Review: THE GREEN HORNET

What a long, strange trip THE GREEN HORNET movie has taken and what a surprise that’s what’s finally arrived is as good as it is. This project has languished in development hell for so long I can remember when Brandon Lee was rumored to play Kato! The 60′s Green Hornet TV series on ABC ran only one season but never found much of an audience because it lacked the humor and colorful villains that had made their Batman show such a hit. I guess the producers of the new movie didn’t want to make that mistake again so they’ve cast Seth Rogan, a big doofus schlub in a role that Greg Kinnear and George Clooney had both been attached to at various times, and have filmed Rogan and his writing partner Evan Goldberg’s clever and funny script in which they’ve completely reinvented the green hornet as a big doofus schlub.. and it works.! Add large-scale mayhem, excessive violence (an extremely high body count for a PG13), and a delicious villainous turn from Christoph Waltz, and THE GREEN HORNET turns out to be a surprisingly fun time at the movies

THE GREEN HORNET had me at the opening sequence where Waltz as the eccentric Chudnofsky, who somehow controls all the violent gangs of L.A. listens passively to style advice from the rival drug dealer (played by James Franco – uncredited and hilarious) he’s confronted. Britt Reid (Rogen) is soon introduced as the hard partying playboy son of a Los Angeles newspaper mogul (Tom Wilkinson). When dad dies of a bee sting, Britt befriends his mechanic Kato (Taiwanese singer Jay Chou), who’s also a secret high-tech inventor. The duo, armed in a decked-out Chrysler Imperial and wearing a pair of goofy masks and hats, set out to stop the criminal scourge of LA, posing as criminals and using Dad’s newspaper connections to promote their own fame.

THE GREEN HORNET is essentially a buddy comedy with a very thin story but unlike so many modern superhero films, it never takes itself too seriously. Where the BATMAN and X-MEN franchise are full of dark angst and tragedy, THE GREEN HORNET stays light and punchy, overloaded with pop culture references and scenes designed to showcase Rogen’s superhero-as-clown approach to the character. Rogen isn’t the obvious choice for a comic book icon but his savvy script blends his oafish personality into this sort of material very well. Waltz’s over-the-top villain, like his Oscar-winning turn in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, is both charming and unsettling, though they could have given him a bit more to do. The weak link in the film has to be Chou’s Kato. He does well enough with the comedy banter but all the rapidly edited CGI action scenes (and a nebulous superpower they’ve given him involving some kind of vision) can’t conceal the fact that he’s no Bruce Lee and the producers missed a real opportunity here by not casting a bona fide martial artist in the role (this would have been the perfect vehicle for Tony Jaa). Cameron Diaz is fine as a love interest who plays the two leads off each other, but she’s given little to do. THE GREEN HORNET is directed by French filmmaker Michel Gondry, known more for his art-house abstractions (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). Bringing a European high-brower in for a Hollywood blockbuster isn’t always a good idea (see THE TOURIST for example…. actually, don’t!) but Gondry does a remarkable job stamping his film with artistry and personality in between the slapstick and explosions. The 3D conversion feels somewhat gratuitous but it’s one case where I wish the producers had taken more advantage of the process. THE GREEN HORNET is a mixed bag for sure but it’s stuffed with enough laughs and visual creativity to keep it humming along for a solid two hours and I have to recommend it.

31/2 of 5 Stars