The Green Hornet

I've been keeping my expectations low for this film and I'm glad that I did. I was a big fan of the 60's television show, but I didn't watch any episodes until the mid 90's; so I've been waiting almost 15 years for a film adaptation on the Green Hornet.

The film is campy, the story is corny, the villain is wasted and Seth Rogen wrote the script. Based on the plot and the dialogs, it's not a well made movie; but it doesn't try to be. This movie could have been written more seriously and be on the same map as a Christopher Nolan's Batman film; but instead, it went on the road to be a comedic film with a lot of explosions. Some stuff didn't work, other stuff was clever & visually entertaining.

The stuff that I admired the most are the homage to the original television show. There were some criticism to the 60's show about how the Kato character was just a sidekick, butler, manservant, an aid or a chauffeur to the Green Hornet. Bruce Lee didn't have much dialogs and he didn't have much screen time. It was during the 60's and just having an Asian-American to be an everyday character on a show was a big deal, so I never saw that as an insult. In this movie, they make a HUGE deal about that subject as Seth Rogen & Jay Chou are constantly arguing about Kato's role throughout the whole film.

Other homage to the television show is a drawn image of Bruce Lee, Al Hirt's theme "Flight of the Bumblebee" tune, and there's even a scenario from my favorite episode that has been written into the movie. The Black Beauty is also a very awesome car! The funny thing is that in the TV show, the Black Beauty was a brand new & very recent 1966 Imperial Crown sedan. In the movie, it's the exact same vehicle; but it's now a classical vintage car.

I saw the 3D version and there were very few sequences where the 3D effects was worth the extra price of admission. I recommend saving your money and watch the 2D version instead.

To finally sum everything up; the movie isn't good, but it brought back my love for the characters inside the Green Hornet world. The film is visually entertaining for what it is. I hope there's a sequel, but that somebody else will write its screenplay.

If you don't know what to expect and you haven't even seen the trailer than i believe you are going to have great fun. The movie is not a classic main stream super hero movie but a very nice parody making fun of the way super hero movies are made, emphasizing on their blank spots. Do not expect a meaningless script like "super hero movie". Green Hornet has its own storyline that is consistent, but the characters and situations are hilarious. I haven't laughed so much for a long time, which makes the movie a success judging by the result. I believe it is a great way to spent an evening if you want to relax and watch an easy entertaining movie.

I watched "The Green Hornet" with a sense of skepticism. Having grown up with the original TV series, this movie really had some big shoes to fill out. And surprisingly enough, it managed to do so in a good enough way. But there were also aspects of the movie that were less than successful.

First of all, Seth Rogen (playing Britt Reid/The Green Hornet). No, no, no. I know he was involved in directing and writing the movie and all, but he is not chiseled out for an action role of this caliber. I do admire his spirit and enthusiasm, but he is more suited for comedy movies. Seeing him in this role didn't go well with me. He did bring along some comedy, but it didn't work so well in this particular movie.

And the scene at the beginning where Britt Reid was bringing home a woman and they went through the garage and sat in all the cars (showing them off for the audience, actually) in high-speed capture, what was up with that? Already at that point, the movie started to falter and crash.

Jay Chou (playing Kato) certainly had HUGE shoes to fill out after the original role was played by Bruce Lee. And actually Chou did a decent enough job, with good acting and well-choreographed action/fighting sequences. So hats off to him for that.

However, the most memorable person in the movie was Christoph Waltz (playing Chudnofsky). He was fantastic as a villain and worked his role very well and very convincingly. Plus there was also a good sense of humor to his role, and it worked well.

The story told in the movie was fast-paced, captivating and interesting enough to keep you enthralled throughout the entire feature length.

For an action movie, then "The Green Hornet" is actually quite good. But for a follow-up to the legacy of the TV series, the movie is a mediocre attempt with good intentions. Had they cast someone else for Britt Reid, it would have worked much better. Now, I am not saying that Seth Rogen is a bad actor, he was just ill-suited for this role. "The Green Hornet" is good entertainment if you are in for an evening of action, corny one-liners and a trip down memory lane.

