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Men in Black Collector's Edition / Special Limited Edition
Distributed by
Columbia TriStar
Cert:
Cat.no: CDR 24510 / CDR 24510 SE
Running time: 94 minutes
Year: 1997
Pressing: 2000
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 27 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, German and French
Subtitles: 18 languages available
Widescreen: 1.85:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9 / DVD 18 + DVD 9
Price: £19.99 / £24.99
Extras :
- Collector's Edition: Visual Commentary from Barry Sonnenfeld and
Tommy Lee Jones, Multi-Angle Character Animation Studies, Multi-Angle Tunnel
Scene Deconstruction, Extended Scenes, 5 Alternate Scenes, Conceptual Art,
Storyboard, Storyboard Comparisons and Production Photo Galleries, Original
Featurette, New Documentary- 'Metamorphosis Of Men In Black, Music Video of
Will Smith's 'Men In Black', 11 Talent Files, 3 Theatrical Trailers,
Theatrical Trailer for Men In Black II, Weblinks
- Special Limited Edition: All of the above plus the following: two discs
containing a widescreen and full-screen feature, Scene Editing Workshop never
before seen on a DVD, Additional Photo Galleries with over 1,000 images of
conceptual art and production photos, Additional Edgar Bug Fight
Deconstruction Scene, Technical Audio Commentary with Barry Sonnenfield and
the team from Industrial Light & Magic
Director:
Barry Sonnenfeld
(Addams Family 1 & 2, Get Shorty, Mem in Black, Raising Arizona, Wild Wild West)
Producers:
Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes
Screenplay:
Ed Solomon
Music:
Danny Elfman
Cast:
Agent K (Kay): Tommy Lee Jones
Agent J (Jay)/James Edwards: Will Smith
Agent L (Elle)/Laurel: Linda Fiorentino
Edgar: Vincent D'Onofrio
MIB Director Agent Zed: Rip Torn
Men in Black,
was one of many Marvel Comic-to-screen adaptations and the success of the summer in 1997,
coming only a year after Will Smith's other lucrative smash hit,
Independence Day, which is also
out in the US as a specially-extended version.
The men, only known by a single initial are the alien F.B.I. You see, you may not realise it
but aliens really are alive and well and living amongst us. There are some good ones, such
as Willie in "V", but most of them are bad and as the film begins it's up to Agent Kay
(Tommy Lee Jones) to stamp them out.
Agent Dee is due for retirement soon. He taught Kay everything he knows, so now it's up to
Kay to teach his new recruit Jay, aka James Edwards (Will Smith), the secrets of the
organisation, but once you're in, your original identity is erased and when your time comes
to retire your mind will be wiped of all MiB knowledge.
The plot is simple as Jay and Kay rid the world of aliens, gearing up for a spectacular finale
and recruiting new Agent Elle, aka Deputy Medical Examiner (Linda Fiorentino), in the
process. Vincent D'Onofrio, probably best known for his appearance as Private Pyle, the
fat one in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, is Edgar - starting off as a simple farmer
but it's his body that the chief alien decides to reside in, taking his truck with it.
Finally, the MIB Director, Agent Zed is played by Rip Torn.
There's no escape from Agent K
The anamorphic widescreen picture is the version that I'll always be watching, but almost
all scenes have some underlying artifacts and a murky haziness which is rather a let-down
for such a high-profile release.
The average bitrate is 6.17Mb/s, occasionally peaking above 8Mb/s.
The sound is perfect though. So many scenes require explosions, gunfire and general
all-round madness, all in Dolby Digital 5.1, such as the screaming as Mikey bites the big one,
the truck being smashed to pieces and the final saucer crash.
Do Agent Jay a favour. Look closely and click on this picture.
Extras :
Chapters :
27 chapters for the 94-minute film which is fine, although I thought a Special Edition DVD
would have even more.
Languages/Subtitles :
Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French and German, plus an English surround option.
Subtitles in 18 languages :
English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, French, Dutch, German, Hindi,
Hebrew, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Turkish and Arabic.
And there's more... :
And it's got to be one of the most feature-packed DVDs available this year.
When I first posted this review online I only had the first disc to hand of
the Limited Edition 2-disc set. Disc 2 ran out quite quickly (how come they
don't stay together?), but now I also have the single-disc Collector's Edition
which contains almost all of the remaining extras.
The first disc is a DVD18. That means the total space available to Columbia is nearly
18Gb. It's the first such commercially-available DVD in the UK and means each side is
gold-coloured. It's known as a dual-layer, dual-sided DVD. You'll notice a number of discs
among your collections which have the name on the top and a gold underside to them.
