaving the theater practically wishing that someday I too would live in a world where the feds would erase my brain.
 
I loved the first movie, the second movie I completely ignore. Hoping they will learn from their mistakes in the third movie.
 
Rii said:
Also, I had no idea that Men in Black was based on a comic book
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Small and independent, Marvel picked up the rights to it and printed a few books. Not sure how the rights to it work and why it hasn't reverted back to Marvel after 9yrs.
Some people still get surprised to find out Blade is also a comic character.

Can't say I'm doing back flips over another MIB after the second. I'll wait for news on how its developing, no reason to cast stones just cause 2 was horrid.
 
Broccoli said:
Lets not over analyze it now.
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If pointing out the most obvious issue presented by the franchise's very premise strikes you as "over-analysis", what wouldn't qualify as such? It isn't even a matter of subtext. Believe it or not, some people like to not have to turn off their brains to enjoy pop entertainment.

Broccoli said:
Do you also have moral issues with every superhero movie ever made?
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Why would I? Most superheroes don't regularly assault people's brains.

Strider said:
Are you posting "in character" or something? I mean, muggle is only a word in Harry Potter isn't it?
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Do you really not see that the Men in Black and HP's Wizarding community are rather similar, or were you joking? ;)

The Wormhole said:
The internet community scares me at times. Are we really discussing the moral implications of a fictional organization that supposedly violates the Constitutional rights of fictional people in a comedy movie that is in fact fictional? Seriously?
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Some of us geek out over whether or not the Falcon could take the Voyager, and some of us geek out by quoting the US Constitution. Do I offend you, my good sir? :)
 
Gaith said:
[.

Strider said:
Are you posting "in character" or something? I mean, muggle is only a word in Harry Potter isn't it?
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Do you really not see that the Men in Black and HP's Wizarding community are rather similar, or were you joking? ;)
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I seriously can't account for my apparent lapse in Harry Potter knowledge. I'd better schedule an appointment with a nuerologist post haste!
 
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