The Green Hornet Trailer: On Second Thought, Maybe This Isn't So Bad?
Despite a litany of bad buzz, there were always two reasons to remain hopeful about The Green Hornet: Seth Rogen is -- for all intents and purposes -- very funny, and Michel Gondry is a genius. Like a legitimate genius. And so the preconceived notions that The Green Hornet has to be terrible -- which in large part derived from nothing more than the change of a date on the calendar -- get left behind within 30 seconds of watching the new trailer. Remember who you're dealing with here!
Consider The Green Hornet to be James Bond by way of Billy Madison. Rich playboy Britt Reid (Rogen) is content to party and live off the vast income of his media mogul father (Tom Wilkinson) until that all changes when -- first act spoiler alert! -- his pop is mysteriously killed. Left with the company, a bunch of cool gadgets and a trusty sidekick named Kato (Jay Chou, exhibiting a natural chemistry with Rogen), Reid realizes his father was busy working on some non-media stuff -- vigilantism! -- and takes up his legacy. Cue car chases, explosions and Christoph Waltz as the heavy.
I've seen other bloggers -- you know who you are -- and fanboy commenters rip this trailer for being "generic," as if any superhero movie this side of The Dark Knight isn't. You know what will look exactly like The Green Hornet? The Spider-Man reboot. Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. Thor. Captain America. And bear in mind, even the almighty Christopher Nolan succumbed to these same beats in Batman Begins. It's called an "origin story" for a reason. That this particular one comes from Gondry -- with a script from Rogen and Evan Goldberg -- seems reason enough to be excited, January release date or not. Think about it: Doesn't The Green Hornet look more interesting than 90 percent of the releases coming the rest of this summer?
VERDICT: Sold.
[Trailer via Yahoo! Movies]
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Comments
Looks like a lot of fun so far. Still cautiously optimistic. The trailer is generic because after a legion of bad news about the film, it needs to get the general public on board. We still have a lot of waiting to do, but from the looks of it, things may--MAY--be on the upswing.
This trailer had me up to the point where they said "In 3-D". I hate 3-D films. I really hope this thing is made available in 2-D as well otherwise I'll pass and wait till the Blu-Ray comes out.
I didn't like this first trailer. I'm a big Gondry fan, and even though I know this is not going to be his trademark kind of film, I still expect it to be at least fun... But I have to admit I didn't like this first trailer.
Thank God someone said it. Ever since that totally unverified IESB "unreleaseable" report, everyone's been trashing this film despite the excellent pedigree behind it. The trailer looks fine. Funny, with what seems like a focus on practical effects rather than CGI, and a decent twist on the superhero/sidekick dynamic. It looks like a funnier, less self-important Iron Man 2. And I'm sure this doesn't even scratch the surface of what they have in store for us.
As for the January release date - who cares? December is far too crowded, and at least this way we have something to watch in the otherwise sparse January. It wasn't ever going to be an Oscar contender anyway, so a pushed-back release date makes sense.
Not sold. Rogen likely lacks the range to pull off a character like this. I hated him toward the end of "Pineapple Express" when the film turned into an ugly action romp.
He looks like he's starring in a different movie here.
This trailer hardly makes me eager to see the movie. The Jan. release date is a terrible sign, too.
Still rooting for it to defy my gut reaction, but I'm very pessimistic.
And clue as to why the name on the condo complex was upside down?
It's The Standard Hotel on Sunset Blvd. But that is in reality how they have their sign. Why? I don't know.
I think the bad buzz started when Stephen Chow left. That's when all the stupid fanboys at AICN started proclaiming how loudly it would suck and it just grew from there.
I was pretty excited about it when Chow was involved and disappointed when he left, but I remain guardedly optimistic...mainly because I like the original property and stories about masked avengers. There can never be such a thing as super-hero saturation as far as I'm concerned. They make 150 formulaic romantic comedies every year and no one calls for a moratorium on movies where people meet cute, have some bullshit misunderstanding, but ultimately get back together.
Thanks then -- at least it makes sense . . . in a way.