THE GREEN HORNET

Review by Pete Roche

Buried inside THE GREEN HORNET is a fun, kid-safe movie about honesty, trust, and friendship.  But while the big-screen adaptation of the F.D.R.-era radio serial is a modernized BATMAN BEGINS-meets-LETHAL WEAPON “buddy” flick, its cavalcade of profanity and potty jokes all but washes away the obligatory superhero morality lessons on responsibility, integrity, etc. That’s mostly because it was co-written by Seth Rogen, who plays Britt Reid / The Green Hornet.  A former standup comic, Rogen’s made a name for himself penning and playing in sex farces like 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP.  He can be a very funny guy; the question is whether his brand of hipster humor belongs in a film that ostensibly pays homage to a classic crusader’s “do the right thing” ethic.  The OLD SCHOOL-ing of the script instead results in a hero who gives the middle finger to cops as well as crooks.

Britt is a party-hardy slacker who suddenly inherits his callous father’s newspaper empire.  A petty complaint about his morning cappuccino finds the bratty heir making the acquaintance of Kato (Jay Chou), his late father’s resident mechanic.  Britt discovers Kato is something of a “human Swiss army knife;” a martial arts expert, a deft illustrator, ingenious engineer, and killer coffee maker.  Britt is inspired when Russian mobster Chudnovsky (Christoph Waltz, of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS fame) starts hogging headlines at the Daily Sentinel. 

But while Britt has Bruce Wayne money and a car collection that would make Tony Stark blush, he hasn’t any crime-fighting chutzpah.  Brazen but clumsy, he is content to leave most of the ass-kicking to Kato (a division of labor that incites arguments later).  Thinking himself more Britt’s partner than mere sidekick, Kato pimps out their “Black Beauty” supercar with cannons and missiles and designs a gas gun so his blundering boss can safely incapacitate foes from a distance.  Britt is mildly insulted but later comes to appreciate his surrogate brother’s concern.

Britt uses his position at the paper to inflate his alter-ego’s reputation, but his wits are tested by his editor (Edward James Olmos) and a crooked district attorney.  Sentinel secretary Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) feeds Britt data on neighborhood thugs, gangs, drug-dealers—and Chudnovsky, who wants Hornet out of the way. 

The movie’s coolest moments are the stylish, fluid battles shown in TV spots.  Kato—who can “slow” time down when his heart beats faster—can anticipate opponents and is thus able to engage them with uncanny prescience as well as ferocious physicality.  Oscar-winning director Michel Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) clearly enjoyed choreographing these scenes; he’s the guy whose music videos helped inspire the often-imitated “bullet-time” technology made popular by THE MATRIX.  The 3-D was added as an afterthought and looks it.

One of Rogen’s celebrity pals from Freaks & Geeks and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS has a memorable cameo early on.  Also watch for Edward Furlong (TERMINATOR 2) as a meth dealer.  Bruce Lee—who played Kato on television—appears in a sketchbook drawing.  Rock groups Anvil and Chickenfoot get plugged.  Coolio and Van Halen keep the soundtrack kicking.  2 out of 4 stars.