In defense of Seth Rogen’s The Green Hornet

Was the Green Hornet that bad of a movie?

In 2011 Seth Rogen starred as the titular character in The Green Hornet, a movie that I thoroughly enjoy, but was a minor box office and critical disappointment.

Although the movie grossed over $220 million, it did so on an $120 million budget. On top of this, it has a 43 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and general audience members alike.

Clearly received a tepid reception from both audiences and critics, but more egregiously, I don’t know another person who has seen it. The only reason I bring this up is that I genuinely like the movie, a lot.

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It features Seth Rogen as a partying slacker in way over his head not only as a super hero, but as the owner of a major newspaper as well.

On top of that it has Christoph Waltz as a murderous mobster, in the throes of an identity/midlife crisis.

It has cool gadgets, a sweet car, a gas gun and all sorts of other goodies, all courtesy of the walking talking Swiss Army Knife/Ex Machina, Kato played by Jay Chou. (I feel like this should have been a breakout role for Chou, but the mixed reaction the movie drew likely doomed any chances of that).

Rounding out the cast we have Edward James Almos, Cameron Diaz, David Harbour and James Franco.

Not bad, not bad at all.

What went wrong?

To tell you the truth, I don’t know.

Like I’ve said, I like The Green Hornet, it’s a fun, silly movie, that isn’t meant to be taken seriously. That said, it isn’t purposeful B-movie silly or stupid or anything like that.

So while I don’t necessarily get the general feeling of meh (though some critics expressed outright hatred for the film), I do have some theories for them.

Theory One: Too Similar to Batman

At least in the film, Britt Reid and his alter ego the Green Hornet, is remarkably similar to Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman.

Both are rich playboys who secretly fight crime wearing black masks, usually at night. Both have super cool bulletproof black cars, filled with crazy gizmos and guns. Both also have incredibly loyal butlers who also serve as their best friend and ally.

Maybe all these similarities made it harder for newcomers to the character to get into the movie and maybe they made fans of the character wary about the movie.

Theory Two: 3D

Remember when almost every movie that’d come out would have pointless and poorly done 3D added, just to drive the price of tickets up?

The Green Hornet certainly suffered from this affliction and the aforementioned negative reviews harped largely on the poorly utilized 3D.

Maybe people, already cautious because of the middling reviews, were scared off from going to see the movie because of the 3D.

They didn’t want to pay the 3D ticket prices for a movie they didn’t know if they’d like and why see a movie shot in 3D in 2D?

Theory Three: Great Expectations

With a stellar cast, the winning creativity of Seth Rogen and his creative partner Evan Goldberg and the promising direction of Michael Gondry, critics and audience members alike probably had their hopes set on a masterpiece.

After seeing the movie, they were so disappointed they couldn’t do anything besides hate it.

Why you should like it

Seth Rogen, the living embodiment of lovable slacker, plays a vigilante superhero!

Sure his sidekick Kato does nearly all the work, not only in terms of the actual crime fighting, but also in designing and building all their gear, but that’s fine. It’s perfectly in line with the movie’s version of the hero.

Waltz plays a ridiculous, over the top villain, that has a gun, that’s really two guns, just so he can shoot people’s eyes out simultaneously.

James Franco plays a meth dealer named Danny Crystal. Come on!

On top of all that, the actions scenes are pretty awesome and the movie is really funny. Sure it isn’t a masterpiece, but the parts are all there to make the movie enjoyable. You just have to have the right mindset going in. In fact, I’d take it head to head over Wonder Woman any day of the week.

Next: Which X-Men movie will do better?

Seriously, do yourself a favor and go watch The Green Hornet again, I bet it surprises you.