Green Hornet Busts His Larvae
Trailers and photos are beginning to leak out from the most disparaged unreleased movie of the year.
We’re finally seeing something from Seth Rogen’s Green Hornet movie, set for release next January. Already, that’s a bad sign – usually, big deal action flicks are released in summer or around Christmas, and Green Hornet was moved back from this summer into an all-but-invisible slot.
The stuff that’s been released is, of course, the really cool stuff. There’s nothing that says this is all the cool stuff the movie has to offer, but we always have that sneaking suspicion. Seth doesn’t look too bad– sort of plumpish Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. And Jay Chou looks like he
can handle the martial arts. It other words, there was nothing to chase me
away, like in the Spirit and Jonah Hex trailers. And there’s at least one thing that’s really cool-looking.
That would be the car, Black Beauty, after which they named the powerful amphetamine. It looks great. It damn well should; it might be carrying the movie. But… can it act?
I’ll probably see The Green Hornet for at least three reasons. The villain is being played by Christoph Waltz, of Inglourious Basterds fame, and he stole that movie, dropped it on me, and performed a lap dance. Edward James Olmos is playing hard-edged reporter Mike Axelrod, the man out to
expose the Green Hornet to impress his publisher, who also happens to be the Green Hornet. And long-time comics artist Arne Starr is in the movie, in a bit part but still, it’s always cool to see friends in the movies.
But I am most certainly not sold on The Green Hornet. At least, not yet.
You know, this actually looks fun. Maybe the movie isn’t as good as the trailer, but I’d call this a good first impression.
The Phantom took a beating from critics and viewers, but i thought it was just about right.
You know, this actually looks fun. Maybe the movie isn't as good as the trailer, but I'd call this a good first impression.
The Phantom took a beating from critics and viewers, but i thought it was just about right.
Are you sure the pills are named after the car and not the horse?
Given the timing, I’m certain it was the teevee car. Or somebody’s girl friend.
See, i never even thought about the car – i just assumed it was the horse.
Of course, i only saw the teevee “Green Hornet” once or twice…
OTOH, i’m positive that the “cookies” you get on your computer (originally called “magic cookies”) are named after the magic cookies in Dan O’Neil’s “Odd Bodkins”
I don’t believe Seth Rogan in this role at all. If they had made this as a parody, it may be believable, but he doesn’t look, sound or act the part. No wonder they put it in such a crappy release month.
Lot of people said the same about Michael Keaton as Batman. And Burton’s first “Batman” film is still, so far as i’m concerned, the definitive one.
Are you sure the pills are named after the car and not the horse?
Given the timing, I'm certain it was the teevee car. Or somebody's girl friend.
See, i never even thought about the car – i just assumed it was the horse.Of course, i only saw the teevee "Green Hornet" once or twice…
OTOH, i'm positive that the "cookies" you get on your computer (originally called "magic cookies") are named after the magic cookies in Dan O'Neil's "Odd Bodkins"
I don't believe Seth Rogan in this role at all. If they had made this as a parody, it may be believable, but he doesn't look, sound or act the part. No wonder they put it in such a crappy release month.
Lot of people said the same about Michael Keaton as Batman. And Burton's first "Batman" film is still, so far as i'm concerned, the definitive one.
To me, this is just a weird clusterfuck of problems. I like Seth Rogan… but they’ve taken the “square jawed” Van Williams I’m used to, and replaced him with a frat boy who learns he loved his daddy. Really? And in walks Kato. Sure, we know that Kato was the Bruce Lee vehicle that drove the TV show (aside from the bitching car) but here we get a Kato who looks to be all kinds of “studio approved”… Meh. The car looks cool. But so did Keaton’s Batmobile (sorry Christian, I’m not a fan of the Steel Armadillo).Ultimately this seems like one to miss, or catch for less than full price. I want to be pleasantly surprised, trust me, but frankly there wasn’t enough here to tell me that I need to rev my nerd motor up.
To me, this is just a weird clusterfuck of problems. I like Seth Rogan… but they've taken the "square jawed" Van Williams I'm used to, and replaced him with a frat boy who learns he loved his daddy. Really? And in walks Kato. Sure, we know that Kato was the Bruce Lee vehicle that drove the TV show (aside from the bitching car) but here we get a Kato who looks to be all kinds of "studio approved"… Meh. The car looks cool. But so did Keaton's Batmobile (sorry Christian, I'm not a fan of the Steel Armadillo).Ultimately this seems like one to miss, or catch for less than full price. I want to be pleasantly surprised, trust me, but frankly there wasn't enough here to tell me that I need to rev my nerd motor up.
