Tonight Angel and I watched The Green Hornet. Our review? Five stars out of five. I loved it for a lot of reasons. Jay Chou and Seth Rogen had real chemistry on screen, it was like watching two friends act together. The actors were quick-witted and the humor was spontaneous. The film moved along at a fast clip, keeping the action and plot flowing.

Sidekick? UMM...okay, I guess...

The real thing that made The Green Hornet freakin’ awesome for me was Kato. Here’s the thing: When The Green Hornet was a T.V. show back in the 60′s, Bruce Lee played Kato. He did a bang up job of it, too, because he knew what he was doing from acting in blockbuster Hong Kong movies. In those movies, Bruce Lee always played the lead role, and he was always tough without regret. Like, kick-you-in-the-face-and-not-care tough. He comes to America, lands this T.V. role as the sidekick to the hero.

Seriously? I think it's pretty obvious how this would turn out.

Now, I don’t have a problem with starting at the bottom and working your way up. I just have a problem with the way that they wrote the role of Kato in the original series. I remember watching the show as a kid, seeing Bruce Lee play Kato, and thinking, “Why is he only the sidekick? What, they’re not partners? Kato’s doing more than half of the work, come on!” In fact, there was a crossover episode with Batman and Robin, also popular at that time (the campy version). In that episode, Robin was supposed to beat Kato. Bruce Lee was like, “No freakin’ way is that going to happen,” and they rewrote the scene as a draw. The whole time the guy who played Robin told him, “Bruce, it’s just a show, we’re just actors, don’t really hurt me.” But seriously, who gets beaten up by Robin?

Fine, things were different back in the 60′s, I get it now. Really though, as an Asian American kid growing up in the Midwestern suburbs, it really made me feel like Asians could never be the heroes and always had to be the lackey.

That’s why I am such a fan of the new Green Hornet movie. Jay Chou killed it as Kato. The whole movie he wanted to be considered an equal, a partner. Because, I think he (as the character and the actor) really deserved it. Kato got his respect.

Of course, I think that Bruce Lee got his respect, too. Who’s more famous, Van Williams or Bruce Lee? No contest. I’m just happy to know that a new batch of Midwestern Asian-American boys will feel a notch higher on the totem pole. Who knows? Maybe in the next decade the hero can be a Chinese guy.