When I was in LA in the summer of 2009 I visited the Sony Pictures Studios and actually got to see some of the sets that were being built for “The Green Hornet”. If I had known then what I know now I would have told the crews not to bother.
This version of “The Green Hornet” is somewhat based on the comic, old radio show and the 1960’s TV series. Seth Rogen, who can be very funny at times, has the extremely unfunny role of obnoxious brat Britt Reid, the son of an LA newspaper and media giant who dies, leaving Britt in charge of his empire.
Britt only cares about partying but he becomes friends with one of the servants, named Kato (Jay Chow), and soon they decide to become crime-fighting superheroes, taking-on all the bad guys in Los Angeles. Kato knows martial arts and can make cool weapons and cars. Britt can’t do anything, but he becomes The Green Hornet and Kato is his sidekick.
Michel Gondry has made some smart, funny, clever and touching films, including my favorite movie of 2008, “Be Kind Rewind.” It’s hard to believe that he directed this train wreck, or, should I say, car wreck, since “The Green Hornet” is filled with more chase scenes and car crashes than all of the 2010 summer’s action films combined.
There are a lot of words to describe this film, and for some reason they all begin with the letter R: Rough – Ridiculous and Rotten immediately come to mind. Maybe it’s because of Rogan, who not only stars, but was a co-writer and co-producer. He’s got to take a lot of the blame for this mess.
And one of the major problems with the film is the Britt/Green Hornet character, who is so unlikable that you can’t root for him in any way. And Kato isn’t much better. An they’re the GOOD GUYS! My breaking point came midway through a scene in which The Green Hornet and Kato fight each other, destroying their mansion in the process. The scene goes on for what seemed like at least 10-minutes. And, of course, several times Rogen has to get hit in his private parts. As you know, that’s my #1 indicator of a terrible script when the writers have to resort to the “hit in the groin” gag.
Cameron Diaz plays the duos secretary and looks very uncomfortable in all of her scenes. Oscar winner Christoph Waltz plays the wacky villain, but it’s a very unfunny role. And Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson has to be the happiest of everyone in the cast because, as Britt’s father, he’s hardly in the movie at all.
The 3D, for the theatircal release, was done in post-production conversion, which made the effect very ineffective. At least people won’t have to deal with that at home.
“The Green Hornet” is rated PG-13, for some adult language and tons of action violence. But it’s mostly comic book style violence, so it’s appropriate for kids 12 and up, but that doesn’t mean I recommend anyone watching it.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “The Green Hornet” gets a D. It’s easy to see why the studio decided not to release this movie in the summer of 2010, which was the original plan, and instead bury it in mid-January. Problem is, they didn’t bury it deep enough to prevent it from coming back on DVD/PPV.