Those are DVD9s and are dual-layer but obviously single-sided.
DVD5s are also in abundance. They are single-layer, single-sided DVDs, while DVD10s are
single-layer, dual-sided. DVD10s have made a few appearances, but are more likely to be
eschewed in favour of DVD9s for the simple reason that it's more convenient to you, the
consumer, to watch all of the content on one side of the disc, without having to turn it
over.
For example, the Region 1 DVD of Starship Troopers was a DVD10. This was done so
that the film was on side 1, with all the extras on side 2. The UK Region 2 DVD was also
a DVD10, but some kind pillock at Warner decided to scrap the extras and place half the
film on each side, so just as it was getting to a brillant point of action... the film
stopped dead and you had to turn it over. A DVD10 was also used with the UK DVD of
Armageddon, until BBC TV's Watchdog got involved and forced Warner to
replace all such discs returned for a free replacement DVD9.
Back to the plot though and here are the extras so far for disc one of the Special Limited
Edition set.
Visual Commentary from Barry Sonnenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones:
Similar to that found on the
Ghostbusters: Special Edition
DVD, this features the two men as they sit and discuss the film like a typical audio
commentary, the difference being that you can see their silhouettes in front of the film
and they point at what's going on and draw on the screen to bring things to your attention.
The DVD player has to be put into "4:3 TV" or 'standard TV' mode in order to see them,
which means a windowboxed widescreen picture for those watching on widescreen TVs as the men
are effectively sitting in the black bars.
Technical Audio Commentary with Barry Sonnenfeld and the team from
Industrial Light & Magic:
An analysis breakdown of ten scenes in the film, the final one being an exclusive to the
Special Limited Edition: The Dragonfly (a very clever opening credits sequence), Making Mikey
(the weird screaming creature at the start who also appears in the music video), Chasing the
Perp, Saucer Destroys Truck (loudly!), Jeebs Regrows His Head, MiB Headquarters, Making Mr.
Gentle, the Tunnel sequence, the Saucer Crash at the end and finally, the ghastly,
but impressive, Edgar Bug.
Barry Sonnenfeld is joined by ILM members Rick Baker, Eric Brevig, John Andrew
Berton Jr. and Rob Coleman.
Production Photo Gallery: Scores of photos in three categories:
Visual Effects Team: ILM, On the set with talent; and Make-up and Puppet Team:
Cinovation.
A Metamorphosis of MiB: A 23-minute featurette with cast and
crew interviews mixed in with clips plus B-roll and work-in-progress footage.
Extended and Alternate Scenes: 5 scenes lasting around a
minute each: Outside Leschko's Diner, Jay's MiB audition, Mrs. Edelson,
Chinese Restaurant, Bouncing Ball (without SFX)
Art and Animation: Includes some parts of the Technical
Audio Commentary mentioned above, plus Storyboard comparisons, a Storyboard
gallery and a Conceptual Art Gallery.
Talent Files: Filmographies for the director, main actors
and some crew members.
The MiB Recommend: Theatrical and Teaser Trailers for
MiB (both Dolby Digital 5.1 and anamorphic 16:9 ratio), plus a Teaser Trailer
for MiB II (same credentials, except now in anamorphic 2.35:1) and a 4:3
trailer for
Stuart Little.
Second Featurette: More clips and chat, lasting 7 minutes
this time.
'Men in Black' Music Video: You know the one.
Note that disc two of the special edition contains: a Scene Editing
Workshop.
Meet Edgar. He's friendly.
Menu :
The main menu begins with an introduction to the MiB headquarters as if you are being
enlisted. The animations apes the HQ as you move around the room to access other special
features, with music from the main theme. The scene selection menu features moving clips
from each chapter situated within cryogenic tanks while the sound of bubbles bounce around
as does 'that ball'.
Also impressive is the opening Columbia TriStar logo when you boot up the disc with sweeping
DD5.1 surround sound as the company's name moves from the rear to the front speakers.
The 2 Special Edition DVDs.
The original fullscreen and widescreen video releases.
Overall, Men in Black is a great fun film with brilliant special effects, sound
and extras to match. It's just a shame that the picture isn't up to scratch
and there are a couple of slight language cuts where the word "prick" is
replaced with "jerk". It would be interesting to see how the Region 1 DVD
compares in the picture stakes.
Final Note: I wonder if Men in Black 2, due out next summer, will follow
the same tradition as the sequels/follow-ups to
Pretty Woman
(Runaway Bride)
and 48 Hours (Another 48 Hours), in that the second film swapped
round the two lead actors' names as one had subsequently over-taken the other
in Hollywood's A-list, as Jay re-recruits Kay as he's in need of help.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
