The Green Hornet

Release Date: January 14th, 2010

Click here for The Green Hornet Trailer.

Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the wealthy playboy son of media mogul and publisher of The Daily Sentinel James Reid (Tom Wilkinson). Britt is living the good life slacking off and partying until his father is suddenly found dead from a bee sting at the family mansion. To help him through the hard times, Britt turns to his father's mechanic and coffee maker Kato (John Chou) who shares stories of James Reid with Britt. After the funeral, Britt and Kato get drunk and proceed to decapitate the statue of James Reid which oversees his grave site as payback for how big of a dick he was to both Britt and Kato.

While running a muck, Britt witnesses a gang of muggers attempting to beat and rob two people on the street. Britt, wearing a bandanna as a mask, intervenes only to immediately regret it as the gang catches him. As the gang leader is about to cut out Britt's teeth, Kato jumps across the hood of a car and proceeds to single handedly beat up every single gang member using lightning fast martial arts. Impressed by Kato's skill, Britt convinces him that the two of them should become crime fighters with a twist. Instead of beating up bad guys in the name of justice, they will pose as other bad guys trying to take over the enemy's turf.

Kato agrees and begins making cars and weapons for the two of them to use, including a line of modified cars known as Black Beauties that are equipped with rocket launchers and machine guns. Britt, taking over The Daily Sentinel, hires Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) who has a degree in criminology as his personal assistant and researcher. Britt tasks Lenore with doing research on his now alter ego The Green Hornet and uses the research, as well as Lenore's predictions about The Green Hornet's next move, to clean up the city.

However, Britt and Kato make their worst enemy in a man known as Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), a Russian mobster bent on uniting the criminal families of Los Angeles under his command. While battling Chudnofsky, Britt and Kato uncover a dark secret that involves James Reid and the local government which may also lead to suspicions about James' death. But, in order to figure out what is truly going on, Britt and Kato need to survive not only Chudnofsky, but each other as well.

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This review comes as a special request from my readers over at AK Steel in Middletown, Ohio. Thanks for being loyal followers.

So when people think about superheroes, Seth Rogen is probably not the first name that comes to mind. The man behind comedy films like Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and Zack and Miri Make A Porno is not really the type of guy you would cast as the lead in a superhero movie. But I guess when you are also the executive producer as well as the writer of the film, you can do whatever you want.

The character of The Green Hornet is more akin to Batman than any other superhero, a rich playboy who uses his vast wealth to fight crime. However, Bruce Wayne can actually fight, unlike Britt Reid, so it is a good thing that Kato, played by John Chou, is along for the ride. When I saw that Rogen was playing a superhero, I was a little worried. I didn't know if he was up to that type of character. That was until I saw the character. Rogen plays the party boy type character perfectly and does a great transformation from carefree playboy to crime fighter though he doesn't lose his irresponsibility.

I thought the concept of the story was good. I really thought all the characters were engaging and funny, even Cristoph Waltz. I loved Waltz' performance and character. Waltz plays Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster who is aging and going through a mid-life crisis. As you can probably tell, a ruthless mobster with a mid-life crisis makes for some pretty funny stuff. Chudnofsky is dealing with the fact that people do not find him scary anymore, even though he totes around a hand gun with two barrels.

Probably the biggest breakout star from this film is John Chou (not to be confused with John Cho of the Harold and Kumar series of films). Chou was simply incredible. His fighting skills were top notch and had to be considering he was the main crime fighter while Rogen was running away or getting beat up. Aside from that, Chou was actually very funny. He played very well off of Rogen and both of the actors seemed to feed off of each other's jokes, building the laughs.

I did not see this in 3D and I would advise not doing so unless, that is, you are extremely fond of 3D cinema. For me 3D doesn't add much, but it is a personal preference. 3D aside, the special effects in this film were truly spectacular. Filled with explosions, machine guns, building destruction and rockets, The Green Hornet keeps the action flowing. One thing I will say is that when Kato fights, the camera slows down everything around him and makes him super fast. I would have preferred traditional fighting cinematography but it was still fun to watch nonetheless. The action trickles in kind of slowly about 60% into the film but speeds back up at the end.

Overall I thought this movie was good. I thought all the actors gave great performances and really harnessed the spirit of their characters. The action was good and there was enough comedy blended in to make sure that neither the action nor the comedy was too overpowering. A+ for the special effects and kudos to Seth Rogen for showing that he can write and act in something other than a comedy filled with foul language, nudity, sex and drugs.

If you are in the mood for a good time, you want some kick-ass action or just a few good laughs, then you will be satisfied with The Green Hornet. A great film and one that was really fun to watch.

I give The Green Hornet 9 Overpowered Gas Guns out of 10.

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