Review #72: 'The Green Hornet' (2011)

Over the past year or so, prior to The Green Hornet's release, we have seen Seth Rogen decrease in size. No longer is he the loveable chubby loser from Knocked Up (2007) - he went on to play slim-to-chubby loser in Funny People (2009) - he is now slim Seth Rogen, Action Star! Okay, I think I'm going a bit overboard. He isn't exactly Chris Hemsworth in Thor (2011), but fair play to him, at least he's trying. Having just read back what I've just typed, it perhaps may come across that I hate Seth Rogen. I really don't, I'm usually the only one that defends him. I loved Knocked Up and Superbad (2007), and Pineapple Express (2008) was very amusing, even if he was overshadowed by James Franco. It's just a bit irritating that, even though he's seemingly pushing for different roles and showing the dedication to the cause by slimming down, in The Green Hornet, underneath it all, he's still the same slow-witted, gravelly-voiced nerd that he always plays.

Britt Reid is a playboy millionaire's son who spends his time throwing wild parties and showing girls around his father's car collection. He is haunted by a childhood memory in which his father (now publisher of newspaper The Daily Sentinel) James (Tom Wilkinson), believing him to be causing fights at school, tore the head off his favourite superhero toy, and he now believes that his father is ashamed and despises him. When James is killed by an allergic reaction to a wasp sting, Britt finds himself alone and befriends family mechanic and coffee-maker Kato (Jay Chou), and upon agreeing that they both hated Britt's father, get drunk and go to cut the head off a recently erected statue of him. Whilst there, they witness a mugging in which the two beat the crap out of the thugs (mainly Kato). Excited and liberated, Britt convinces Kato that the two should be crime-fighters.

So far, so amusing. The main problem with the film begins when it introduces the main bad guy Benjamin Chudnovsky (Christoph Waltz). Nicolas Cage had earlier been attached to play Chudnovsky, attracted to the fact that Michel Gondry was directing. But he pulled out, stating that he didn't want to play a one-dimensional bad-guy. And he was right. With every fully-fleshed superhero comes the need for an enticing bad guy. But he is a bland thug, slowly taking control of the city and the crystal-meth trade, without quoting a memorable line, having a memorable scene, or having a particular goal. It's a tragic waste of the talents of Waltz, who mesmerised everybody with his portrayal of The Jew Hunter in Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Where it triumphs, however, is when Britt and Kato are together. Chou and Rogen have plenty of chemistry, and Chou shows he has plenty of comedy chops. Rogen, although playing a very similar character to the one's  he's played before, still raises a smile as the clueless, child-like and naive Britt, stumbling through his crime-fighting while Kato does all the work. Only when the thinly-drawn Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) arrives on the scene as a budding criminology graduate, the two takes an interest in her and are then ultimately pitted against each other. Apart from the obvious physical aspects, it's not really apparent why the two would take such an interest.

It's a very post-modern take on the superhero myth that seems to increasingly popular these days. Only it's been done a hell of a lot better in previous films. Watchmen (2009), based on a unbelievably good graphic novel by Alan Moore, was intelligent, exciting, multi-layered, and had fully realised characters. And last year's Kick-Ass (2010) was much funnier in the comedy department, and explored the vigilante angle much better. Plus it had Hit-Girl, which every film misses. The Green Hornet's only goal seems to be to entertain and amuse, which it quite often fails to do.

A worthy attempt, but with the high standards set by other more successful films, The Green Hornet gets somewhat lost in the pile. I don't know if a sequel is planned, or if the film made enough money for it to be greenlit, but if so I will be interested to watch where they go with it, and hope the most important aspect of the film is developed better - the story!


Directed by: Michel Gondry
Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Christoph Waltz, James Franco
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie