Special Edition Podcast

Special Edition – The Green Hornet

Show Notes

Conor Kilpatrick and Ron Richards sit down to discuss The Green Hornet, the superhero action comedy from director Michel Gondry and writer and star Seth Rogan. Was the film successful in what it wanted to be? Why does IMDB have the wrong actor listed as playing Kato? Would you rather pay a premium for a 3D film or a theater without kids? And what are the upcoming comics book/super hero movies in 2011? They examine all these questions and more!

Running Time: 00:18:24


 

For a long time no one seemed to know what to make of this film. A super hero movie? Starring Seth Rogan?

Well, here we are.

We’ve seen a bunch of trailers released and despite the naysayers I never saw anything but a fun action comedy. I had faith. And then a funny thing happened, lots of other people started having faith too. In fact, all I read this week on the industry blogs and in the magazines was that the buzz on The Green Hornet among test audiences was strongly positive. Then I started seeing people I knew who went to early screenings posting positive reviews on Twitter. Will the early word that the film is indeed a fun action comedy pan out? We’ll see. I have to say that a film directed by Michel Gondry and written by the two guys who wrote Superbad shouldn’t surprise anyone when it is good.

The iFanboy staff will be going to see this one as soon as possible so we can bring you a Special Edition this Sunday.

Are you going to see it? Possibly! So let’s talk about it!

If you haven’t seen the movie yet be forewarned — there be SPOILERS ahoy! So don’t scroll down any further if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.

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Comments

  1. “The director of this half-cooked mess is Michel Gondry, whose “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is as good as this one is bad. ” – Roger Ebert

    Harsh, and the other reviews aren’t looking much better. I’m a huge Gondry fan but I think I’m going to sit this one out until HBO gets it 8 months from now. 

  2. I heard from a few people that it’s really fun so as long as you’re not expecting something dark and gritty it’s a pretty good time at the theater.

  3. given that ebert hated kick ass, i have little faith in his review

  4. I’m hopefully seeing this tonight. It’s only showing in 3D at my local cinema though, and I can’t stand 3D. Still, I’m looking forward to it.

  5. @wordballoon, agreed. Saw the trailer in front of Tron, in 3d, even that part of the movie seemed interesting and not just a money grabbing after thought.

  6. @SirCox  I don’t put much stock in Roger Ebert’s reviews. I usually don’t agree with him.

  7. @Xebix Oh I have definitely disagreed with Ebert before. He hated Kick-Ass as someone mentioned which I enjoyed. Roger Ebert excerpt I chose though because he at least always gives well written reasons for liking/disliking a film. This also wasn’t the only bad review. There were many. I’m also not seeing it based just on that review. It’s only playing in 3D by me, which really hurts my eyes and well, there’s just better options to see(I haven’t seen Black Swan yet).

  8. Everytime I read about this movie I think of this comic strip http://www.the-gutters.com/comic/43-mohammad-f-haque

    Ebert is an old guy that doesn’t get new movies and what the average comic book geek likes so to hell with him, he said videogames aren’t art for christ sake!!!!

  9. i’ll see it, but probably on netflix…just like the majority of movies i see. 

  10. Michael Gondry gives me hope that this will be good.

  11. Surprised this is getting a ton of negative reviews. The trailers (which got me excited for it) seemed to signify this is going to be just an action packed (somewhat stupid) comic book movie. Not sure what the critics were expecting here, and I am a fan of Roger Ebert!

    I’m either gonna see it tonight or tomorrow but it will most likely be in 3D. Since there is not a single theater near me that is showing it only in 2D. I hate this trend!!! 

  12. NYT just gave the review and say ““The Green Hornet” is not terrible, just pointless, and it offers further proof that superheroism is, at least for now, pretty well tapped out as a vein of lucrative pop-cultural bounty” so this means I’ll be seeing it but thinking it will be a bad movie… so let’s hope it is that bad

  13. This one doesn’t look or sound good. Gondry’s talents are absolutely lost on this kind of film/script.

  14. I have liked the trailers, but as with all movies will wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray

  15. @wordballoon  I think Ebert’s review of kick-ass was a rare mis-step. He’s usually pretty fair in his criticism.

  16. It was a bad crime/hero film, on the level of Daredevil. But a little funny, depending on your substance abuse level a la the usual Seth Rogen film.  Gondry is wasted. I expected to enjoy it a lot more.