The Green Hornet is a very old hero character, dating back to radio dramas in the 30's, playing alongside The Shadow, Buck Rogers, and The Lone Ranger. (In fact, the Green Hornet was a spin off of The Lone Ranger... The Lone Ranger was the Green Hornet's grand-uncle, in the radio world.) Like his contemporaries he appeared in other media, including television. The television series, which featured 1/2 hour segments, starred Bruce Lee as Kato, and was his boost into celebrity. The great Bruce Lee martial arts movies might never have happened if it weren't for his gig on the Green Hornet.

The Green Hornet may have also been Bob Kane's inspiration for Batman in 1939. There are many similarities, which need not be listed here.

But alas, this feature film remake is a dull take on this old character, which deserved better treatment. I don't know exactly how Seth Rogen (who played Britt Reid and who has a writing credit) got a hold of it, but it's as though someone behind the scenes mistook the Green Hornet for a farce comedy like Get Smart and then failed to even make it funny.

The dialog had no horsepower at all, and while there were a few funny moments, after a while I got aggravated at the desperate attempts to make me laugh. Sometimes it seemed like the actors were derailed, trying to improvise, and it wasn't working.

There were two cool things about the TV series. 1) Kato, because he kicks butt. They got lucky, because Bruce Lee really was one-of-a-kind. 2) Black Beauty, their armed car that flips up from the garage floor and has guns built into it. While both of these aspects remained pretty cool in this movie, they were also elevated a little too far into the realm of fantasy. And it didn't need to be that way.

Not a good offering by director Michel Gondry, who gave us the brilliant and original Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind years ago, and it may mean that he's one of those directors who cannot improve -- or does not see improvements in -- a script. He therefore shines when he gets a great script and fails when he gets a bad one. Tim Burton falls into that category.

The movie villain was played by Christoph Waltz, whose character was no less dumb than Seth Rogen's. A bad choice for an actor who just won an Oscar for his brilliant role as Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. What was his agent thinking? In all fairness, Waltz and his agent couldn't have known beforehand that The Green Hornet was going to be a sloppy script, and a sloppy execution. The super-hero wave is a big one at the movies these days, with one hit after the other, but they fail to remember other sloppy remakes of old radio heroes, such as The Shadow in 1994 starring Alec Baldwin, and The Legend of the Lone Ranger in in 1981 starring Klinton Spilsbury (who??).

The Green Hornet should have been a much more serious period movie set in the 30's about a man who is inspired to fight the mob in the fashion that his grand-uncle did as the Lone Ranger years earlier. That would have led to a serious Lone Ranger tie-in (a prequel as it were). Missed opportunities.

Save your $8, this movie isn't worth it.

Frankly, very few remakes are worth the time. I was expecting a disaster of a movie when I started watching, but was pleasantly surprised.

Seth Rogen is his usual self/character. He needs to learn more than one trick. I found his acting flat and his voice monotonous. So kudos to the screen and script writers for making it interesting enough that Mr Rogen's shortcomings are overcame.

Cameron Diaz.... Of the hundreds of actresses in the movie industry, why her? Is her character written in, in the last minute? Or is there some kind of compulsory need to add a female lead, so that the 2 male leads are not seen as homosexuals? She was refreshing a decade ago, now she is just.... boring and highly predictable.

Jay Chou. Being an Asian-Asian, I personally never like or dislike him. He has a zero-expression face, no matter what movie he is in. Putting him in the shoes of Bruce Lee is a tough order. Of all the characters in the movie, his is the most significant one. Ones with big expectations to fill, and I think he did alright. Do remember this is his first Hollywood movie. Other than that, I still say he can't really act.

Story/plot. The movie is fast pace enough that even the slow moments get by really fast. After a first 15 minutes or so, there is very little dull moments. One of the few things I disliked about this movie is the elevated level of gory deaths. Is it really necessary? As I said before the screen and script writers did a fantastic job in this adaptation.

For pure action entertainment, I'll give it 8 or 9 out of 10. However, overall it should only garner a 7, in my opinion.