This whole thing is on the verge of breaking so many times during its run, and yet never does. It's a dangerous high wire act of a film that I'm mostly impressed never falters rather than seriously loving it. But I did laugh hard, and often, and when Gondry gets his shit together to really stage some action, it's kinda manic and exhilarating, though inconsistently so. That said, I never laughed as hard than at Franco and Waltz attempting to out embarrass each other at the beginning.

Still, Kato is worthy of stepping into Bruce's footsteps, Rogen's having a blast pretending he's amazing while channeling just enough of Ronnie Barnhardt to keep him dangerous, the little moments where Gondry gets to shine (that split screen montage of the villains spreading word of the bounty is kind of brilliant), and its nice that Cameron Diaz is merely inert instead of sucking all the air out of the film. It's not a great film, and I'm on the fence about whether I'd own it, but a good time was had.

By the way, anyone curious about the 3D: It's great for Katovision, and the end credits. Nothing else.

Had a BLAST watching this last night. I don't get the whole "Reid is a major douchebag and therefore he's completely unlikable". Sure he's an asshole, but that's supposed to be him. I also liked how the female lead for once isn't really a love interest at all, and how they play with the love interest cliche with the sexual harassment scene was funny in a darkly comedic way.

Kato is the real superhero, and everything in the movie that points that out is great and funny. Especially the big fight between Britt Reid and Kato.

I agree with wade that Waltz was underutilized. Also that he was killed. The return of Bloodnofsky for a potential sequel (I REALLY hope there's a sequel) would have been great.

I was anticipating the movie, but I didn't expect it to be as action heavy as it was. That was a pleasant surprise.

Couple of things I loved.

1. Chudnofsky's double barrel Desert Eagle

2. Sushi USB

3. The gas gun and Britt Reid's minor coma

4. Edward Furlong's brief scene

5. James Franco's brilliant cameo

6. The Black Beauty getting chopped and driving around as half a car (I swear that's a reference to the James Bond movie A View To A Kill)

A solid 10 out of 10 for me.

Yeah, I found this to be a very fun movie to watch, because it was so unusual. It's got problems, like everyone says, but the weirdness is kind of engaging and sets it apart. In particular, I liked what a douchebag Seth Rogen was. It was obviously a choice they made, that he'd be kind of insufferable, and really not the hero of the story, and I can see a lot of people hating that, but it makes the movie more unique. 

There was a lot of nonsense on the commentary for Big Trouble in Little China about how the movie was all about subverting the action movie hero/sidekick relationship, but it all sounded like bunk to me. Jack Burton is the protagonist there. But Green Hornet actually did that, even going so far as to have a sequence where the sidekick just beats the shit out of the hero, who totally deserves it. Also, the weird villain, calling Cameron Diaz old, and the way that his dad actually remained still kind of an asshole. Pretty much what I'd hoped Gondry would do with a movie like this.

Maybe I missed something, but what was the point of the one shot in the end newspaper building action sequence showing Chudnovsky leaving a red bag on the ground? Obviously its a call back to the opening sequence, but nothing ever comes of it.  

I'm surprised no one mentioned the scene where The Green Hornet and Kato were singing Gangsta's Paradise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Matrix 

I'm surprised no one mentioned the scene where The Green Hornet and Kato were singing Gangsta's Paradise.

I think I would have liked that scene more had I not already seen the KICK-ASS Gnarls Barkley lip-synching bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wadew1 

Rogen plays Britt as such an over the top, delusional man-child that I had to laugh. For example, I laughed when he decided to call Kato a baby a bunch of times.

It's funny, but that's the exact same scene that put me totally off the character, as it marked the point where it became clear he was going to be artificially obnoxious right up until the plot demand that he stop. Then, instead of letting Kato just beat the hell out of him, they have to let him get in the pseudo-victory by helping Kato out of the pool. They keep him annoying, and we don't even get a satisfactory comeuppance. The whole movie just felt sloppy (Rogen's an asshole and incompetent, right up until he isn't, they don't kill people, right up until they murder about dozen guys etc. etc.), and while I can appreciate some of the aspects, the chemistry just felt meh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Matrix 

I'm surprised no one mentioned the scene where The Green Hornet and Kato were singing Gangsta's Paradise.

It would have been much better if it wasn't spoiled in the commercials.

Had a blast with it but it felt too long by maybe 10-15 minutes.

I liked how they still left his Dad an Asshole. They didn't resort to having Kato tell Britt that his dad was actually a nice guy.

I didn't mind Diaz. She was good in the role but she actually seemed to be wasted. I mean they could have gotten any attractive woman to play such a small part. It seems like she was in the role just to add a name to the poster.

Loved the mayhem in the final chase too. It was just everything plus the kitchen sink.

I'd put this in the same sphere as the A-Team. Far from a perfect movie but a total blast to watch.
 

I would like to see more movies use the wheels of a desk chair as a weapon.

Also, I had no idea that Furlong was in this till the credits rolled.  I just assumed it was that dude from Blade II.  SKUD or whatever...

