"Green Hornet" kicks ass, takes names

Best movie of the year so far, hands-down. I can’t remember the last time I had this much pure fun at the movies. There was no point at which I was not entertained. “Tron” had slow parts, “The Black Swan” and “True Grit,” too (all of which I also enjoyed). But this even turned exposition scenes—where characters explain the plot to other characters for the audience’s benefit—into punch lines or action scenes.

Seth Rogan played his by-now stock character—amiable party-boy shlub with better intentions than hygiene habits—and rewrote the part of the title character to suit his onscreen personna. In what seems to me like a daring move, career-wise, Rogan made himself the comic-relief sidekick to his sidekick, the amazing Jay Chou as Kato. His deadpan reactions to Rogan’s tomfoolery were as expertly executed as the action sequences. And whoever did Chou’s stunts, assuming it wasn’t him, deserves special recognition too.

Speaking of stunts and action scenes, “The Green Hornet” is jammed packed with them. But not the endless, overlong action sequences of the average Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay variety—they played a trailer for “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” that felt longer than the whole main feature. Man, I guess Johnny Depp’s kids must really like his Captain Jack impression.

Plus Rogan’s character is a crusading journalist, so I was already half in the bag walking into the theater. I’m not familiar with the Green Hornet’s radio origins, but I am familiar with the ‘60s TV series of the same name, and this film more than respects the franchise’s history, it embraces it. Even the hero’s car, the venerable Black Beauty, is still a tricked-out 1965 Chrysler Imperial.

Anyhow, The Missus has had a vicious cold all week, The Boy got his first messy case of the 24-hour flu this morning and I’m trying to teach myself a new web-building program while my newspaper job withers on the vine… but for two hours in the middle of the day, I was massively entertained.

We saw it in 3D and it was fine. Even the night scenes were plenty clear enough, but it occurred to me that it would have been just as much fun in 2D. But I would definitely try to catch it in its theatrical run. I’m sure it’ll be still be great on DVD, but it packs a real wallop on the big screen, and it’s fun to laugh along with a room full of people at the film’s numerous comedy set-pieces.

Can’t wait for the sequel, but I know enough to skip the third film in the franchise, should there be one. “Lord of the Rings” and “Godfather III” aside, name me one threequel that hasn’t sucked total rump.