Just saw Green Hornet

[Corran Horn]

One thing that surprised me about this is that Britt mentioned something about Cameron Diaz's character's age. I was surprised they did that. She is about 10-15 years older than the age you'd expect the 'love interest' actress in movies like this to be. (and 10 years older than Rogen)

 

[Admiral_Young]

Kevin Smith's Green Hornet makes Britt kind of a Bruce Wayne type of character, but in no way do you get the sense that he is a complete and utter moron like Seth Rogen portrays him as with ultimately no redeeming factor.

 

[spooky spice]

I like the movie. I didn't have a problem following the idea that the Green Hornet was pretending to be a bad guy so that he could tackle crime from the inside.

I got the impression that Kato liked Britt and wanted to stick with him as his sidekick, as Britt had the money/resources for Kato to mess around building things.

 

[Guartho]

I understand that the idea might work - it just wasn't explained in the movie very well.

Even if it was explained, there was nothing in the film that showed why pretending to be evil was better than pretending to be heroes.

The whole idea of pretending to be bad guys to protect the innocent can really only be shown by what doesn't happen in the film. What most certainly was absent from the film was the usual hostage taking by the baddies. There was no group of tied-up innocents and no "I'll destroy the city if the Green Hornet doesn't turn himself over to me" shtick.

I don't know that the filmmakers wanted to say it was better, Britt certainly thinks so, but that wasn't necessarily born out in the film. But it is the only thing that really sets the Green Hornet apart from other heroes. It's what makes his wealthy crime fighter different than Batman's or Iron Man's.

I don't know how realistic the premise is though. How long can the Green Hornet maintain his bad guy ruse before the bad guys start to notice that he never does anything really bad?

"I am the greatest menace known to man. Behold as I download the latest movies from thepiratebay.org! My evil knows no bounds!"

 

[Greg Cox]

I don't know how realistic the premise is though. How long can the Green Hornet maintain his bad guy ruse before the bad guys start to notice that he never does anything really bad?

Well, like I said, it helps that the papers are forever blaming him for stuff that other people are responsible for, like with Spider-Man.

There's a mysterious explosion downtown, or a gangland shootout? Someone pulled off a big museum heist?

The Green Hornet must be behind it! It said so in the paper!

 

[Christopher]

^So the Green Hornet was also the Yellow Journalist?

 

[TremblingBluStar]

Well, like I said, it helps that the papers are forever blaming him for stuff that other people are responsible for, like with Spider-Man.

I guess this would work - if this newspaper were the only source of news in the world. Otherwise some paper, television reporter, or blogger is going to notice Green Hornet is doing good deeds and report that.

I can forgive the fact that the idea would only really work in the context of the film. But I stand by my statement that this was never shown to have worked better in the film. Yes, the bad guys never held hostages, but there was still countless carnage and mayhem which would lead to the deaths of innocent bystanders.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

One thing that surprised me about this is that Britt mentioned something about Cameron Diaz's character's age.

Yeah. That was a joke I feel didn't work very well. It would have been funny in an ironic manner had the character been in her early to mid-20's. But being she was rather old to be working as a temp secretary, the joke came off as mean spirited.

 

[Christopher]

Well, like I said, it helps that the papers are forever blaming him for stuff that other people are responsible for, like with Spider-Man.

I guess this would work - if this newspaper were the only source of news in the world. Otherwise some paper, television reporter, or blogger is going to notice Green Hornet is doing good deeds and report that.

When the character was created in the '30s, newspapers were the primary source of news in the world. They had a lot of influence over public opinion. In the '60s show, they modified it so that the Daily Sentinel also operated a TV news station (with Gary Owens reporting from a studio right next to Britt Reid's office).

If the movie kept Reid as merely a newspaper publisher, then that represents a failure to modernize the concept plausibly, given that newspapers have nowhere near the relevance and impact today that they used to have. Maybe they should've made him the owner of a cable news network instead.

