Okay movie

Myself, if I was the producer of a Green Hornet movie, I probably would have gone for a different flavor than the current Seth Rogan vehicle. Likely, I would have aimed for an understated, cool 60's vibe (maybe even setting the movie in the 60's), with a cool jazzy score (lots of deep bass notes), snappy dialogue, and spare action (so it would really stand out when it eventually showed up). But that's me.

I do admit that the flavor/theme that the producers did go for in the current film- namely, what if an irresponsible, immature buffoon and his only slightly more mature friend are suddenly driven to become superheroes- is also sort of interesting, and that the movie explores that angle entertainingly enough. But for me, the incessant goofiness got a little old.

On top of that, when the Green Hornet and Kato finally grow up a little and show some adult smarts and maturity, we're suddenly shunted into a huge, overwrought action sequence that takes up the whole last part of the film, preventing the movie from focusing on their new, less grating personas. Regarding that last action sequence, again, I would have preferred spare, clever action (this isn't the Justice League, after all) rather than seeing the Hornet-mobile riding a service elevator up to the 40th floor of an office building and then tooling around a newspaper's editorial office amid automatic weapons fire from an army of goons.

But again, that's just me, and I'm definitely not saying that the movie is shoddy or dull or poorly crafted. It just chose an approach- broad humor, broad action- that some people will like more than others. My wife, in fact, thought it was a refreshing change from the usual melodrama of other superhero movies. Maybe you will, too.

And, you know what? Seeing that there are plenty of superhero movies that are done as straight-up (or mostly straight-up) dramas, like the current X-Men and Batman movies, I don't mind all that much that an occasional light, funny riff on this type of material, as seen in The Green Hornet, comes down the pike now and again. But let's keep it the exception to the rule, okay? After all, do we really want to return to the old days of "Holy spaghetti and meatballs, Batman-- the Pasta King is loose in Gotham!"