Men In Black Collector's Edition (1997) [DVD]

This 2-disc set is polished. Disc 1 is a DVD 18 (double sided) with both 4:3 and widescreen versions of the film. Good good. The second disc adds to the extras on the first, which together add to great menus, commentaries in both visual (Tommy Lee Jones and Barry Sonnenfeld silouetted on your screen pointing things out) and audio (the technical team talk you through) formats. Wow. Special effects get the full treatment - many effects are broken down and explained in documentaries and you can use the multi-angle feature on your player to develop the shots yourself as well. You can also direct scenes yourself with advice from the production crew, choosing shots from a menu to make a full scene which you can then watch. There are dossiers, trailers, music videos and the whole thing is subtitled (I mean everything - audio commentaries included). Basically wow. There's also a trailer for MIB2 - well there we are. A new documentary on the making of is in there for a laugh.

£24.99 is a lot to pay for a disc but 1, you don't have to do that as amazon are selling it for less and 2, you're getting more bang for your buck than any other DVD feature in Region 2. Columbia Tristar may wish to avoid developing a habit of 2 disc sets if possible - it's not great at this price. Nonetheless this sets the standard - now can Terminator 2 beat it?

If you don't like action there's plenty of comedy. If you don't like sci-fi, there's plenty of action. And there's even a broad range of comedy to suit everybody's humour.

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith couldn't be better suited to each other. With Smith's over the top enthusiasm, coupled with Jones dry wit, this is one of the best cinematic pairings ever on screen. They play off each other, complement each other, and are the best thing in a fantastic movie.

For the first time you watch Men In Black, the storyline is actually quite gripping, as the two intergalactic secret agents try and solve a crime before the end of the world. It does keep you guessing, and intrigued. Of course, by the 100th time you watch this film - and it really is that good that you will watch it a lot - the storyline will be known inside out, but you will keep watching because of the sharp banter between the two leads.

The special effects even hold up well today, particularly Mikey, the first alien character you meet. A nice blend of Rick Baker puppetry, to neat ILM CGI.

An impressive cast, a well paced film which will leave you breathless with its action, while trying to laugh at its jokes at the same time, Men In Black is a serious modern classic.

Ufortunately the same can't be said of the DVD extras. (If you are a DVD extras kinda person, then maybe this film should only get 4 stars, but I only judge a DVD from the film. Extras, whether they are good or not, don't change a poor film.) Because Men In Black was one of the first DVDs to come out, the extras were quite groundbreaking, but we've been spoiled recently, and so they have paled in comparison.

They tend to focus on the technical side of things - make up, effects, storyboards - and can get a bit boring. But there's a semi-decent effort with a retrospective look at the film, and Will Smith's excellent video to his Men In Black theme song.