<p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched <strong>Men in Black</strong>, the 1997 sci-fi action comedy directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio and Rip Torn.</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Men in Black</strong> was written by Ed Soloman and shot by the late Donald Peterman — whose credits include <strong>Flashdance</strong>, <strong>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home</strong>, <strong>Planes, Trains and Automobiles </strong>and <strong>Point Break</strong> — with a score by Danny Elfman.</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">In <strong>Men in Black</strong>, Smith plays James Darrell Edwards III, a New York City police officer who finds himself in chase through the city with a unnaturally fast and agile criminal, who later commits suicide. He soon learns that this criminal was an alien from another planet, and that New York is host to a secret government agency tasked with tracking alien lifeforms on Earth. He is recruited into the Men in Black by Agent K, and is deemed Agent J.</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Agents K and J are soon on the hunt for a Bug, an extra-terrestial cockroach who seeks “the galaxy,” a precious energy source that has been left on Earth. As the Bug, donning the skin of a human farmer, rampages through New York, K and J try to mitigate the damage and protect the galaxy, and the Earth itself, from the Bug.</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The tagline for <strong>Men in Black</strong> was “Protecting the Earth from the Sum of the Universe.”</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">You can find <strong>Men in Black</strong> to stream on demand on Amazon Prime or for rent or purchase on Amazon and Apple TV.</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Be sure to sign up for our Patreon, where we watch the films of the Cold War and try to unpack them as political and historical documents! For $5 a month, you get two bonus episodes every month as well as access to the entire back catalog — we’re almost two years deep at this point. Sign up at <a href="http://patreon.com/unclearpod">patreon.com/unclearpod</a>. </p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The latest episode of our Patreon podcast is on Martin Scorsese’s <strong>Taxi Driver</strong>.</p><p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.connor-lynch.com/">Connor Lynch</a> produced this episode. Artwork by <a href="https://instagram.com/rachel_e_lettering?utm_medium=copy_link">Rachel Eck</a>.</p>
