Britt Reid is the son of LA’s most prominent and respected media magnate and perfectly happy to maintain a directionless existence on the party scene – until his father mysteriously dies, leaving Britt his vast media empire. Striking an unlikely friendship with one of his father’s more industrious and inventive employees, Kato, they see their chance to do something meaningful for the first time in their lives: fight crime. But in order to do this, they decide to become criminals themselves – protecting the law by breaking it, Britt becomes the vigilante The Green Hornet as he and Kato hit the streets. Using all his ingenuity and skill, Kato builds the ultimate in advanced retro weaponry, The Black Beauty, an indestructible car equal parts firepower and horsepower. Rolling in a mobile fortress on wheels and striking the bad guys with Kato’s clever gadgets, The Green Hornet and Kato quickly start making a name for themselves, and with the help of Britt’s new secretary, Lenore Case, they begin hunting down the man who controls LA’s gritty underworld: Benjamin Chudnofsky. But Chudnofsky has plans of his own: to swat down The Green Hornet once and for all.
Let me first make it clear that I went into
The Green Hornet with completely fresh eyes. I’ve never read a comic book featuring the character in my life, and knew nothing about him until I first started hearing the news about this movie. That probably has a lot to do with why I was never against the casting of Seth Rogen or the clear comedic tone as most other people were. If this adaptation really is that unfaithful to the comic books, I can understand their frustrations, but I can only judge this movie from my own perspective. And it was damned good. I made the decision to see
The Green Hornet in 3D and while I don’t think it’s essential to see it in that format, it certainly enhanced the experience for me, and made several scenes just a little bit more enjoyable. This is no poorly done conversion like
Clash of the Titans.
I think the first thing I should address is Seth Rogen himself, who as I’m sure you already know, plays Britt Reid aka The Green Hornet. I’m sure that there will be many people eating their words after seeing his performance, because he’s fantastic in this movie. I’ve seen him in plenty of great roles before, but I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the characters he portrays are often the same. (pothead slackers mostly) There’s nothing wrong with that - it’s something he’s good at, and funny in the process. It’s
The Green Hornet that shows he can do a hell of a lot more than that though. His transformation from a Paris Hilton type character, as he recently described the role, to the hero of the piece is a believable one and handled very well by the actor. Rogen doesn’t drop they comedic personality that he‘s best known for, and there are plenty of one liners even after he dons the mask, but does dial it down enough to stop this from becoming an outright comedy and to make him a believable hero. He makes for a very likeable lead and the fact he’s not a great fighter leads to some great moments that I find it hard to imagine anyone other than Rogen could have pulled off so brilliantly. His co-star Jay Chou is also fantastic. Like most of you, I’ve never seen him in anything before, but the guy can really act and hold his own against the bigger stars he’s working alongside here. He’s funny when he needs to be, but it’s the exciting fight scenes which his role as Kato will most likely be remembered for. Chou handles the fight scenes perfectly and is equally believable as a smart guy capable of building a machine like the Black Beauty. (seeing this movie will make you want one!) However, it’s the quieter moments where he and Rogen have chance to hang out as friends where he shines as an actor even more, and the chemistry between the two shows what a perfect casting choice this was by Gondry.
As you might expect, Christoph Waltz was superb as the villainous Chundovsky. Although, he gets a little less screen time than I expected, the first few minutes (along with a hilarious cameo from an actor whose name I wont reveal) manage to set him up as a bad ass villain, while subsequent appearances make him a credible threat that you’ll enjoy seeing The Green Hornet and Kato attempt to take down. After seeing Cameron Diaz in the cinematic abomination that was
Knight and Day, it was her that I feared would spoil this movie for me. Thankfully not, as she was on surprisingly decent form here. In all honesty, the movie probably wouldn’t have suffered without the inclusion of Lenore Case, but her character does serve to give this movie a decent enough female lead and a fantastic scene/source of tension between Britt and Kato later on in the movie. I highly doubt that anyone would miss Diaz if she didn’t come back for a sequel, but it was a relief to see her not used as a simple “damsal in distress” plot device, so perhaps there is still room for her character to grow.
Michel Gondry is a inspired choice to direct
The Green Hornet, and there are literally way too many memorable scenes to list them all here. Needless to say, the action sequences are consistently breathtaking, the fight scenes are brilliantly choreographed and shot, while the slightly more unique aspects such as “Kato Vision” is handled even better than what you might imagine after seeing a few brief shots of it in the trailer and clips. One sequence that stands out in particular is an intricate scene that shows a message being spread from one gangster
to another, then another, and so on…the screen splits up again and again and I look forward to watching it on the Blu-ray as it’s such a complicated and clever piece of filmmaking. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s script is great, and while some superhero movies leave you sitting there frustrated and desperate for them to finally become heroes, I actually really enjoyed the build up to them donning the masks. The sequence that shows the creation of the Black Beauty is another great scene thanks to the director, but that takes nothing away from the writers who came up with what is now one of my favourite sequences I’ve seen in a movie for a while. As mentioned above, I’m also pleased that they dialled back the comedy and mixed it well with a good balance of drama and action. The one minor fault I would find with it is that it slows down a little at the end of the second act, but they more than make up for that with an action packed finale. That’s a very, very minor gripe though.
Overall, this is a fantastic movie and one of the best CBM’s I’ve seen to date. Some genuinely hilarious moments mixed in with a light tone that still manages to keep the drama and excitement at a consistent high, make for a great way of kicking off 2011! With the likes of
Thor and
Green Lantern still to come, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that they have a lot to live up to against this strong opening to the year. Go and see it, then cross your fingers for a sequel!
And for anyone wondering, there was no sign of the X-Men: First Class trailer!