Diaz was fine in this.  She didn't get in the way of the relationship between Reid and Kato.  Brothers!  Brothers forever!  

Also loved the montage of Reid putting the whole plot together for 5 minutes and getting called out on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wadew1 

I'd rather talk about Kato's résumé.

 

"References

James Reid (deceased)

Britt Reid (asshole)"

Cracked the hell up at that.

Also, the payoff to the gas gun scene from the trailer is so fucking great.

Oh, okay. I thought it was supposed to be a call-back to Franco's demise.

Didn't know about the Franco cameo going in, and laughed my ass off.

Did I hear somewhere that Mila Kunis also turns up in this? I don't recall seeing her.

No, Kunis was absent. If you did hear that somewhere, whoever was reporting it must have had Date Night on the brain. Poor soul.

My score is going uneasily between a 6 and 7 at the moment, but I think a 6 more accurately represents my mixed thoughts.  I'd l the movie much more if the middle was tighter and the story had an idea of how to utilize about half of its characters effectively.  Despite Gondry's trademarks shining through spectacularly in some of the action scenes, too many of the scenes (such as the car chases) felt like they had a second unit come in with a more Fast and the Furious mentality that just was not as intriguing.

Its a shame that the Franco / Waltz scene came right at the beginning, because it was the best part of the movie.  

Still plenty of fun to be had throughout though.  Rogen felt like he was playing a PG-13 iteration of Ronnie Barnhardt - crazy, delusional, and a total dick - but I dug the dynamic between him and Chou.  Kinda wish there was more of Olmos and Wilkinson.  The quirky Gondry visuals were used sparingly, but when they did pop up, they were great.  Katovision was neat, and I loved Rogen's flashback in the restaurant when hes piecing everything together, but again, I would have liked more.  All the pieces are there for this flick to be a great action comedy and a cinematic soulmate to something like Pineapple Express, but those pieces never line up quite right.  

That shot and Rogen's line got a big laugh in the theater, wade. Damn hilarious.

Hopefully the movie doesn't fall too much this weekend, so there can be at least some hope of a sequel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul755 

Loved the mayhem in the final chase too. It was just everything plus the kitchen sink.

 

I don't know if it was intentional, but I got this John Landis vibe to all the destruction happening during the climax. The Black Beauty going up in the elevator, getting chopped in half and crushing a bad guy in process! That moment felt like something that might have popped up in The Blues Brothers.

Seems to me that the film went through so many rewrites as stated by Rogen, that he and Goldberg eventually opted to rewrite Pineapple Express as a superhero film. I liked the film, it's often very funny, but like Pineapple Express, the Green Hornet's script repeatedly loses inertia and for long stretches of time becomes about watching two goofy guys riff off of each other until the writers remember that there's actually a plot to follow through on.

I can see why Gondry was attracted to the material, as he's played with some of these themes before, and I feel he does his best with Rogen and Goldberg's script, but there's only so much energy he can give every scene considering how structurally repetitive the writing is.

That said, I enjoyed every performance, and felt that Rogen and Chou had great chemistry (Chou is really great reactor, his dodgy english is actually an asset, and on top of that, he's very, very good looking), loved that the very first shot in the film tells you more about the heart of it than any one scene that follows, and that it's basically about two men who never grew up versus one man unable to grow old gracefully.  

Was it just me, or did this movie actually deal with the themes of Kick-Ass better than Kick-Ass did? I'm not saying its a better movie, but their take on superhero/supervillain escalation, for instance, was actually better done. Though I honestly would have liked to have seen BLOODNOFSKY go even further into over-the-top supervillainy, and sooner.

This turned out better than I expected. Mostly due to the Rogen/Chou scenes and some nicely done scenes by Gondry. And people were really overplaying the negative sides of Britt's character. I went in this expecting Kenny Powers levels of asshollery and the worst I got was "Paris Hilton Superhero."

Watching this with my brother right now.  I just realized that the entire split-screen sequence is actually a bit more complex than mere split-screens.  Each shot branches out into two separate shots and so on and so forth.  I don't know why I missed that the first time.  Hahaha.  Fun cinematic grandstanding!

EMBARK the CAR!!!

There are 23 minutes and 33 seconds of deleted scenes on the blu-ray.

I found this to be all sorts of fun. It walks a thin line between comedy and serious (and not always successfully), but I found myself giggling and enjoying it unfold. Rogen and Chou have pretty darn good chemistry. Gondrey is quite capable in the action department, and I love how absolutely balls-out destructive the finale is. Waltz was slightly underused, but he made the most of what he had. And I love the way he tried SO HARD to become a super-villain by the end ("Whether my mask or your blood...Red will be the last thing you see..."). All in all a fun time, and I greatly prefer this to Fast Five.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barkatthemoon 

There are 23 minutes and 33 seconds of deleted scenes on the blu-ray.

 

I would be really interested in learning what was deleted, has anyone seen this footage yet?