Men in Black II contains a lot of little touches that harkened back to the
original film as well as just some random trivia. Remember, if you haven't seen the movie yet and you want to be surprised about plot points and such, skip this writeup and come back after you see the movie.
Now, on with the show...
In the beginning of the film we see J taking care of business. He's the MIB's top agent and everyone respects him. However, just as soon as K returns to the agency, J falls back into his trainee mode persona from the first movie. A lot of the reviews I've read bash the film because there's no characterization development. I beg to differ: there is development because we see J as the Big Man. When his former mentor returns, he slips back into a comfortable and familiar role (the exact moment of this transition is when J hands K the keys to the car). This is accurate with human behavior, in my experience. With all the other MIBs falling all over K to get him coffee and such, it was perfectly reasonable for J to slip back into old habits.
Notice how J still has an affinity for giving people he's used the neuralizer on happy memories. In the first movie he tried to give Edgar's wife a long, rambling, happy memory that would boost her self esteem. In the sequel he tells the family in K's old residence that they all love each other and the little girl can stay up late and eat candy and cake. When J has to neuralize T he tells him to get married and have children. Another happy memory from your neighborhood MIB.
Was that a PlayStation 2 controller in the car when it went to flight mode? Indeed it was, but painted silver.
Has anyone looked to see if jackjeebs@aol.com belongs to anyone? And if it does, is that person selling a deneuralizer? It's true though, you really can find anything on eBay.
I loved how the movie came full circle and took us back to the subway for another encounter with Jeff at the end. I am convinced that there's a carefully scripted and plotted tale behind all the special effects and sight gags.
A mass neuralizer in the Statue of Liberty's torch? Brilliant!
The thing that wowed me the most in the movie was the end scene with the giant alien locker room. K was right, it really did put some perspective on things!