The Green Hornet Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Seth Rogen as Britt Reid
Jay Chou as Kato
Christoph Waltz as Chudnofsky
Tom Wilkinson as James Reid

Plot: A party boy, Britt Reid realizes he must do something good with his life when his father passes away.

Review: Coming into 2011, The Green Hornet was something I looked forward to seeing. Especially since January sucks for movies. Had a chance to see it Thursday night and I gotta say, I felt a little iffy on it for the first 20 mins. The next hour and a half on the other hand, brought the movie back.

The first 20 mins, though necessary for story, is a bit slow and didn't really set up the rest of the movie. At that point I expected the rest of the movie to suck. The movie took a complete 360 after that. Maybe i'm nitpicking here when I point out that only 20 mins of the movie were dull but putting the Green Hornet in January is a brave move, so I thought this was going to be an amazing action packed film, from start to finish.

There is a pretty good amount of Action in the movie and it will satisfy. I mean, it can feel a little over the top at times for a movie that doesn't really call for it but it won't seem too bad. I'm mostly referring to the couple of times that they added some borderline unnecessary special effects that looked cool, but seemed out of place.

Of course, when Seth Rogen is around, comedy is behind him. Though i'm not a huge fan of his comedic style, I enjoyed him in this movie. In almost every movie he comes off partly like an asshole, and that doesn't fully change for this role. He comes off much more likable, probably because the reason for him being a good guy is more believable.

What surprised me the most was Jay Chou, who plays Rogen's sidekick, Kato. I had a feeling he'd be the one to bring the action and take things to a whole new level. I didn't think he'd be nearly as funny as he was, and be such a compliment to Rogen's character.

What did get to me though was the non-existent character that Cameron Diaz played. I didn't mention her in the cast list because I felt she really wasn't a huge part of the movie at all. It seemed like she was only used whenever the director and writers needed to plug up a hole in the story, which is weird because it's rare that that happens.

The story is enticing, to an extent. It shows uniqueness while at the same time, not trying to reinvent the wheel. Made a normally regular story with a couple of twists into a pretty good movie.

Overall, the Green Hornet is not the movie I had hoped it would be. Cameron Diaz is practically invisible, the comic book-esque special effects were not a good touch but the action is good, the comedy is pretty funny for an action movie. It's a pretty enjoyable time at the movies.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5