  17. I’m not a Seth Rogen fan but I may give this one a chance. Maybe I’ll check it out on Netflix or when it hits Blu.

  18. Green Hornet is an exciting, action packed, funny as hell movie. Easily one of the best Superhero movies I have ever seen. Just go into understanding that it is as much a comedy as an action movie and you will be fine. What makes it work is that the comedy for the most part comes from the characters and their actions and not from mocking the conventions of the superhero genre. This is not a superhero parody of any kind. It is a superhero film that also happens to be comedy. Think along the lines of the JLI stuff, though admittedly with a stronger comedic focus than that series had. The film has some terrific visual flourishes, well staged fight sequences, and a perfect buddy paring in Rogen and Chou. Do I think everyone will enjoy the film? No, but more owing to personal taste than actual poor filmmaking. A must see for comic fans.

  19. I’m hoping to go see it this weekend. My girlfriend is probably more excited than I am. I doubt we’ll opt for the 3D version but I’m curious to see what people think of it.

  20. While it is not specatacular cinema, very few comic movie adaptations are. I got to see it yesterday and really did enjoy the movie for its entertainment value. It is tough to see past the fact that it is Seth Rogen as Brit Reid, but if you can get past the whole Seth Rogen thing, it truly is fun to watch. When it comes to comic adaptations, it is no Dark Knight or Iron Man but it definitely isnt Daredevil or Ghost Rider.

  21. Just got back from seeing this.  I thought it was a fun time.

  22. Ugh.  May as well.

  23. Cameron Diaz looks more like she used to (like in THE MASK) in this film. Which is a good thing.

  24. There is nothing that bothers me more than someone disregarding a critic’s review because of another review that critic wrote.

    That said I’m always a little iffy on Gondry films but am interested enough to check it out if I hear enough good word on it.

  25. Their are some movies that Ebert just doesn’t get; I think thats true of any movie critic.  I however, am moderately excited for this movie and will be seeing it.  

  26. Just saw it tonight in IMAX 3D, it had a fairly decent story with good laughs. However it felt like the 3D was a waist, the credits looked good though ha.

  27. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m planning on going tomorrow. I’m excited about it because I love Rogan and Gondry, and it looks like a fun movie.

  28. Definitely seeing this over the weekend.  I figure if you go in looking for a fun time at the movies with some action and some laughs, you’ll be pleasantly surprised if it’s better than you thought.  It doesn’t hurt that I loved the TV show when I used to watch my old bootleg VHS tapes, so I’m actually excited for the whole enterprise.

  29. Jay Chou is pretty huge in Asia. This is not even the first comic book adaptation he’s done. He did a movie version of Initial D. He built a pretty big career as a rapper over there believe it or not. 

  30. Saw it. Not a 3D guy. I think its a meaningless gimick. But I think the film is not bad, not great, but not bad. I think Diaz is wasted, and Christoph Waltz (?) is nearly wasted. He shows up from time to time but no real conflict connects there. Making him seem that it could have been any guy as a generic mob boss.

  31. REVIEW
    ————————

    I gotta admit something to you all: I know nothing about The Green Hornet. Sure I know  ‘of it’, I have the theme on my ipod (it’s catchy), and I tried reading the Kevin Smith story (which brace yourselves: it wasn’t that bad). Other then that though, I don’t know a single history, continuity, or tidbit about the character. So what better way to try and get into the character than to watch practically an origin film? I mean we’re at a high peak of comic book films, and doing an essential reboot to a 1936 radio character is a bit risky. But hey, we got one of my favorite directors (ever) in Michel Gondry doing this. I mean, what could go wrong!?

    Well as a matter of fact: Everything. Everything about this film was a complete and utter disaster. I can’t even begin to describe how bad it was, but I will try to. Let’s put it this way everyone: I never….NEVER try to walk out of a film. No matter how bad a film can be, I make of it to sit through all of the crap I am about to watch. But this film made me want to get out of my chair and leave, SEVERAL times. I couldn’t believe how terrible this film was and how I managed to sit through all of this is the miracle for tonight.

