I want Black Beauty! -Swift
Swift shot: Check your brains at the door, after all this is Seth Rogen as Britt Reid – which probably means nothing to most of you. Still, “The Green Hornet” was a fun, high-octane, cordite-laden, unbelievable throttle-fest!
Rogen headlines as Britt Reid, son of newspaper mogul, James Reid (Tom Wilkinson) who struggled to raise his son alone following the death of his wife when Britt was merely a child. I’m being kind saying that he struggled . . . he didn’t even try, because trying when you fail is a waste, according to him. We find out at the film’s onset that James Reid has little tolerance for corruption or foolishness, by rending the head off Britt’s action figure and basically telling him in no uncertain terms that he is a fat failure. Wilkinson, to his credit, didn’t phone in his performance. Every time he was on screen, I felt the presence of a serious actor, prepared to impress.
No shocker here, James dies early in the film, stung by a bee (the Reid men are deathly allergic to bees). Britt has to decide what to do with the paper, and finally makes the acquaintance of his father’s driver, Kato (Jay Chou). Kato is much more than a simple chauffeur, he also makes a kick ass cup of coffee and can hold his own as a weapons designer. Chou’s accent is hard to get past, but it never gets annoying, and he did a fine job as Kato – but again, this is Rogen’s Kato, not Bruce Lee. Rogen was listed as one of the writers, and I am sure his influences fleshing out the Kato character were significant.
Britt has the novel idea to do something spectacular and seek real justice, though you never really feel the transition with Rogen, it is always just Rogen on the screen playing the buffoon. I like that, personally, you may not. Seeking this “justice”, Britt and Kato don masks and decide to pose as criminals – positing that one weakness heroes are always presented with is when the bad guy puts innocents in peril and uses it against them. So, Britt decides to deceive everyone by creating a villain who is actually seeking justice.
Most of you probably want to see this because you want to see how Christoph Waltz does as the LA criminal overlord, Chudnofsky. “Inglorious Basterds” fans will be pleased, as again Waltz portrays a seemingly calm, quizzical sociopath. His entrance in “The Green Hornet” is one of those water-cooler shots you’ll all be talking about the next day (along with a special cameo from a well-known Rogen buddy). The only thing missing from Chudnofsky’s gaudy attire was the death’s head insignia, because while his detractors mocked his attire throughout the film (huge mistake) he always looked like a seething Nazi ready to kill to me – and in several scenes he was an effective Hollywood bad-guy. Best sequence of the film is his trap laid out to kill his competition.
I know almost nothing about “The Green Hornet” – growing up in the 80s, it is what you might expect, so I am no authority figure on the character – but, I know without a doubt, Seth Rogen is NOT Britt Reid, not once did I really identify with his portrayal of anyone other than what I assume Rogen wants us to believe he is like at parties. To that end, kudos to Rogen for again playing himself – but, who can’t play him? I wasn’t overly impressed by any of the human characters, but one beautiful, black lady stole my heart – BLACK BEAUTY! To say she was sexy is like calling Electra Avellan merely “easy on the eyes” (Avellan was the lethally attractive nurse in Machete).
This film never really steers in a serious direction save for a few miss-shifts here or there, with an attempt at a jealous feud between Kato and Britt for the affections of Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) and an eye-opening dilemma when Britt’s rouse gets innocent people killed for wearing green – something to think about on St. Patty’s day. But, again, Black Beauty and all the car chase scenes really add to the overall delivery of this work by Director Michel Gondry. The guy is versatile, if he can pull off a big budget action flick like “The Green Hornet” and direct lesser known character driven films which helped put him on the map.
And that is what you get with this film, a funny, destructive action flick – if you are seeking anything else, slam your chariot in reverse and wait for this on DVD or Blu-ray. I saw it in 3D, and except for a few of the car chases and gun battles, it wasn’t necessary.