Well said.
Epic fail!
I’m a long-time Green Hornet fan, and currently own 107 of the radio shows, excluding duplicates. I also very much enjoyed the Now Comics series. Especially the “Hornet dynasty” which linked the radio and TV series, and continued the uncle-to-nephew theme established on radio (Britt Reid, the Green Hornet, was the son of Dan Reid, the nephew of the Lone Ranger, making the Hornet the Lone Ranger’s grandnephew. Both The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet originated on WXYZ radio in Detroit, in 1933 and 1936, respectively).Never saw the TV series, with the exception of three episodes linked together to create a “movie” released on videotape in the 1990s (to the best of my knowledge it was never re-run in the metro Detroit area).As to the film, as I’ve said elsewhere, I’ll take a wait a see approach. Like Mike Weber, I’m reminded of the (as it turns out baseless) complaints about Michael Keaton back in 1988. Just because Rogan’s done comedies so far doesn’t mean he’s incapable of doing drama (for the record, I’ve never seen anything he’s done, so I can’t comment about the quality of his acting).Does he look like Britt Reid, as depicted in either the 1940s serials or the 1960…s TV series? No, but no one’s supposed to link Britt and the Hornet (except in that Britt has had his paper, the Daily Sentinel post a reward for the Hornet’s capture). The question is whether Rogan, while dressed as the Hornet, can come across as a criminal you don’t want to mess with.The Hornet, for the record, is not a superhero in any sense of the word. He’s a man who takes down criminal gangs by pretending to be a criminal himself. As far as the underworld knows, he wants to be the undisputed underworld kingpin. And with the exception of his mask, he wears street clothes. Britt’s line about villains in the trailer really should have been “criminals.”I don’t have any problem with the plotline of ne’er-do-well son forced by circumstances (in this case the murder of his father) to realize he’s wasting his life and to find a purpose. It’s a variation of a well-established literary device. And given that, unfortunately, a lot of people are probably not familiar with the Green Hornet we probably need some establishment of Britt’s reasons for becoming the Hornet. Even Batman, who is very well known by the general public, had his origin addressed in both Batman and Batman Begins.Recommended reading: The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television by Martin Grams Jr., and Terry Salomonson. Both are radio historians, and Salomonson’s area of expertise are the the series that originated on WXYZ. More information at Salomonson’s website: http://www.audio-classics.com/printthegreenhornet…Rick
He has had roles in things other than comedies (Donnie Darko is the first thing that springs to mind), and he can’t cut it. That’s the point.As you yourself said, you aren’t familar with his work. As someone who has seen the majority of his comedy-related work, as well as at least some of his non-comedic roles, I’m judging him incapable of pulling this role off in a believable way and in a manner consistent with what many people would expect from a Green Hornet film. And again, as you pointed out, Rogan and whoever wrote the script may well not have a good handle on the character as evidenced by Rogan referring to criminals as “villains.” (Which sticks out like a sore thumb as outside of established Hornet behavior.)I have no doubt many people will enjoy the film, I probably will even get some smiles out of it at least, but the point many people are making is that he just isn’t capable of playing the role based on his previous showing as an actor. He may surprise everyone, but after having watched the trailer twice I sincerely doubt it.
