Before seeing the film, earlier this week I posted a feature titled “Why You Should Want to See The Green Hornet“ hoping to strike interest in those who prematurely wrote it off. In it, I cast three predictions as to why The Green Hornet would be superbly entertaining – despite the negative word of mouth. After seeing the film last night, I was vindicated.
Based upon the old radio show, serials and television series, The Green Hornet tells the story of defiant, wealthy trust-fund child Britt Reid (Seth Rogen, Pineapple Express) and his quest for justice. While Britt dons The Green Hornet name and organizes the operation, his trusty side-kick Kato (Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou) is the muscle. Highly trained in Kung Fu, Kato also designs the weapon-wielding vehicles. Setting themselves apart from typical comicbook crime-fighters, instead of claiming to fight for good, they give the appearance of fighting for evil, taking down other bad guys in order to “control Los Angeles’ crime.”
As The Green Hornet and his brutal unnamed sidekick start taking out thugs and meth labs, they step on the toes of L.A.’s largest and most intimidating crime boss, Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz, Jew Hunter Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds). As newcomers The Green Hornet and Kato set their sights on Chudnofsky, he, too, sets his experienced sights on them.
The Green Hornet is a fairly well-rounded package. Written by Seth Rogen and childhood friend Evan Goldberg, who also co-wrote Superbad and Pineapple Express, the movie is a lot funnier than you would ever expect it to be. Instead of ranting his way through movies in typical fashion, Rogen actually sticks to a script and keeps it concise. If he did improvise as much as usual, the babble was left behind on the cutting room floor. Kato’s character introduces a new unique style to action sequences. I wont spoil “Kato Vision” for you, but know that it is downright awesome and it is all due to The Green Hornet‘s visionary director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
Although The Green Hornet was not shot in 3D, it was show with the intention of being converted to 3D. You wouldn’t think it to make much of a difference, but it does. The Green Hornet is the first transferred-to-3D film that I will give my 3D stamp of approval. Because it was shot for 3D conversion and because of the long, in-depth conversion process, you would never know The Green Hornet was actually shot in standard 2D. I have only said it for one film before, but I urge you to see The Green Hornet in 3D.
The only complaint I could see people having with The Green Hornet is its brief dabbling in campy content. Towards the end of the film, Chudnofsky takes a turn to the theatrical. In two short scenes he plays off more corny than intimidating, which isn’t a very strong choice considering how far into the movie we have come when it decides to make that campy turn. Because those scenes are short and not too important, they wont affect the overall positive entertainment value of the film.
It is not often that I make this request, but The Green Hornet warrants it: I want a sequel. If that says anything about how much I love this film, then I hope you will get out there and see it as soon as possible.
Photo credit: Columbia Pictures
