MEN IN BLACK (1997)

"We're not hosting an intergalactic kegger."

One fine evening, NYPD officer Will Smith is out chasing some busta all over the place.  Jumping off a bridge, hardcore parkouring off a Central Park wall, climbing and running all over the Guggenheim Museum...but then, when he corners the busta, the dude has sideways eyelids!  That shit ain't right.  Ends up the dude is an alien from outer space and Will Smith soon finds himself to be the newest recruit of the super secretive Men in Black agency.  Which seems like a very sexist name for an agency, but whatever.  The job of the MIB is to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial threats and to regulate the aliens that are currently already here.

Old timer agent Tommy Lee Jones is tasked to show Will Smith the ropes.  Their first case is to track down a large illegal alien insect who recently landed in upstate New York and ate the insides of farmer Vincent D'Onofrio and is now walking around in his skin.  That's just nasty and kinda awesome, cause D'Onofrio does an amazing job of looking creepy as fook!  Ends up, insect D'Onofrio is looking for a small but powerful energy device called "The Galaxy" and will stop at nothing to find it.  Even if it means blowing up the entire planet.  Yikes!

MEN IN BLACK is an entertaining time-waster.  Good acting, interesting story that could have been a little bit darker, solid supporting cast, zero tension, dated special effects that still look okay, a cute dog, a cute cat, some not so cute roaches, an extremely depressing bit of dialogue, a Misfits t-shirt and, for whatever reason, the 98 minute runtime seems to go by very fast!  I honestly thought there was like another 20 minutes or so coming when the movie just...ended.  Recommended.

Part 2 - Men in Black II (2002)
Part 3 - Men in Black 3 (2012)
Part 4 - Men in Black: International (2019)

TAKEN 2 (2012)

Taking place soon after the events of the first film, TAKEN 2 opens with a funeral in a remote Albanian village.  The funeral is for some of the gangsters that Liam Neeson killed while rescuing his daughter from the sex traffickers in the first film.  The relatives, lead by the father of one of the dead men, swears revenge on Liam.   Liam inadvertently makes it easy for them (and the writers) by taking a security job in Istanbul, Turkey and allowing his daughter and ex-wife to visit.  So now, all the bad guys have to do is drive over there and kidnap them.

The believability of TAKEN 2 is pretty out there, but oh well, at least we get to see Liam Neeson kicking ass and in the end: isn't that all that really matters?  Tons of people getting punching, zero nudity, lots of shooting with hardly any blood or wounds, more of that extreme editing and close-ups during the fighting scenes (I'm really getting tired of that shit), predictable outcome, increased screentime for Maggie Grace who wears shorts a lot, hand grenade tossing, one hell of a car chase, nice photography. 

TAKEN 2 isn't as satisfying as the original film and I think that has to do with the story being pretty ehhh and the location of Istanbul simply isn't as exciting as Paris.  Still, it's worth a watch for action fans.  Not a terrible sequel, but I was hoping for much more.  I thought it would be interesting if Liam's daughter was now a popular singer and she got kidnapped while on tour.

If you need me, I'll be in my room watching COMMANDO.

Part 1 - Taken (2008)
Part 3 - Taken 3 (2014)