Noisy Cricket

A Noisy Cricket seen in the first film

The Noisy Cricket is a fictional weapon that appeared in the Men in Black film series. It is the first weapon used by one of the protagonists Agent J and his signature weapon in the Men in Black series.

Depiction

A Noisy Cricket is a small pistol-like weapon with a small grip and pointed barrel. It fires a powerful orb of energy, creating the sound of a cricket. It produces a strong recoil that can launch its user if he or she is not careful. It can also be suppressed to reduce the recoil, but this reduces its power. In the spin-off book, the MIB Agent's Handbook, explains that Noisy Crickets are deliberately given to rookies, and bets are taken on how far the rookie will fly as a result of the gun's recoil (a practice discouraged under MIB's 'No Hazing' policy). It may have been adapted from an identically-described tiny gun with immense recoil described on the first page of Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash.

In the films

The Noisy Cricket was first introduced in the first film. While searching for an appropriate weapon for Jay, Agent K found and gave him a Noisy Cricket. Jay mockingly puts it in his pocket and says that he might break it. Yet, he later finds out that the Cricket is very dangerous. Upon firing it the first time, the recoil hurled Jay into a wall. He tries to shoot it a second time with a proper stance, but it launched him back again, this time into the windshield of a passing taxi.

It again appeared in the sequel. It was given to a neuralyzed Kay, who was called Kevin Brown. Jay jokingly gave Brown a Noisy Cricket. Jay described the cricket as Brown's favorite weapon. Even though he had no memory of being an MiB agent, Kay proves his experience with the cricket. He blew Jeeb's head off without being hurt or bothered by the recoil. However, he was lying on the floor at the time, so the recoil presumably had no effect.

There is no mention or use of the Cricket in Men in Black 3.

In the series

The Noisy Cricket is the signature weapon of Agent J in the series. It appears in almost every episode as Jay's weapon of choice. Despite his frequent usage of the weapon, the kick is still there and it continues to bother him. He eventually puts a suppressor on it so it no longer kicks, but this suppressor limits the weapon's power.

MIB: Alien Crisis

The noisy cricket appears in the video game MiB: Alien Crisis as a weapon in the player's disposal. Like in the films, the cricket fires orbs of energy at the enemy. Although in the gameplay, its power is somewhat reduced, as the main character can fire it off without the conventional recoil seen in the series.

Reception

The Noisy Cricket appeared in a special segment of Sci-Fi Saved My Life entitled Men in Black, discussing the possibilities of it being a reality. It is commonly mistaken that the gun also appears in Will Smith's movie Wild Wild West (1999) when on the train the outline of the gun rack their appears to be a noisy cricket outline but in fact this is what is called a palm gun.

It also has been listed on many websites as one of the greatest sci-fi weapons.

A weapon called the Tiny Pistol is featured in Saints Row IV which is found lying on a chair in the hidden secret basement under the Let's Pretend costume store which can accessed by shooting the door with an "Employees Only" sign inside the store, which is based on the Noisy Cricket and like the Noisy Cricket it is a powerful weapon that produces a powerful blast of energy, though it also possesses the Noisy Cricket's recoil, as well as a longer recharge time but it can be upgraded to recharge faster. It only weapon skin which is its default skin which is called "Loud Locust". Its in game description reads "A miniature pistol of obscure origin and unknown capability".