    So what specifically made this a truly horrible film? Well let’s get right down to the obvious suspect in all of this: SETH ROGAN. Now admittedly, I am not a huge fan of the guy. He can be funny when he wants to be but, like Michael Cera, you see one portrayal of him then you’ve seen them all. Not only did I have to deal with Rogan doing absolutely no acting in this, and doing a bad job of it mind you, but he help write the damn thing! Which brings us to culprit number two: The writing by Seth Rogan. Okay there is a second writer to this with Evan Goldberg. But guess what? He’s a writing partner with Seth Rogan and his other films! (Including Superbad and Pineapple Express) So basically, if you know how those two work together, then you get the same type of dialogue in this film. It’s crude, it’s childish, and the word ‘shit’ was used like it was a freaking verb. Characters are insanely unlikable and downright idiotic at times, especially when it comes to Rogan’s character. He is such a dick in this film, that I can’t even figure out why we should even care about this man.

    The list continues though my friends. Characters are way underused in this film. I mean Rogan and Chou are obviously the heroes so they get top bill. But why have people like Cameron Diaz and an even better actor with Christoph Waltz in this if you’re not even going to use them? Diaz isn’t even shown on this film at least until a third of the way through of this and there is nothing remarkable about her character at all. She is just there to earn a paycheck and brings nothing to the table. The only actor I even thought was trying was Waltz, who again has barely any time to really be considered threatening. There were times were I actually thought the film was trying to get better with Waltz on screen. But then the horrible writing comes into play and just makes him such a buffoon and his overall role is downsized at the end. A character, barely introduced in the beginning, ends up being the big baddie and it left me scratching my head on why Rogan/Goldberg went that route.

    Other things like bad CGI and some lazy editing also makes this a chore to watch. Granted I might have a bit more of a grind with the editing since I am going to college to become one. But you gotta admit that transitions are pretty uneven, the edits are clearly visible (with time clearly going ahead of the previous shot), and the laughable ADR recordings are present throughout the piece. Also, I am so happy that I did not have to pay extra for 3D. Like many, I am so sick and tired of this fad and this film is not making me think better of it. I was able to see this in 2D but let me tell you: it is so easy to see where the 3D was coming into play. Having said that, had I paid for 3D I would want my money back because there is so little of it. But it’s used a lot in the early fight scenes, so even if there is some creativity with the direction going in it’s hard to tell whats going on because it’s edited to be in 3D.

    I know this review has gone on long enough but let me close in saying just a few more things. Earlier I typed that Michel Gondry is one of my favorite directors. I really mean that because his films (well until now) were nothing like what you usually see. They are inventive, well directed and written, and so imaginative. Hell, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will forever be in my personal Top 5 Best films of all time. But now it’s so sad to see Gondry reduce to whore himself out like this. There are moments where I can tell where he tries to make it his movie (the opening shot with a young Brett in the car for example). But in the end, it’s all so damn generic that it’s like Gondry just went about to make the most bland film possible.

    In the end, I am so furious that I even contributed to make this film any money. It didn’t get my money physically (gift card baby!) but even the thought of giving any statistics to this mess of a film really gets me angry thinking about it. This is the first film of the new year for me (and the first comic book film too) and let me tell you it paints a pretty grim picture for the year ahead. This is absolute garbage with horrible writing, childish acting, and some mediocre directing. I know we have a long way ahead before the end of the year, but it’s going to take something a hell of a lot worse to even get this not to be the worst film of 2011 for me. I urge anyone reading this who haven’t seen the movie, and it goes for the guys on the podcast too: Don’t even go near your theater until this piece of shit is gone from viewing.

  32. OK, I will tell you guys, because no one else will, Kick Ass was a horrible, horrible film and Roger Ebert was correct in his assesment of it. There were moments of brilliance, but they were killed every time the god-awful lead actor was on-screen. You might say I am just hating, but I am telling you this because that is the same thing your new work-friendswill tell you 5 years from now when you show it to him/her. I am softening the blow.

  33. This was a bad movie, and i can’t wait to hear what the guys think about it. How did the car drive with no gas tank?

    I have evedience that my father was murdered! I must go on a long car chase in my invincble car and use this to bring him to justice… Oh wait I don’t have the evidence cause I’m a tool. Ahhhh I guess we’ll just kill the guy, who cares?

    It’s liked they ended it as fast as posible and hoped no one would see the holes. AND IT TOOK FOREVER TO END!

    AND NO THOR TRAILER!! BOOOO

  34. Ok, so i had my little rant, and i did some stuff, but turns out i need a little more rant to get me thru the day.

    Gondry doesn’t help this film, in part because we all expect it to be better because he’s on it, and it’s not, it’s a little better than it would have been, but the script is so bad that he has nothing to work with and it just fails.

