Posted: Sunday 29th June 2008

Detective James Edwards’ (Will Smith) life changes forever after he is recruited by Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) for top-secret agency MIB (Men In Black). The agency keeps tabs on alien activity on Earth and doesn’t report to any government. After a UFO crashes into Earth, Agents J and K try and track down the ‘Bug’ and stop it before it finds the super energy source, ‘The Galaxy’. If they don’t stop the bug the Earth will be destroyed.

Men In Black was a huge box office success upon its release in 1997. The movie went on to take over $589 million dollars worldwide and spawned one sequel in 2002. The successful partnership of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith was the real draw of the movie and the pair made a very entertaining duo. During this period Will Smith was also riding high in the music charts with the theme song from the movie.

Men In Black was surrounded by a lot of hype on its initial release and whilst we enjoyed the movie (and still do), it’s not quite the action blockbuster that it was made out to be at the time. With enough special effects and laughs to keep you entertained the movie never scaled the dizzying heights of some of the other summer movies that have emerged over the years. Still it’s a pure guilty pleasure and a film we’re happy to rewatch from time-to-time.

The movie has been released for the first time on Blu-ray, 11 years after it debuted on the big screen. It has never looked or sounded so good and the high definition picture and incredible sound add another dimension to an already classic film.

Extras on the Blu-ray edition include commentaries, a trivia game, extended and alternate scenes, featurettes, a music video, a scene editing workshop, storyboards and galleries. Men In Black is also the first Blu-ray release from Sony to feature the much-hyped BD-Live function. BD-Live connects to the Internet to allow users to access downloadable trailers, an interactive trivia quiz and also features FAQs about the BD-Live functionality.

Men In Black is a classic movie and despite not being quite as spectacular as it was hyped to be, it is an always enjoyable movie. It’s incredible to think that the movie is over a decade old already and we have to say it’s ageing well. Men In Black is from the time when summer blockbusters were proper popcorn movies and escapist fun.