I can forgive the fact that the idea would only really work in the context of the film. But I stand by my statement that this was never shown to have worked better in the film. Yes, the bad guys never held hostages, but there was still countless carnage and mayhem which would lead to the deaths of innocent bystanders.

Again going back to the original, the idea there was that the corruption was institutionalized; the criminals were the system, so the only way the Green Hornet could fight the criminals was by fighting the system, operating outside the law. Kinda like the modern take on Batman, where Bruce Wayne has to become a vigilante because Gotham is so corrupt that the government, police, and courts serve the criminals rather than having any power to contain them. So the idea was, yeah, the bad guys do bad things, but the only way to stop them is by fighting them on their own turf. If the movie justified it in terms of "so they can't take innocent hostages," that sounds like something made up for the movie, and it doesn't seem an adequate explanation by itself.

 

[spooky spice]

Yeah. That was a joke I feel didn't work very well. It would have been funny in an ironic manner had the character been in her early to mid-20's. But being she was rather old to be working as a temp secretary, the joke came off as mean spirited.

I got the impression it was a sort of "in-joke" that the part could/would have been played by a 20something actress if the suits had their way (given that ever female character in a movie these days is no older than 23), but they got CD instead and were making a form of social comment on ageing actresses still having a use in movies.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Well, like I said, it helps that the papers are forever blaming him for stuff that other people are responsible for, like with Spider-Man.

I guess this would work - if this newspaper were the only source of news in the world. Otherwise some paper, television reporter, or blogger is going to notice Green Hornet is doing good deeds and report that.

When the character was created in the '30s, newspapers were the primary source of news in the world. They had a lot of influence over public opinion. In the '60s show, they modified it so that the Daily Sentinel also operated a TV news station (with Gary Owens reporting from a studio right next to Britt Reid's office).

If the movie kept Reid as merely a newspaper publisher, then that represents a failure to modernize the concept plausibly, given that newspapers have nowhere near the relevance and impact today that they used to have. Maybe they should've made him the owner of a cable news network instead.

Apart from Britt being a complete moron as part of the joke to play up Kato's ingenuity, this is one of the big reasons the movie fails, is it's completely out of step with the times. Even if Reid had a newspaper and a cable news channel, how long do you think it would be before some intrepid blogger blew the lid on their fake, sensationalist headlines about the Green Hornet's activities? You've got bloggers who spend their waking hours blowing holes (albeit usually partisan ones) in the reportage of the various print and TV news outlets, except in LA, where the Sentinel apparently gets a free pass.

Actually, that might have made the film better... have Britt and Kato dogged by a blogger who they have to convince to either not tell the truth, or join in on the campaign to hype up the Green Hornet.

 

[stonester1]

Yeah, but the mainstream generally doesn't care about what bloggers do. Bloggers rarely drive the news, beyond an aside mention.

And for those dismissing newspapers, newspapers still have lots of influence, especially locally, double especially in big cities with big papers. I hear local reporters and talk show hosts reference big papers far more often than, say, bloggers.

In Dallas, you will hear about the Dallas Morning News, or even the Dallas Observer far more often than, say, Matt Drudge.

 

[Christopher]

Apart from Britt being a complete moron as part of the joke to play up Kato's ingenuity, this is one of the big reasons the movie fails, is it's completely out of step with the times.

I had a similar reaction to their use of a Black Beauty that was a Crown Imperial, the same model of car used in the 1966 TV series. Sure, that was an awesome car and I can understand the nostalgia for it, but making it a vintage car is missing the point. At the time the '66 series was made, the Crown Imperial was a contemporary model of car, seen as a very modern, sophisticated vehicle. The Black Beauty was meant to be a futuristic, cutting-edge piece of crimefighting technology. It was also meant to be inconspicuous, a car that could blend into traffic and be relatively invisible, at least by night when it usually travelled. (Not that they ever really shot it in traffic; the roads in the show were usually empty except for plot-relevant vehicles.) So making it a vintage auto defeats the purpose. It's putting fidelity to the superficial details above fidelity to the underlying intent.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

And for those dismissing newspapers, newspapers still have lots of influence, especially locally, double especially in big cities with big papers. I hear local reporters and talk show hosts reference big papers far more often than, say, bloggers.