    The characters are all unlikeable, I have no idea why some of them were even in the film. I wanted to yell when i saw this because it was so bad and i wanted to leave but i was there with friends so i didn’t. I think they wanted to leave too, but we all assumed we wanted to stay. I hate it when that happens.

    I walked into the last 20 mins of black swan after just to clear my mind of the shit that was that film.

  35. im interested in watching it but such negativity is surrounding it. i think ill just save my money for the rite which im hoping will be good or the mystery society trade.

  36. I had fun with it.

  37. @lukehopkins: Oh man, I forgot to bring that up! The “heroes” totally kill a man instead of trying to do the right thing. It makes Rogan’s character still look like a dick (and a murderer) and also learn nothing from almost 2 hours of a movie. But it also makes Chou really bad as a character because it was his idea in the first place.

    Also, we wasted 10-15mins of a pretty mediocre chase sequence all for getting the evidence to prove the D.A. was evil. (Which again, that plot line really comes out of no where with barely 20mins to go in the film) In the end though Rogan’s character showed he was a complete and utter moron by not recording any of the evidence. Essentially wasting all of our time just to get to the final ‘showdown’ with “Blood”nofsky which wasn’t anything special in the first place.

    Man….it’s been barely 12 hours since I saw this and I’m still enraged. lol 

  38. This is hilarious, people are so pissed off about this movie hahah.

  39. @TheNextChampion  … so you didn’t like it?

  40. This was a lot of fun. I saw an early screening in IMAX 3d and it was cool to see Gondry have fun with the format.

    Unfortuanately, it pointed out how old Cameron Diaz is looking.

  41. I thought it was a fun film with a few pacing problems but overall high on energy; mixing sporadically brutal action with crude but light comedy.
    I don’t quite understand the big Seth Rogan backlash, same as I didn’t understand the Michael Cera dismissal when Scott Pilgrim rolled around (a film I thought was superb). DIslinking the lack of flexibility in their comic personae is certainly a valid point of contention, but I can’t put my finger on the great crime against cinema they have been involved in. Ok, other than Year One.
     Rogan as the Hornet works well because his character isn’t a hero, he is simply playing the role in the way his spoiled blinkered character would. At no point are we meant to think that Reid’s immature womanizing and philandering is cool. He is a buffoon who has lucked into a fortune and a friend who is as extraordinary as Reid wishes he could be.
    Kato puts up with Britt as he sees the potential in Kato that hasn’t been tapped. 
    They certainly are not the earnest heroes of most superhero films. They revel in their violence and are certainly too pleased with themselves, but then again, the comedy comes from them not being the paragons of virtue. When Reid’s plans fail because he is an idiot, the villain will get away unharmed. Kato and Reid’s reaction is certainly not the one that Batman, Superman or any other superhero would take. But that is because they are not superheroes, which is the point of the film.
    Will the script win an Oscar? No of course not. But it is a serviceable premise with enough character growth to carry between the action set pieces.
    Waltz is underused, but he is known for one of the most menacing performances in recent history so it would be very difficult to live up to that role in an action comedy romp.
    It isn’t a perfect film, it could have done with some more ruthless editing particularly, but to respond as if this is the worst film of recent times when Little Fockers is still in the cinemas is mind boggling.
    This film carries no pretension beyond its visual ambition, so if you find this film so utterly galling to be insulted by it then I will simply scratch my head and beg to differ. 

  42. I found the Green Hornet to be a pretty fun yet weird movie. It wasn’t always sure what it wanted to be at times and Diaz and Waltz just seem to be just “there” and that’s all. Seth Rogen’s overly-long rants did kind of wear on me but when he was good he was great. It’s a movie that’s not going to be for everybody.

    As for the whole killing thing, it was a life or death situation, and besides…they’re supposed to be criminals, anyway. Not to mention the whole “He knows I’m the Green Hornet” thing which needed to be taken care of.

    Overall, I enjoyed it for the simple, fun romp that it is. It wasn’t epic win, but it wasn’t epic fail, either.

  43. FRIDAY BOX OFFICE ESTIMATES
    1. THE GREEN HORNET – $11,100,000
    2. THE DILEMMA – $6,100,000
    3. TRUE GRIT – $3,243,000
    4. THE KING’S SPEECH – $2,435,000
    5. BLACK SWAN – $2,415,00

    Source.