I'm a long-time Green Hornet fan, and currently own 107 of the radio shows, excluding duplicates. I also very much enjoyed the Now Comics series. Especially the "Hornet dynasty" which linked the radio and TV series, and continued the uncle-to-nephew theme established on radio (Britt Reid, the Green Hornet, was the son of Dan Reid, the nephew of the Lone Ranger, making the Hornet the Lone Ranger's grandnephew. Both The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet originated on WXYZ radio in Detroit, in 1933 and 1936, respectively).Never saw the TV series, with the exception of three episodes linked together to create a "movie" released on videotape in the 1990s (to the best of my knowledge it was never re-run in the metro Detroit area).As to the film, as I've said elsewhere, I'll take a wait a see approach. Like Mike Weber, I'm reminded of the (as it turns out baseless) complaints about Michael Keaton back in 1988. Just because Rogan's done comedies so far doesn't mean he's incapable of doing drama (for the record, I've never seen anything he's done, so I can't comment about the quality of his acting).Does he look like Britt Reid, as depicted in either the 1940s serials or the 1960…s TV series? No, but no one's supposed to link Britt and the Hornet (except in that Britt has had his paper, the Daily Sentinel post a reward for the Hornet's capture). The question is whether Rogan, while dressed as the Hornet, can come across as a criminal you don't want to mess with.The Hornet, for the record, is not a superhero in any sense of the word. He's a man who takes down criminal gangs by pretending to be a criminal himself. As far as the underworld knows, he wants to be the undisputed underworld kingpin. And with the exception of his mask, he wears street clothes. Britt's line about villains in the trailer really should have been "criminals."I don't have any problem with the plotline of ne'er-do-well son forced by circumstances (in this case the murder of his father) to realize he's wasting his life and to find a purpose. It's a variation of a well-established literary device. And given that, unfortunately, a lot of people are probably not familiar with the Green Hornet we probably need some establishment of Britt's reasons for becoming the Hornet. Even Batman, who is very well known by the general public, had his origin addressed in both Batman and Batman Begins.Recommended reading: The Green Hornet: A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television by Martin Grams Jr., and Terry Salomonson. Both are radio historians, and Salomonson's area of expertise are the the series that originated on WXYZ. More information at Salomonson's website: http://www.audio-classics.com/printthegreenhornet…Rick
He has had roles in things other than comedies (Donnie Darko is the first thing that springs to mind), and he can't cut it. That's the point.As you yourself said, you aren't familar with his work. As someone who has seen the majority of his comedy-related work, as well as at least some of his non-comedic roles, I'm judging him incapable of pulling this role off in a believable way and in a manner consistent with what many people would expect from a Green Hornet film. And again, as you pointed out, Rogan and whoever wrote the script may well not have a good handle on the character as evidenced by Rogan referring to criminals as "villains." (Which sticks out like a sore thumb as outside of established Hornet behavior.)I have no doubt many people will enjoy the film, I probably will even get some smiles out of it at least, but the point many people are making is that he just isn't capable of playing the role based on his previous showing as an actor. He may surprise everyone, but after having watched the trailer twice I sincerely doubt it.
Mike, thanks for the plug. (Barring the cutting room floor, I’m a reporter at a press conference with D.A. Scanlon on whether this “Hornet” is real). I actually think the trailer gives it a chance that it could be OK. Some mild comedy added but still played a bit straight at the same time, and this could be good for the GH as where the premise was always cool, the execution tended to always be a bit…stuffy? Now of course Bruce Lee as Kato has become iconic altogether, but who would have thought the Hornet would have worked as Mike the Cop from Abbot and Costello and Keye (“yes, grasshopper”) Luke as Kato. (They also used to dub the Hornets voice when masked by the actor who played him on radio.) One of the things I asked right away on set was if it being played for laughs and the answer I got was that though there was some comedic bits, it was still being played relatively straight. This is definately going to be a wait and see, but I like the trailer so far…
Mike, thanks for the plug. (Barring the cutting room floor, I'm a reporter at a press conference with D.A. Scanlon on whether this "Hornet" is real). I actually think the trailer gives it a chance that it could be OK. Some mild comedy added but still played a bit straight at the same time, and this could be good for the GH as where the premise was always cool, the execution tended to always be a bit…stuffy? Now of course Bruce Lee as Kato has become iconic altogether, but who would have thought the Hornet would have worked as Mike the Cop from Abbot and Costello and Keye ("yes, grasshopper") Luke as Kato. (They also used to dub the Hornets voice when masked by the actor who played him on radio.) One of the things I asked right away on set was if it being played for laughs and the answer I got was that though there was some comedic bits, it was still being played relatively straight. This is definately going to be a wait and see, but I like the trailer so far…
Mark Hirsh at MonkeySee (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/):All fair points. But I do not share the concern, and not because I actually know more about the Green Hornet now than I did before I watched the trailer. (Not something that can always be said about trailers.) And that’s because I am fully aware that what I’ve watched isn’t the movie, it’s the marketing.Gotta agree with him. Hand-wringing based on an initial trailer seems pointless.
Mark Hirsh at MonkeySee (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/):All fair points. But I do not share the concern, and not because I actually know more about the Green Hornet now than I did before I watched the trailer. (Not something that can always be said about trailers.) And that's because I am fully aware that what I've watched isn't the movie, it's the marketing.Gotta agree with him. Hand-wringing based on an initial trailer seems pointless.