When it was first announced that Seth Rogen would be the next comic book superhero, people began to question the entire genre. When it was announced that Rogen would also write the film alongside his "Superbad" co-scribe, Evan Goldberg, people got downright worried.

Sony should be pleased, though, since "The Green Hornet" netted $40 million in its first four days of release. However, audiences may be left stinging from this latest interpretation.

Rogen plays Britt Reid, a super-slacker, with way too much money and time on his hands. After his newspaper mogul father (Tom Wilkinson) dies suddenly, only then does Britt decide to get his act together. Apparently that act involves becoming a closeted superhero. Britt then dons a "thin" suit (Rogen reportedly dropped 30 pounds to slip into the Hornet's mask), befriends his dad's mechanic/coffee-making genius Kato (Jay Chou), and suddenly, they've got game. Just be glad that there are no tights involved.

Frankly, though, tights are the only thing missing from this movie. I'm a Rogen fan and a superhero fan, and the two go together like milk and Pepsi. In fact, the movie would have been much better if Rogen were removed from the equation. Chou did a surprisingly good job, considering his lack of pre-movie English and martial arts skills. Christoph Waltz was even better as the villain. Throw in bit parts for Wilkinson, Cameron Diaz, Edward James Olmos, and Edward Furlong, as well as a surprise cameo (not ruining it, since everyone else returned the favor for me). Sounds like a pretty good movie, right?

Somehow, it all just doesn't work -- at least not for most of the movie. Rogen is just a tad bit too jokey. And when he isn't jokey, he's just a tad bit unbelievable. It's like watching the "Knocked Up" guy as a superhero. A womanizing slacker turned superhero? How exactly did that happen? Yeah, we don't know. It's almost as if filmmakers knew that this wouldn't reach the sequel stage (although with $40 mill, it might), and just got down to the ass-kicking.

I'm all for injecting some life into the genre. Not every superhero movie has to be as dark as "The Dark Knight." That said, "The Green Hornet" does have its moments, especially during the action sequences (enough of the slo-mo though!). However, none of those moments were in 3D. This is another poor post-conversion. Didn't anyone learn anything from "Clash of the Titans?"

The movie starts off with some decent shattering glass, a sub-par explosion, and bottle caps flying out in a cheesy, "hey look at the 3D!" manner. From there, the 3D does give the film some depth. That is the good. The completely horrible is the rest of the action sequences in the movie, of which there are plenty. The scenes themselves are a lot of fun, but have no 3D effects whatsoever. Then, the closing credits are practically leaping off the screen and slapping you in the face. So to say that the 3D is inconsistent is being nice.

For every "Spider-Man," there seems to be a "Spider-Man 3." This movie falls somewhere in between. Casting aside, many of "The Green Hornet's" scenes drag, while others don't flesh out Britt Reid or Kato nearly enough. Also, forget Diaz altogether. She's nothing more than eye candy, which this film has in spades. Director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") certainly had his work cut out for him. Unfortunately, this Hornet is all buzz, without enough bite.