  44. @conor I feel sick that I contributed to that total.

  45. Just saw it and i had a lot of fun. I had pretty low expectations and no knowledge of the source material. It passes the dad-test, he thought it was awesome! Mom and the missus also both enjoyed it.
    It’s probably not going to blow your socks off but it’s definitely a great time!

  46. I’m GOING to SEE THIS FILM IF IT KILLS ME! Or I’ll wait until the dollar theatre plays it. Or I’ll wait until netflix has it or I’ll wait until my fansu- nevermind.

    I’ll see it.

    Don’t worry.

    ….

    OK?!

  47. @SirCox  Let’s see, Ebert doesn’t like it. I have to ask myself, when was the alst time this fool and I agreed on a movie?

    Short answer: Never.

    He attacked my favorite movies in the 80’s and further proved his irrelevence since he started his non-job so, if he doesn’t like it, far as I’m concerned, it’s a point in the positive for this movie.
    I’m waiting to hear a little more before I go, but if I do go see it I will NOT be paying extra for the 3D gimmick. I already wear glasses and I won’t wear two pairs just to watch a movie.

  48. Those box office numbers tell you all you need to know. The crappier, blander, and more generic your film, the more people will go see it. And that means more Green Hornets, and less Scott Pilgrims. Yay.

  49. I had a great time watching it. It’s not a great movie by any means, but it’s fun. Good fight scenes, good (main) character stuff. Was really impressed with Seth Rogan’s physical performance, and Kato was awesome. Christoph Waltz isn’t really that threatening, but it seemed like that was by design more than a flaw, and I found him greatly entertaining every time he was on the screen. Cameron Diaz is completely wasted, but whatever. At least they didn’t turn her into a Mary Jane/Lois Lane type love interest. If you don’t mind just being entertained and not worrying about gritty realism or deep themes, it’s good. (I saw it in 2d because I hate 3d, so I can’t comment on that aspect.)

  50. @Zarathos81  Brazil is my favorite movie of all time and Ebert only gave that 2 stars I believe. There isn’t one reviewer on this planet that I 100% agree with. As far as they go, Ebert is famous for being very good at his job and discussing the positives and flaws of film in his reviews. Also, saying he’s irrelevant just sounds like wishful thinking on your part.

    Well I guess the superhero movie isn’t dead yet if the Green Hornet of all characters is making bank like that.

  51. WEEKEND NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE (ESTIMATE)
    1. THE GREEN HORNET – $34,000,000
    2. THE DILEMMA – $17,419,000
    3. TRUE GRIT – $11,200,000
    4. THE KING’S SPEECH – $9,070,000
    5. BLACK SWAN – $8,125,000

  52. Glad that this movie did so well…Seth Rogan is a great talent.

  53. @SirCox  Reviewers and critics are generally irrelevant. When I see someone like Ebert give his opinion on a movie and people actually taking it into consideration it kind makes me laugh.
    When I see a blurb on a horror movie from the New Yorker or some such, even if it’s positive, I laugh.
    Anytime I see Maxam give an opinion on anything from movies to comic books I laugh.

    The reason is I don’t know these people. Ebert likes boring movies and seems to dislike movies that are supposed to be fun. Not every movie has to be ‘riviting’ (what does that even mean?) or poignant, another worthless word. Some movies, like, say, Piranha (3: Scream Break), are just for fun. No message, no lesson learned, just fun.
    I don’t give a flying frag what some faceless critic thinks about movies or anything. I look at the material available for myself and also rely on the opinions of my peers.

    I wouldn’t say it means he’s very good at his job, I mean, his job is to watch movies. Not much training or schooling required for that. He’s just a fat guy who couldn’t get a real job, lol.

    I’m ranting, no offense meant.

  54. @Zarathos81  “I wouldn’t say it means he’s very good at his job, I mean, his job is to watch movies. Not much training or schooling required for that. He’s just a fat guy who couldn’t get a real job, lol.”

    I’m quite sure I’ve ever read a more ignorant post on this site. I don’t normally agree with Ebert’s reviews and think he’s wrong alot, but he can:

    A) Get his point out in an entertaining manner.
    B) Cite references to show that he has a better understanding of films than the common man
    C) Most importantly, write intelligently

    A great chunk of the world’s population have troubles doing JUST that last point. Ebert isn’t at the top of the critics game not because his opinions are infallable, but because he does a better job at getting them across than others. And the critics around today ensure that we don’t live in a world where cinema criticism just consists of numbskulls going “This movie SUCKS and everything else will suck too!”

