Seth Rogen used to be a chubby little roly poly sort of man, but now he’s the Green Hornet! He’s all slim and looking good in his little green pimp suit. Good job, Rogen!
The Green Hornet is based on the tv show with the same name. Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) comes up with the idea to fight crime after his father passes away (which stage of grieving does that fall under?). The father’s mechanic, Kato (Jay Chou), turned out to be super good at martial arts and building super sweet cars (which is fortunate for Britt), so Britt asked him to join the crime fighting team. Together, Kato fights all the bad guys, and Reid takes all the credit and the cool name of the Green Hornet while screaming and getting them into extra trouble.
The film was a funny and delightful action comedy, and it greatly exceeded my expectations. I was expecting a mediocre, cheesy film that was not funny enough to be a comedy and not action-y enough to be an action movie, but it held up both ends. I was really overjoyed when I realized that there was no love-story side plot. Not every film has to have the hero hook up with someone, and this film did it right, making you think it was going to happen but then never did. Finally, there is a break away from the norm.
Between Rogen’s hilarious delivery of his lines and Chou’s martial arts skills, they made a dynamic duo. When you think of Seth Rogen you might not automatically think of “action,” but he pulled of the action scenes with bit of humor added in. Then, when you think of Kato, you might automatically think about Bruce Lee, but Chou did a marvelous job with the action. There were even some nods to Bruce Lee throughout the film. The action was pretty slammin’ with a lot of slow motion action as well as explosions and car chases. The Green Hornet’s car, Black Beauty, is an action girl’s dream come true automobile! Kato, put me down for four, please! The Green Hornet is a peachy movie worthy of watching. Also, I watched it in 2D and don’t feel like I missed out on anything. The film was a post conversion, and had almost no sequences that would have been enhanced by 3-D, so think about that before you automatically fork over the extra dough.
Beware Spoilers Below!
Time Until Action Starts: ~ 7 minutes.
Baddies: Chudnofsky!
Best Line: Britt Reid was talking about the killing of a political figure, District Attorney Scanlon (David Harbour). He was real torn up about it and after announcing the death he said, “District Attorney Scanlon is dead, which is unfortunate, but ya know, that’s what happens.” The delivery was priceless.
Best Kill: District Attorney Scanlon is about to get away scott free when Kato says, “I don’t think so.” He rams Scanlon out of a window with half of the Black Beauty. Scanlon falls several stories, goes splat on the ground, and is crushed by the Black Beauty. He is definitely dead.
Best Explosion: Kato and Reid got buried alive in the Black Beauty. Just when you think all hope is lost, Kato activates some missiles that explodes causing a dirt explosion and throwing a bull dozer onto a baddies car letting Kato and Reid get away!
Action Rating: 3 ½ Blue Wombats, out of 5
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
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They made Scanlon the bad guy? You should knock half a point off your review for that piece alone, as if you say this movie is based on the TV series, Scanlon was a good guy, an new GH’s secret ID. That’s how he was able to stay out of jail…
It’s my understanding that this version of GH is based on the contemporary Dynamite Comics series, however, I like the NOW! Comics version better. More definitive, and digs deeper into the family history.
The 40’s Hornet is an indirect descendant of The Lone Ranger. A great pedigree to be sure.
Hmm.. I saw many negative reviews of this one but I guess I’ll give it a try. Let’s see how many minutes I can resist. 🙂
Might go see this again this weekend. I had a lot of fun with it.
There was a radio version of the Green Hornet in the 30s and 40s and there were two movie serials at that time. There was a TV version in the 1960s and the movie is based on that, with some major changes. It is *not* based on the Dynamite Comics version. That has been adapted from an unproduced screen play by Kevin Smith for the Green Hornet movie that didn’t get made. In Smith’s version the Green Hornet’s son becomes the new Green Hornet and the new Kato is a woman.
Anyway, in the TV show DA Scanlon was the Green Hornet’s friend and ally. Mike Axford was a reporter of limited intellect who was obsessed with catching the Green Hornet. Lenore Case was a good friend of Britt Reid and there were hints of attraction between the two. The movie changes all this, making Axford the editor in chief, Scanlon a villain, and Lenore a thoroughly unlikable character.
The movie makes some nice nods to the older versions. When Britt rescues Kato from the swimming pool, it’s a nod to the radio program where Britt and Kato’s friendship formed when they were boys and Britt saved Kato from drowning. When Brit improvises a mask with a kerchief over his lower face and Kato is wearing driving goggles it’s a reference to the style of mask the characters wore in the old movie serials. When Kato makes a sketch of Bruce Lee it’s a reference to the fact that Lee played the role on TV (it was his first major acting job.)
shortened link = http://is.gd/HORNET11