This - Will Smith's follow-up sci-fi action pic after
Independence Day - would have been the highest-grossing film released in 1997 if not for
Titanic. Smith hit it out of the ballpark two-in-a-row in terms of box office (popularity) and high-gloss entertainment. This had similar elements to
Independence Day - the aliens from outer space - but it's less of a hostile invasion and more... illegal aliens. Based on a comic book, the aliens here are mostly humorous; even the villain, a giant insect from outer space, is just a series of dark-humored scenes. This insectoid-invader arrives by its lonesome and takes the guise of a belligerent farmer (Vincent D'Onofrio), so we don't really see what it looks like - just hints - until the final act.
The heroes (Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones) are part of a super-secret government enforcement agency which monitors the roughly 1000 aliens on our planet - these are real aliens, from other planets. Smith, as Agent J, is not yet part of this organization as the film begins. He's a hotshot plainclothes cop who is agile enough to run down one of these aliens. Agent K (Jones, deadpan to the max) feels that Smith is good enough to join, though his boss Agent Zed (Rip Torn) has doubts. However, recruiting Smith proves to be good timing - just in time to deal with the new alien-insect threat. The other prime character is a medical examiner (Linda Fiorentino) who has begun to catch on to the secret alien doings via her job and is soon captured by the villain.
What really works in this movie is the humor; there's a consistently laidback, cheerful tone that runs through the whole film, empowering all the scenes with jokey attitudes and dialog. It's not over the top or boorish or stupid - the characters actually all come across as pretty sharp. Fiorentino holds her own even though her career never reached the levels of Smith or Jones. There are also surprising scenes around every corner as we are introduced, gradually, to this secret world of alien residents and the agency charged with keeping things ordered. The FX for the most part are impressive for the time, and are mostly inserted organically to further the story. The plot takes a backseat to the style and visuals - the bad bug is after a "galaxy" - but it's never boring. It may lack gravitas - it's all so flippant and perhaps even disposable that it doesn't stay in the mind after, but while you watch it's great fun. BoG's Score:
8 out of 10
Trivia in Black: the sequel arrived in 2002; true to form, it grossed only about two-thirds of this original; a 3rd film arrived in 2012
