Green Hornet - quick review (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

I think I liked the first half of the movie over the last half of the movie, but I might watch it again if I get a chance just for the sheer nuttiness of the performances and direction in the fight scenes. No, not a great movie, but some good laughs showed up early, and they were just in the "let's wrap up the movie" mode for the last third of the movie.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

 

[TravisR]

I had heard that the movie was much more of an action movie than comedy and that was completely wrong. As a comedy, I thought the movie worked fairly well (even the action elements are, for the most part, funny) and Seth Rogen works well as a guy who is playing superhero but doesn't know what he's doing.


Overall, it's better than the trailer or commercials would lead you to believe but I doubt it'll get much love from most of the internet.

 

[RobertR]

Originally Posted by TravisR

Seth Rogen works well as a guy who is playing superhero but doesn't know what he's doing.

"Incompetent superhero" is an oxymoron. Useless film, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by RobertR

"Incompetent superhero" is an oxymoron. Useless film, as far as I'm concerned.

The character is just starting out in his vigilante (and not a superhero) career and has no idea what he's doing. How is supposed to be competent right at the beginning? Like I said, the movie is a comedy and the comedic situations come out of his inexperience. If the movie was a straight action, Rogen would have been the wrong choice for the movie but since it's a comedy, he's right for the role as the semi-well intentioned guy who is in way over his head.


That being said, since you've already decided that it's worthless, don't ever see it.

 

[Todd H]

 Caught this at a matinee this afternoon. It was OK. What caught me off guard was how old Cameron Diaz is looking. Yikes.

 

[Brent M]

Originally Posted by Todd H

Caught this at a matinee this afternoon. It was OK. What caught me off guard was how old Cameron Diaz is looking. Yikes.

A buddy of mine saw the movie on an IMAX screen this weekend and said the exact same thing....couldn't believe how much older she looked. I noticed a startling difference as well when she did a promo thing for the movie on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week. She's only 38 so I can't imagine what she'll look like in a few years.

 

[Todd H]

I think the years of smoking have finally caught up with her. She's starting to get the dreaded "smoker's face." Too bad.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Todd H

I think the years of smoking have finally caught up with her. She's starting to get the dreaded "smoker's face." Too bad.

More like the years of exposure to the sun's rays as well as tanning booths.

 

[RobertR]

I thought she looked bad in a recent photo as well.

 

[gtjia]

Saw it last night. It had many funny moments, lots of action and gadgets. Overall, it was an entertaining movie. Seth did a good job playing the fumbling egoist personality.

 

[TonyD]

Couldn't find another topic on the movie so this one it is. IT STINKS. If Britt is supposed to be a complete jackass then Rogen got it perfect. There is nothing likable about Britt or even Kato. I lost count of how many people they murdered on their own, or how many police officers they probably seriously injured or killed. Christoph Waltz was the only thing funny in the movie. Sure he is new to doing superhero stuff but that doesnt allow him to be a jerk for almost the entire movie. ALso the movie was boring and shouldn't their masks be green.

 

[Edwin-S]

It wasn't very good and someone must have had an obsession with Wile E. Coyote jokes. This film has the most crush deaths that I have seen outside of a Roadrunner cartoon, except in those the coyote doesn't die.

 

[Richard--W]

The character is just starting out in his vigilante (and not a superhero) career and has no idea what he's doing. How is supposed to be competent right at the beginning? Like I said, the movie is a comedy and the comedic situations come out of his inexperience. If the movie was a straight action, Rogen would have been the wrong choice for the movie but since it's a comedy, he's right for the role as the semi-well intentioned guy who is in way over his head.

 

That being said, since you've already decided that it's worthless, don't ever see it.

You are missing the point. Britt Reid and Kato were a specific concept. An adaptation has to work within the established boundaries and build on the foundation its creators intended. This film throws it out, so that it's no longer The Green Hornet. If Britt Reid starts out as a vigilante, he isn't Britt Reid. If Britt Reid starts out as a slob and a buffoon who can't do anything right, he isn't Britt Reid. If Britt Reid has to learn by experience how to clean up his act and do things competently, he isn't Britt Reid. The character has been turned into a politically correct statement and a deconstruction (i.e. a put-down) of the male hero. The film is aimed at men who are too dumb to know when they are being insulted. We've seen this done before with Zorro and James Bond, among others. The movie is condescending and just plain stupid. A complete waste of celluloid.

 

[TonyD]

"The film is aimed at men who are too dumb to know when they are being insulted." Not sure if you need to insult people who like the movie. While I thought the same as you about the movie I sure wouldn't go as far as you did Richard. also what Zorro are you talking about? The first recent one with Antonio Bandaras was pretty good fun, second one not so much. James Bond?

 

[TravisR]

"The film is aimed at men who are too dumb to know when they are being insulted." Not sure if you need to insult people who like the movie.

Since he said "politically correct", "deconstruction" and "male hero", it brought back fond memories of his hilariously unending posts railing against Casino Royale so I was too busy laughing to be insulted.

 

[Richard--W]

No wonder you like the movie, TravisR.

 

[Edwin-S]

You are missing the point. Britt Reid and Kato were a specific concept. An adaptation has to work within the established boundaries and build on the foundation its creators intended. This film throws it out, so that it's no longer The Green Hornet. If Britt Reid starts out as a vigilante, he isn't Britt Reid. If Britt Reid starts out as a slob and a buffoon who can't do anything right, he isn't Britt Reid. If Britt Reid has to learn by experience how to clean up his act and do things competently, he isn't Britt Reid. The character has been turned into a politically correct statement and a deconstruction (i.e. a put-down) of the male hero. The film is aimed at men who are too dumb to know when they are being insulted. We've seen this done before with Zorro and James Bond, among others. The movie is condescending and just plain stupid. A complete waste of celluloid.

Except for the too dumb comment I would pretty well agree with your observations, because this is exactly how I feel that Guy Ritchie shit on Sherlock Holmes by putting him in drag in the trailer for his SH sequel. 1) Sherlock Holmes was a genius. 2) Sherlock Holmes was a master of disguise. 3) If Sherlock Holmes puts on a disguise that obviously shows that he is wearing a disguise then he is neither one nor two, therefore he is not Sherlock Holmes. 4) What is with these filmmakers taking every strong iconic male character and turning them into effeminate fools? You see so much of it in movies now that you have to ask yourself if there is an agenda to feminize any male character that shows signs of masculinity. The whole thing reminds me of that Dave Chapelle interview where he bringsup the interesting observation that Hollywood tries to put any black male with a hint of power into a dress. He also observes that if they don't play ball they soon don't have a career.

 

[TravisR]

No wonder you like the movie, TravisR.

I don't know if I've even thought about The Green Hornet since the day that I saw it so I wouldn't really characterize myself as a fan of the movie. And even if I thought it was the best movie ever made, I wouldn't think that my opinion was the only way to look at it and that all must see it my way or face my intellectual ridicule.