Should be renamed 'The Green Turd'!
Wow! There are few films that are so bad that I find it difficult to sit through them. And yet, The Green Hornet had me squirming in my seat, struggling with myself, forcing myself to watch it, just so that I could write this review. Based on a radio series and subsequent comic books, neither of which I am familiar with, this is the story of Britt Reid, a rich newspaperman's son, who moonlights as a masked vigilante with his trusted aide, Kato, by his side. This could have been a fun film; instead it's an absolute disaster.
From the first appearance of Seth Rogen (actor, writer and producer of this monstrosity) it's obvious that he has so fallen in love with his celebrity that he thinks it's not necessary to 'act', when hamming will suffice to bring the fans in. He delivers all his lines in the same tone throughout the film, which means that he shouts out every alternate word...and THAT is NOT cooool MAN! Also, I have a strong feeling that I saw him look into the camera by mistake a couple of times. Taiwanese-born Jay Chou plays Kato - a role once played by Bruce Lee and this is paid homage to, when Rogen's Reid flips through a sketch book that belongs to Chou's Kato and finds sketches of cars, machines and Bruce Lee. Chou is satisfactory, at best, but mostly he could have benefited from some elocution lessons. Cameron Diaz stars as Rogen's secretary and is once again too old to be playing the cute, fresh-faced muse (as with 2010's Knight and Day) - but at least in this film, there is a reference to her being in her 'twilight', which, though not very funny, is at least an acknowledgement.
Then there is Christoph Waltz. How unfortunate that the man who took Hollywood by storm with 2009's Inglourious Basterds (winning many awards, including the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), followed that up with a badly-written caricature in a painfully memorable film. He is good, no doubt about that, but he has little to prove when working with such a terrible set up. The worst shock for me came at the very end, when the credits started rolling, and I saw the name 'Michel Gondry' appear under 'Directed by'. The fact that the semi-genius, responsible for kooky Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and kookier Science of Sleep (2006), is also responsible for this badly written, badly acted, badly presented wannabe comedy feature, is even more disappointing than the knowledge that I have just wasted a couple of precious hours of my life on this film.
Avoid at all costs.
Wow! There are few films that are so bad that I find it difficult to sit through them. And yet, The Green Hornet had me squirming in my seat, struggling with myself, forcing myself to watch it, just so that I could write this review. Based on a radio series and subsequent comic books, neither of which I am familiar with, this is the story of Britt Reid, a rich newspaperman's son, who moonlights as a masked vigilante with his trusted aide, Kato, by his side. This could have been a fun film; instead it's an absolute disaster.
From the first appearance of Seth Rogen (actor, writer and producer of this monstrosity) it's obvious that he has so fallen in love with his celebrity that he thinks it's not necessary to 'act', when hamming will suffice to bring the fans in. He delivers all his lines in the same tone throughout the film, which means that he shouts out every alternate word...and THAT is NOT cooool MAN! Also, I have a strong feeling that I saw him look into the camera by mistake a couple of times. Taiwanese-born Jay Chou plays Kato - a role once played by Bruce Lee and this is paid homage to, when Rogen's Reid flips through a sketch book that belongs to Chou's Kato and finds sketches of cars, machines and Bruce Lee. Chou is satisfactory, at best, but mostly he could have benefited from some elocution lessons. Cameron Diaz stars as Rogen's secretary and is once again too old to be playing the cute, fresh-faced muse (as with 2010's Knight and Day) - but at least in this film, there is a reference to her being in her 'twilight', which, though not very funny, is at least an acknowledgement.
Then there is Christoph Waltz. How unfortunate that the man who took Hollywood by storm with 2009's Inglourious Basterds (winning many awards, including the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), followed that up with a badly-written caricature in a painfully memorable film. He is good, no doubt about that, but he has little to prove when working with such a terrible set up. The worst shock for me came at the very end, when the credits started rolling, and I saw the name 'Michel Gondry' appear under 'Directed by'. The fact that the semi-genius, responsible for kooky Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and kookier Science of Sleep (2006), is also responsible for this badly written, badly acted, badly presented wannabe comedy feature, is even more disappointing than the knowledge that I have just wasted a couple of precious hours of my life on this film.
Avoid at all costs.
