GET ready to don your black tie and cool shades, because the Men In Black are back, protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe in the imaginatively titled Men in Black II (PG).

Jay (Will Smith) and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) return as the funkiest secret agents on the planet in the action-packed sequel, set a few years after the original.

Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle), a sexy alien with mischief and world domination in mind, arrives on Earth looking for an artefact called the Light Of Zartha, which is hidden somewhere in New York City.

Aided by her two-headed henchmen Scrad (Johnny Knoxville), Serleena terrorises the alien communities of The Big Apple, but to no avail.

The only person who knows of the Light's whereabouts is Kay, but he has been 'neuralised' and now works at the US postal service, with no recollection of his alien-bashing days.

While Serleena and Scrad launch an offensive on MIB headquarters, Jay tracks down his former partner, restores his memory and together the snappily dressed duo set about bringing Serleena to justice.

However, Jay is somewhat distracted by beautiful pizza parlour worker Laura Vasquez (Rosario Dawson), who is somehow connected to the Light of Zartha.

If you enjoyed Men In Black, you'll undoubtedly warm to the sequel, which plies the same cocktail of comedy, eye-popping special effects and gruesome extra-terrestrials.

Unfortunately, for all of its eye candy, Men In Black II is a soulless exercise in money-making.

The film has little interest in originality or entertaining the audience: the soul aim is box office receipts.

Smith and Jones have their funny man/straight man routine down pat, but there is no sparkle there. All the halfway decent gags and action set pieces are in the trailer and the film-makers seem to make up the plot as they go along.