No Cage, no problem for The Green Hornet
I must start this review off by saying I did not get to see the end of The Green Hornet. The power went out with about 15 minutes or so to go in the film (I’m just guessing on how much time was remaining), so this will be a review of all but the end of the film.
When I first heard about this film and heard Seth Rogen was co-writing and starring in it, I was interested. Then I found out Michel Gondry was directing it. I found this to be an odd film choice for him, but I was excited about the idea. Finally, my excitement peaked when I heard Nicolas Cage would be playing the villain.
Rogen, Gondry, and Cage and I was definitely on board. I was so excited in fact that I started writing a screenplay about waiting to see this movie. Then the bad news started coming.
First, Cage dropped out. This was devastating to me. I was really looking forward to seeing he and Gondry work together. They would be brilliant. Luckily, Cage was replaced by Christophe Waltz, who is very fantastic and coming off an Oscar win. After the Cage/Waltz swap, the movie seemed to be back on track, still, the release date kept getting pushed back. The Green Hornet went from a summer release to a midwinter/new year release, usually a bad sign. Finally, I saw the trailer. My overwhelming excitement had turned into fear. Fear that Gondry had made a generic, big studio action/comedy buddy like film ala Michael Bay and Bad Boys.
Needless to say, I went into the theatre with low expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised.
The Green Hornet begins with one of the best cameos I’ve seen in a while. (I won’t tell you who it is because I don’t want to ruin it but I assure you, its very funny.) Our cameo actor is the new, young, hip crystal meth dealer planning to run the criminal underworld in LA. He is confronted by the old, not-so-hip, not very menacing but current criminal kingpin played by Waltz. Their hilarious encounter leads us into the start of The Green Hornet.
We then see the death of Britt Reid’s father, which leads to Britt befriending Kato, the guy who makes the coffee and works on the cars. From there we see the birth of the Green Hornet, a super hero who poses as a criminal to fight crime with Kato as his sidekick.
The plot is nothing to brag about. Typical super hero type story. What works for the story is that Rogen wrote the script to get laughs which is what he does best. The movie is much funnier than I expected and had me laughing all the way through.
Highlight of this film is Gondry’s directing. The trailer certainly didn’t do it justice as this clearly had Gondry stamp placed firmly on it. He could’ve just went trough the motions to get a check, but Gondry took the time to make this feel like a Gondry film.
The fight scenes with Kato leading the way were visually impressive. The cuts, the shots, the way each fight was planned out in Kato’s head were visually great. Basically, they looked fucking cool.
Rogen and Jay Chou really worked well together as the Green Hornet and Kato. They made a good crime fighting team, although Kato did virtually all the work.
Cameron Diaz was just kind of there and Waltz was fabulous. It would’ve been nice to see Cage portray Chudnofsky but Waltz definitely delivered. He’s very good at playing a likable, funny bad guy.
Overall, the movie is very entertaining. Its not great but I enjoyed myself throughout and that’s all I ask for. It doesn’t rank up there with the likes of The Dark Knight when it comes to super hero movies but its much better than crap like Spiderman 3.
If you’re looking for laughs and some visually appealing action then The Green Hornet is the film for you.
