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The Green Hornet (2011) Review
The Green Hornet, a strange cross between Jonny English, Nightrider and Kickass…
Before I begin, I’d like to explain that it’s hard to review a comedy film, since the main appeal of it would be to make the audience laugh, but each audience member will have a different sense of humour to each other, so I can’t exactly give a comedy film a bad review based only on its sense of humour, simply because it doesn’t tickle my personal funny bone. So I decided to ease myself into reviewing comedy films as well as horrors, actions and all the rest by reviewing The Green Hornet, which is an action comedy.
As usual, before I tell you my personal opinions on the film, I’ll summarize what critics have said. The Green Hornet holds a rating of 6.1/10 on IMDB and only 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some reviewers were disappointed because they were (for some reason) hoping that Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry working together would create some sort of super movie, but instead it was just a run of the mill action comedy. I can see where they’re coming from to be honest, I watched this whole film, and didn’t realise it was directed by the amazing Michel Gondry until I was told by the credits. I was about to say that I disagree with the idea that Seth Rogen merely appearing in a film would make it instantly hilarious, but then I looked over at my DVD collection and realised how many of my favourite comedy films star him, after all, I bought Knocked Up simply because I saw his face on the case, and I knew that it would be good, and I was not wrong at all.
Now, moving swiftly on to my feelings towards The Green Hornet.
I hate to say it, but this film is a little predictable in places, not to give anything away (you’ll probably expect it anyway) but this is yet another buddy film where the two male protagonists fall out at some point, but then become best buddies again in the nick of time. I also hate to say it, but this film is yet another Seth Rogen being Seth Rogen film. This is not to say that it’s a bad thing, Rogen has made is career out of playing overweight slobs that try way too hard to find a sexual partner, and it works! A lot of serious actors (e.g: Nicholas Cage) constantly play similar roles and are hated for it (I have a personal thing against Cage, and I’m sure others will agree with me).
The plot of this film isn’t always as predictable as you may think, every now and again, it will twist a little and surprise you, which is one of the best things about it. It’s not exactly an all action thrill ride, but it does have its moments. It won’t cause you to have to pause the DVD so you can keep laughing without missing anything, but again, it has its moments. The basic premise of this film is simple, Britt Reid (Rogen) is the son of a man who owns a big media company, his father dies, so Britt decides to fight crime. There is more logic to it than that, and no, he is not avenging his father’s death, if he was doing that, he would declare war on bees.
Britt decides to fight crime after a fun night out with his dead father’s mechanic, Katu (Jay Chou). The pair then go on to fight crime by night, and print whatever they want about themselves in the papers by day. Of course, there is a bigger storyline than that, but you have to remember that that simple idea could go on for years as a TV series… Oh wait, it did once.
Thankfully, this modernisation is a hell of a lot more awesome. If it wasn’t to a little research before hand, I wouldn’t have guessed it was based on an older superhero until the credits rolled. Part of me is a little bit sad to see that such a good film isn’t an original film, despite being made by Original Film studios.
At this point, I would like to point out that I watched The Green Hornet in regular 2D, not 3D. I would also like to say that I forgot it was released in 3D, because it doesn’t use 3D in a gimmicky way.
Shots like the one above are a good way of using the 3D technology, but in a more subtle way that still works in 2D, unlike some of the shots in The Final Destination where an object is meant to be sticking out at you, and it looks amazing in 3D, but in 2D, it’s hard to see what it is sometimes.
All in all, this film is great and I highly recommend it to all of you, but it’s not essential to see before you die, there are better comedy films and action films, and action comedy films out there. The plot is a little predictable, and the humour occasionally strays and goes for simple “oh look, the man was kicked in the genitals” gags. Other than that, The Green Hornet is yet another Seth Rogen film that did not disappoint.
The Green Hornet (2011): 8/10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Hornet_(2011_film)