  55. @Zarathos81 While it’s certainly your right to dismiss Ebert’s reviews, and to dismiss critics in general (although to do so on a website devoted to comic book criticism and reviews is pretty funny), but to say that Ebert’s job is to just “watch movies” shows you have no real idea as to what he does and what his job entails. And to say he’s “just a fat guy who couldn’t get a real job” is beyond ridiculous.

  56. I enjoyed the movie.  And I didn’t like it because it was good or so-so. It was a lot of fun and the action scenes were fantastic.

  57. Fun time at the movies. Once I adjusted to the fact that it’s more comedy than action movie (although there’s plenty of action), I had a blast.

  58. I always thought it was opinions. you either agree or don’t, and then you move on.

  59. I think my favorite gag was Kato’s resume, where he listed his name as just “Kato.”

  60. It’s heartening to see the films which rounded out the top 5 after 1 and 2.  The King’s Speech was sold out on Saturday night at a multi-plex near me.  And Black Swan was packed.

  61. Kevin Smith’s producing partner  Scott Mosier wasn’t too crazy about producing The Green Hornet  especially since it wasn’t their property which brought studio interference every step of its development. So when he walked away from it so did Kevin. I don’t think Kevin Smith necessarily wussed out.

  62. I’m with Next Champion on this. Green Hornet is a horrible movie, full stop. The characters are unlikeable, the tone is all over the place and the amoral ultra-violence sticks out like a sore thumb.

    I could have respected this movie if it went with a light, cartoony tone. I could have respected the movie if it went with a dark, pulpy tone. What seems to have happened is that they’ve mashed those two tones together to see what would happen. They turned Britt and Kato into one-dimensional cartoons, but put them in a universe with real-world consequences for everybody else. They take out a police car for fun. They try to take down the villain by legitimate means, but when it doesn’t work, they kill him almost as an afterthought. They stab a guy in the eyes with wooden stakes.

    I don’t agree that your enjoyment of this movie hinges entirely on whether you like Seth Rogen. He’s only part of it. If you put any other actor in a movie with the same choppy pacing and fractured tone, you’d feel the same way. I don’t hate Seth Rogen. His comic timing saves more than one scene of this movie from being tedious. But I had no emotional investment in what happens to Britt Reid, and by the end of this, I just didn’t care.

    I’m glad Conor and Ron were able to have fun with it, though. Different strokes.

    Some stray observations <spoilers>:

    *Kato installs a fax machine in the car? What? What century is this? They’re going around town fighting crime, and their only connection to the criminal underworld is a .net e-mail address, and they don’t think to invest in some wifi in the car?

    *The only reason for that massive, destructive car chase at the end hinges on driving across town to the Sentinel office to upload one audio file from a memory stick. Why do they need to do that? You could upload that file from anywhere in the city. Just lose them on the highway and go find an Internet cafe. Get an iPhone, for chrissakes.

    *If you’re a fan of the band Anvil, there’s a very brief cameo. Look closely in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

    *So they hire Cameron Diaz to do intensive research on where there’s crime in L.A., and she gives them a one-page Google Map centring on South Central. No shit, Sherlock. That’s money well spent. (Also, she has to fax them the map. I hate that fax machine so much.)

    *Edward James Olmos saves this movie singlehandedly. He speaks for all of us when he berates Britt for endangering the public, putting his employees at risk and betraying the principles of journalism by torquing up the Green Hornet story. And when he says it, it’s in Adama’s tone of voice. Totally boss.

    *On a personal note: I’m in the newspaper business, and this movie is the stupidest portrayal of newspaper journalism in film I’ve ever seen. I know none of you are going to base your opinions of how newspapers work on a Seth Rogen movie, but for the sake of clarifying:
    1) I’m sorry, it’s just not possible that you can become a multimillionaire running an independent newspaper in the United States. Let alone maintain a 10-storey building for just one newspaper with 750 employees.
    2) Reporters don’t submit hard copies of their articles for publication that get stamped “rejected” or “accepted.” Seriously, what the fuck?
    3) You cannot drop a car on top of a running printing press without destroying it. Yet they don’t even slow it down.
    4) Why is the press running without any human supervision? There should be a dozen pressmen there!
    5) Rolls of newsprint cannot deflect fucking bullets. They’d slice through them like butter.

