It seems that not all filmmakers who have set themselves the task of making a ‘Super-Hero’ film have seen The Dark Knight, obviously those behind The Green Hornet haven’t or they would have learnt that it is okay to give your Super-Hero some character without creating a buffoon, and that an audience will watch a dramatic script… they don’t need to be forced to try and laugh every few minutes.
Based on the radio series created by James Trendle, The Green Hornet tells the story of Britt Reid (Seth Rogen – Funny People, Monsters vs. Aliens), the son of a hard Newspaper-Owner, James Reid (Tom Wilkinson – Burke And Hare, The Conspirator). Due to his rough treatment by his father, James becomes a party-boy who has very little interest in his father’s work. However, when his father dies he is suddenly in charge of a Media Empire. As a side to this job Britt teams up with his father’s employee, Kato (Jay Chou – True Legend, The Treasure Hunter), and helped out by an unknowing, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz – Knight And Day, Shrek Forever After), the duo become a crime-fighting duo that begin to annoy local crime boss, Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz – Inglorious Basterds, TV’S Tatort).
A quick scan over who was responsible for the script of The Green Hornet and it’s not a surprise that Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express, Drillbit Taylor) had a major hand in it. He has obviously written the part of Britt/The Green Hornet for himself, and as a result we have a Super-Hero who appears to be more of a man-child…even a total idiot in parts. And while some of the lines will have you laughing, this is certainly no Kick-Ass. Instead The Green Hornet falls in a dangerous middle-ground, somewhere between a comedy and a drama… and doesn’t quite work on many levels.
Even more embarrassing for Rogen is the fact that Jay Chou outshines Rogen in every scene. There simply isn’t anything this guy can’t do… from action scenes to pure golden comedy lines he excels… people, I think we might have found our new Jackie Chan. Rogen is not alone in the ‘wasted talent’ bin on this film, it comes as a real surprise that Cameron Diaz would sign on for this film. She has been on a bit of a roll recently and The Green Hornet seems to be a real step-back in her career… or maybe she thought she was going to flashback to The Mask.
The only real standout in The Green Hornet, is the car. That wins some serious cool points; unfortunately the same can’t be said for Rogen or the script. The film looks good but like so many films these days, it’s good when it could have been great – with some better casting and more in-depth script this could have been a classic.
Year: 2011
Director: Michel Gondry
Stars: Seth Rogen, Tom Wilkinson, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz
Classification: M
Runtime: 119 mins
Rating:
