The Green Hornet
Norflanz Hoyts, 20/01/2011
Movie #5 for 2011
Full disclosure: I have never seen a SETH ROGEN film. Not even Knocked Up. His is not a kind of comedy I find particularly appealing (except for Fan Boys where he played multiple bit-characters and was freaking funny). I do like director MICHEL GONDRY (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), though, and I am ever a fan of Depression-era radio super-hero detectives, so off I went to The Green Hornet. I found Rogen fairly annoying, but in an oddly charming way. I can't comment on whether this is his usual schtick or not, but he did seem very well practiced at it.
Rogen plays Britt Reid, the millionaire playboy son of a newspaper magnate. You know how Bruce Wayne takes on a millionaire playboy persona so people aren’t aware he’s a masked vigilante by night? Same thing with Britt Reid and his secret identity The Green Hornet. Except that Britt is not pretending to be a millionaire playboy, that’s just how he is. With his sidekick Kato (JAY CHOU, Curse of the Golden Flower) - who is both smarter and more badass than he is – he fights crime and eventually pisses off Chudnofsky (CHRISTOPHE WALTZ, Inglorious Basterds) the big crime cheese in those parts, who comes howling. CAMERON DIAZ also stars, but adds little.
I liked the action sequences that were very much in the business of destroying things – cars, buildings, more cars – and found them more effective than the computer generated imagery-heavy fight sequences. The Green Hornet has the kind of crazy energy I’d expect from Gondry, but some of the charm is lost through all that CG. The dynamic between Chou and Rogen, however, brings a charm of all its own.
