Green Hornet – Review
January 15, 2012 Leave a Comment
I finally got around to watching the Green Hornet movie adaptation. Based on the cult 60s TV show, which is perhaps better remembered for its early featuring of the legendary Bruce Lee than anything else, the movie stays true to its roots at least in form if not necessarily in style. The original Green Hornet was at its core a serious vigilante action series which was tinted by the slightly cheesy and campy style of its period (but not to the same extent as its far campier contemporary, the Adam West Batman). The movie’s approach is a little different, with a heavier lean on comedy yet still keeping with the action element inherent in the series and still featuring criminals who are very, very bad.
On the cast, I am happy to note that there was not a single actor who was under-utilised, which tends to be a recurring problem with the most star-studded action films of recent years. Although, I am not Seth Rogen’s biggest fan, you instantly sympathise with his character and are still able to laugh at his idiocy and smart-assedness. He is the Jack Black of the Tenacious D formed by Rogen and Jay Chou.
Chou’s role as the ingenious, suave and constantly bitter Kato doesn’t allow him to shine as much. However, he’s clearly intended to be the film’s true action-star, dominating every single action scene in the film. His role is both prominent and a little downplayed as the film-makers obviously wanted to stay respectful of the memory of Bruce Lee, while at the same time they had to sell the idea that far more gifted, intelligent and badass Kato could somehow possibly sympathise and feel comradeship towards the drunken, excitable and somewhat dim-witted Britt Reid.
Christoph Waltz is as charming and captivating as he always is in his villainous roles. His very presence seems to indicate the presence of pure evil, whether he is Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds or Cardinal Richelieu from The Three Musketeers. However, in the role of Chudkofsky he also gets to show his playful and even slightly sympathetic side as the powerful crime lord with a hint of a midlife crisis. His introductory scene with cocky James Franco just perfectly illustrates all sides of his character.
Cameron Diaz also plays her role well and in a considerably different way from the average dime-a-dozen potential love interest characters. Even though she isn’t at the forefront of the film’s events, she still adds to the heart of the film with her sheer presence.
As mentioned before, the film takes a considerably more comedic route with its style than the original TV series. In fact at times the movie will start to feel like a mere shadow of the original, suave and well-dressed show where everyone wore a fedora and the dialogue was hard-hitting and straight-faced. At the same time I can’t really berate the film for turning the whole concept of the show on its ear since I don’t honestly think that a straight adaptation of the TV series would really work for a 21st century audience. A serious Green Hornet movie would have been buried under the mountain of serious superhero-vigilante films, the most notable of all being the Batman films. So the almost parody-like approach to the concept of the original TV show really works in the movie’s advantage. It’s a fun movie where you can leave your brain at the door.
At the same time that is also the movie’s weakness. The comedy is intentionally low-brow and sometimes Seth Rogen’s material is just too painfully corny even for my taste. Also, the action and comedy really dominates over the story, which is basically there just to give context to what’s happening. There are no big “ah-ha” moments and the human storyline is unfortunately lacking even though the film makes daring attempts at shoe-horning it into the action-piece.
At the same time, the movie is very entertaining and definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of the TV series or if you just want to have a good time. It’s not a masterpiece, but a well-intentioned and a loving parody of the source material it’s based on.
About thehande
