So yeah...it's been a long time since I quit watching anything. This was a waste of my Netflix queue.
It has it's moments but I'd agree it came across rather flat. Really the most memorable thing about it was the creative uses of 3D (the multi-layered split screen effects, the Kato-vision stretch and the angled and subtly layered credits arrangement being the most notable) but all that's lost on home video (unless you have a 3DTV, but I doubt anyone would get TGH on 3DBD).
I tried watching other movies by the same director. Never made it past the 15-minute mark with any of them. Maybe it is because I can't seem to stomach French movies--they just don't work for me or they don't make sense to me. Haven't tried the Green Hornet movie because everyone I talked to said that in spite of the actors' enthusiasm (many were fans of the original show), the movie sucked. And since I thought the same of the director's other movies... Well, like Michael Bay being assigned the Transformers movies, this was very likely to be a case of the Wrong Director for the movie and a script that needed a lot of help.
Alright, I guess I have a completely different take on The Green Hornet from most people - I thought it was hysterically funny, with numerous laugh-out-loud moments. If you just see the film as a Seth R. comedy and don't take it too seriously, I think some may enjoy this more. The below is a revised post of one I made on another board: - First of all, the Black Beauty was amazing, and is by far one of the best tricked-out cars I've ever seen in a film. - It was hilarious that, after firing most of the mansion's staff, Britt Reid hired Kato back because he was the only one who knew how to make the elaborate espresso with the foam on top in the shape of a leaf - ha ha. - The scene when Reid & Kato got into an argument, and Reid called Kato a "baby" and said that he had to go home to eat "baby food" - LOL - Britt Reid's speech at the end of the film was classic - extremely funny. The movie would have also worked very well as a drama, since the original TV show was a drama & this would have been truer to the source material (I've never seen the original show, but have heard about this over the years). And, it would have been interesting to have set the film in the mid-'60's (when the original show came out), which would have been more nostalgic. However, that would have required a completely different approach and would almost certainly have been a much more expensive film than what was released.
I actually agree with you Blur. I think it's a matter of people's expectations versus the kind of film we all knew we were going to get back when it was first announced. I also liked how it didn't suffer from the third act problem that makes most action-comedies fall apart at the end: it didn't forget to be funny. Usually when the action ramps up at the climax they forget that there are actually supposed to be jokes as well in the film, so it creates a very uneven and unsatisfying conclusion. Green Hornet kept a perfect balance the whole time, so even when the bullets started flying at the end, I was still laughing.