I realize papers have a lot of influence still - especially ones like the New York Times and WSJ. However, I don't think any paper would prevent national scrutiny when a crime fighting vigilante calling himself The Green Hornet is running around L.A., again, unless this sort of thing were a common occurance.

I think Kick Ass showed much more realistically how this sort of thing would work.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

At the time the '66 series was made, the Crown Imperial was a contemporary model of car, seen as a very modern, sophisticated vehicle.

But the one in the movie had it's very own record player! How much more modern can it get?

I think that the car was kept the same more to appeal to the nostalgia for the show. I think the biggest fault is not updating other concepts, like the bullet wound scene and the newspaper for the times. They may as well had it as a period piece. Not much would have needed to be changed.

I know I sound like I hated the movie. I was just incredibly disappointed. I had never heard of the series, to be honest, so I'm not an angry fan of the show. I just hate when Hollywood gives actors too much influence and it ends up ruining a good concept.

I'd still watch a sequel. Just not in the theater.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, yes, it was obviously done out of nostalgia, but my point is that their nostalgia got in the way of understanding the original intention. And that seems to be related to the other problems I've heard referred to about this film -- that it was true to the wrong things in the wrong way. That's the problem with a lot of uninspired updates and remakes -- they just go for referencing surface elements and miss the substance.

It's possible to be nostalgic and still modern. They could've designed a Black Beauty that was based on a current make of car but customized along similar lines to the '66 Black Beauty. So that it would evoke the look of the original and still convey the intended sense of modernity and cutting-edge technology. It's like translating language. Sometimes a literal translation of the words fails to translate the intended meaning. So the most faithful translation is one that changes the words in order to better convey the idea. The idea of the Black Beauty was not "1964-1966 Crown Imperial," the idea was "futuristic stealth crimefighting machine."

 

[TremblingBluStar]

It's possible to be nostalgic and still modern. They could've designed a Black Beauty that was based on a current make of car but customized along similar lines to the '66 Black Beauty.

True. The new Camero or Mustangs look very much like cars from the 60's/70's, but are still modern.

My only issue with using a vintage car is that it seems rather unrealistic that they would be able to make up a fleet of identical looking vintage cars that are in perfect running condition, and no doubt worth a small fortune, only to have them demolished and destroyed while out battling criminals.

However, I'm willing to pretend this is realistic, if the movie has a good story and likable characters. Unfortunately, this movie didn't, so people tend to pick apart the small details.

 

[Sindatur]

Yeah. That was a joke I feel didn't work very well. It would have been funny in an ironic manner had the character been in her early to mid-20's. But being she was rather old to be working as a temp secretary, the joke came off as mean spirited.

I got the impression it was a sort of "in-joke" that the part could/would have been played by a 20something actress if the suits had their way (given that ever female character in a movie these days is no older than 23), but they got CD instead and were making a form of social comment on ageing actresses still having a use in movies.

Since when is 39 too old for a temp secretary, especially in this economy? And, as far as her getting work, she's been doing 2-3 movies a year for several years running, already got one in Post production for 2012 and one filming now.

 

[Greg Cox]

^So the Green Hornet was also the Yellow Journalist?

Hah!

Okay, I can't resist plugging my story in The Green Hornet Chronicles, which is all about yellow journalism. It's titled "I Had the Green Hornet's Love Child!"

(I admit I'm proud of that title, and amazed that I got away with it.)

 

[AJBryant]

How else do you think George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Bachmann got into positions of power?

Because people are smart enough to vote for them over their opponents. How else?