Smith back in `Black'

A surprisingly large number of people you see on the street are aliens from outer space, at least in the bustling Manhattan of the slyly comic "Men In Black II" (Columbia Pictures). And even though the sci fi adventures of federal agents Kay and Jay averting a galactic disaster is wildly absurd, you may be taking a closer look around you when you leave the theater. (Of course, my curiously unsettling feeling was maybe abetted by seeing the movie at a cinema located in Harvard Square where people revel in their eccentricities. Who knows.)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have been reunited to great effect as the partners from the Men In Black agency, a federal bureau set up to investigate reports of aliens visiting earth.

As it turns out many of these creatures from elsewhere are friendly allies, easily able to gain their green cards and melt into the society at large.

However, as the story begins, a malevolent Kylothian monster, a twisted ball of hundreds of scaly tentacles, has landed on the shores of the Hudson River.

Bent on retrieving a source of light that would enable it to dominate Earth and the rest of the universe, the sinister being is on a mission whose success would mean the end of life as we know it. Happening upon a magazine on the grassy bank whose pages are open to a lingerie ad for Victoria's Secret undergarments, the chameleon alters its look dramatically to appear as if it were the sexy model. Lethally lovely as the bad girl Sarleena is Lara Flynn Boyle who has perfected a piercing gaze from her role as the D.A. in TV's "The Practice."

After marshaling her forces, Sarleena heads for the pizza parlor where the light is reportedly stored, immolating the manager when he refuses to give her the powerful item she is after. A shop waitress hidden from view witnesses the ugly scene. As the sweet Laura Vasquez, Rosario Dawson is wide-eyed at the strange assassination she's seen yet not thrown by the oddity of it. That makes her the perfect love interest for Jay.

The human actors all put in fine performances but it's the aliens who steal the show. From the feisty, overly ambitious Frank the Pug dog to the partying worms and hundreds of other creations, "Men In Black II" is one amazing sight after another.

There's a huge number of puppeteers, stunt men, computer artists, animators, animatronics pros, and the like who are credited with these superb visuals. A major contributor to the special animation and visual effects is a division of Lucas Digital, Ltd, which explains the stylistic kinship of some of the creatures to the gang in the bar in "Star Wars."

Director Barry Sonnenfled had done a wonderful job blending the actors with the creatures while keeping the action at a fever pitch as the dastardly Serena wrecks havoc in Manhattan.