The Green Hornet (2011)

  Did you know Seth Rogen co-wrote this movie?  I didn't.  That totally explains why it's not great, though.

I didn't hate it.  Let me say that first.  It's a fun movie.  It's just not great.  Maybe I've seen too many gritty comic book movies.  That's what I'm used to, now.  It's hard for me to see superheroes not being taken seriously.  You'll never see Batman making homoerotic jokes, for instance.

The frat-boy vibe aside, all of the action sequences were freakin' outstanding.  Kato (Jay Chou) is the stand-out star of the film, no matter whose name is on the marquee.  Mechanical genius, badass martial artist, even barista:  there is no skill that Kato does not display mastery of.  By contrast, Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is a bumbling moron with good intentions and a bankroll.  I have no idea if that's how the character is supposed to be.  I wasn't around for the original radio series.  It works, though.  It's all very tongue-in-cheek that Britt is an idiot who thinks he's in charge.

Daddy issues abound, and that got old pretty quick.  Maybe because I've never had them, I find it very hard to have sympathy for those types of characters in books, movies, or music.  It comes across to me as whiny and insecure.

Christoph Waltz is playing well under his potential as the bad guy, Chudnofsky.  I think he knew it, too, since he has almost zero facial expressions throughout the film.  Post-Oscar curse.  Just look at Jamie Foxx.  He'll bounce back though.  I have faith.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time breaking this movie down since it doesn't deserve that kind of treatment.  In summation, every part that wasn't directly related to ass-kicking or driving was sub-par.  The driving and ass-kicking, however, were very enjoyable.