    Sigh … this movie makes my head ache.

  63. Can’t wait to see this on Tuesday. Judging from the trailers, I’m really in the mood for a movie like this for some reason.

  64. @Zarathos81  If Ebert hates movies that are supposed to be fun and only liked boring movies, why did he rave about Sin City and Batman begins so much? Clearly, you are making assumptions about the man’s opinions without actually having the facts to support to your argument. There are a lot of movies that are made for pure entertainment that Ebert has loved. 

  65. I have the same reaction to the hate for this movie as I do to the hate for Deadpool: Shock that anyone cares enough to actively despise it.

    Seriously, that’s a lot of effort to spend on The Green Hornet starring Seth Rogen.

  66. I enjoyed this movie a lot. It was fun, funny, and action-packed. Seth Rogan made the movie for me – it wouldn’t have worked with anyone else. Is it ridiculous? Sure. What do you expect? Of course it’s going to be! Was it dumb at times? Yes, I can’t defend some of the plot points others have mentioned (the fax, uploading the audio file, etc), but I didn’t really care because I was having fun. Now, granted I saw it at the Alamo Draft House and had a couple of beers… but beer makes EVERYTHING better!

  67. Look forward to seeing this movie. I take Ebert & everybody’s “review” with a grain of salt. Everybody has different tastes. Ebert is revelant because he can articulate why he likes/dislikes a movie, the majority of people can’t.

  68. I didn’t outright hate the movie. But it’s by no means good. A lot closer to bad. There’s a few redeemable bits and pieces here and there. But beyond that, not much.

    And for those slamming Ebert for his review, grow up. Here’s a life lesson. Not everyone has the same tastes as you. Especially when you frequent a comic book web site. 😛

  69. “A lazy – jerky guy who’s kind of a dick and doesn’t really want to  bea superhero”

    You’ve never really seen that before?

    Heard of a movie called Hancock?

    Action comedies are tricky at best and to my mind theree is Nothing about Seth Rogen that is in anyway connected to Green Hornet in any of his history in any way.

    And if it’s just about good stories as a license to do anything- I think this movie’s application for that license should have been pulled before it was made.

  70. It’s amazing to me that, for some, “not liking Kick-Ass” has become the lipmus test of a bad critic.

    Then again, I remember a recent show in which “reading Harry Potter” was equated with deep literary thinkers.

    Good god standards have fallen.

    I like light fare as well, in movies and in reading, but how can anyone give Roger Ebert flack for not liking a movie that has overtly, obnoxiously stupid? Even if the point is to make a less-than-smart movie, who could insist that an intellectual movie critic bow down before baffoonery?

    Put it another way, if someone is known as a Shakespeare scholar, then I wouldn’t discount that person’s opinion if s/he doesn’t find any value in Harry Potter.

  71. @ericmci  wrote ” ‘A lazy – jerky guy who’s kind of a dick and doesn’t really want to  be a superhero’ 

    You’ve never really seen that before? Heard of a movie called Hancock?”

    sure..but i can also think of dozens of westerns where there’s a lazy jerky reluctant hero, who eventually  has to slap the guns on and do the right thing.

    Every superhero doesn’t need to be gritty drama. If the genre is to truly thrive, I hope there are more attemps to do action comedy as well as action drama.

    Like Tron Legacy, I found GH to be light but fun .

     

  72. I didn’t expect much about this movie other than being a comedy. So I didn’t have high hopes on the action, it was pretty good. May be I expected the movie where Seth rogan’s character suppose to be useless while Kato is the genius, so I was not disappointed at all. It sucks that I didn’t find a theatre that is showing in 2D. Post production 3D is not worth it. It’s an okay 2D movie, but definitely not worth the 3D price. Or just just wait for Netflix.

    @comicBOOKchris  its wednesday already,  did u see it yet? 

  73. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    Checked it out yesterday. Had been rooting for it, but found it sort of painfully unfunny and surprisingly ugly for a Gonndry film. Suffers from similar problems to Iron Man II in terms of script, especially with regard to the villain. Aside from a few funny ideas (the knock-out gas, the solution to the shoulder wound problem), I was very disappointed. 

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