Posted on 01/14/2011 5:43:16 AM PST by Kaslin
Unlike the old ABC TV series, this isn't so much a superhero movie as a goofy Austin Powers-ish postmodern critique of same.
You know going in that somethings up with The Green Hornet. A superhero movie starring schlubby Seth Rogen and directed by the French visual magician Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)? Like Watchmen, this isnt so much a superhero movie as a critique of same — this time from a comic point of view.
In that sense, it’s the inverse of the old 1966 ABC TV series, which for the most part played it straight (and would help propel Bruce Lee to eventual superstardom along the way), in contradistinction to the network’s infamously campy pop art take on Batman.
Rogen, who co-wrote the script with his boyhood friend Evan Goldberg, with whom he also wrote Superbad and Pineapple Express, stars as a wealthy playboy like Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark. But Rogens character, Britt Reid, is a spoiled, whiny slacker, so cosseted that the story really gets rolling when he discovers someone has bungled his cappuccino. By this point, he has lost his father, an L.A. newspaper magnate, to a fatal bee sting — but its the bad java that really stings Britt.
Demanding to know the details behind his morning pick-me-up, he encounters an obscure servant on his gigantic estate whom hes never met — Kato (Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou). Not only can Kato make a dazzling cup of joe, hes also a martial-arts master, designer, engineer, mechanic, ladykiller and all-around genius. Picture an ass-kicking Leonardo da Vinci in black leather and motorcycle cap — who happens to work as a gofer. Weve both been completely wasting our potential, Britt tells him. You, a little more than me. Soon, the two of them adopt disguises (Britt wears a green mask) for their first covert mission — sawing the head off a bronze statue of Britts father, who used to be mean to his son.
By accident, the two of them become masked crime fighters taking on L.A.s organized crime boss Chudnofsky (a funny and merciless Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds) and since Britt has inherited his fathers newspaper, he splashes the news about himself and his sidekick all over Page One. He even comes up with a nickname for the trench-coated crusader nobody but Kato knows is his alter ego: The Green … Bee! Kato suggests Hornet sounds cooler. Also, Kato doesnt really like being called a sidekick, especially when his boss is an oaf. Im Indy, youre Short Round, ” Britt insists. He tells Kato to back off Britts pretty new secretary (Cameron Diaz), who seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of crime for a temp and comes up with surprisingly perspicacious tips about what Chudnofsky might do next. But she, like everyone else, thinks Britt is a jerk. It doesnt help that he says shes in the twilight of her years.
Rogen, who has lost weight but still doesnt look like he spends a lot of time in kickboxing classes, has the kind of charisma to make this foolhardy character likeable. Britt is constantly talking up his grandiose plans and his boundless self-esteem in a hip-hop inflected idiots patter. You said my outfit was pimp! he protests to Kato, in one of many highly quotable lines. Remember how sweet Austin Powers was when he tried to be cool? Britt has the same quality.
Meanwhile, the mild but lethal Waltz character moans that no one thinks hes scary (he has a hilarious scene with Rogens buddy James Franco, as a nightclub boss). I think youre having a midlife crisis, one of his henchmen tells him. Just to perk up his own flagging spirits as the Green Hornet grabs all the glory, he decides to become a supervillain and take on the hero on the latters own terms.
The film, which is being shown in a sometimes murky 3D, combines splendid visuals with chaotic action sequences (the climax, which contrasts cubicle-drone office life with shootouts and car chases, is reminiscent of The Blues Brothers). Gondry has a painterly way of framing images to make them shine and adds a dazzling new twist to 3D filmmaking during a sequence when he splits the screen into half a dozen or more panels showing competing images — then makes some panels pop out of the screen at different depths. At times Gondrys visuals are so striking that you lose track of what people are saying onscreen.
That would be a shame, because Rogens motormouth stream of B.S. is at least as funny as it was in Pineapple Express, a bright movie that overstayed its welcome and got bogged down in an overly complicated climax. Like that movie, The Green Hornet gets a little too fond of smashing stuff up in the closing act, but even so its a wicked and original treat, a welcome piece of comic mayhem to warm up the winter.
Saw it last night with Mrs. Lurkin. It is unquestionably intended to be a farce and was even occasionally funny.
Cameron Diaz (you have sexy crows-feet Ms. Diaz!) brightened this film considerably. Without her it might have been unwatchable.
The first scene with Chudnofsky was funny. (”Disco Santa Claus” might be my next screen name) But that one gag is all he had to work with and it wore out quickly.
Have no idea why Edward Olmos agreed to play a bit part.
PG-13 rating: take seriously. Saw little kids in the theater — guess their folks don’t mind them seeing visuals of sticks shoved in eyes and men being crushed by falling cars. (Sweet dreams junior.)
Saw it in 3-d — not worth it IMHO. The effects weren’t that good.
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