Green Hornet fun, but see it in 2D

The Green Hornet. Seth Rogen as Britt Reid a.k.a. the Green Hornet and Jay Chou as Kato in one of The Green Hornet's explosive moments. Contributed photo

The Green Hornet once again rides off into adventure with his faithful partner Kato.  In The Green Hornet , based on the radio drama from the 1930s and the comic book series of the same name, playboy Britt Reid and his father’s mechanic Kato begin to look for justice when Britt’s father is killed due to an allergic reaction to a bee sting.  

The pair begins fighting crime in their custom car, the Black Beauty, while posing as villains to keep from being manipulated by the actual criminals. However, when Britt uses his newspaper to blow the Green Hornet’s villainy out of proportion, he ends up forcing Chudnovsky, a mobster who owns most of Los Angeles, to put a price on the Green Hornet’s head.

The film is directed by Michael Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , and he turns The Green Hornet into a film that is not only a very funny comedy, but also an enjoyable action movie too.  

Backing up Gondry is a main cast made up of Superbad ’s Seth Rogen as Britt Reid a.k.a. the Green Hornet, singer-songwriter and actor Jay Chou as Kato, Inglourious Basterds ’ Christoph Waltz as Chudnovsky, and Gangs of New York ’s Cameron Diaz as Lenore “Casey” Case.  

Overall, the cast is solid, but Chou’s performance as Kato is the definite standout, followed closely by Rogen’s portrayal of the Hornet.

The humour in The Green Hornet is side-splitting.  It excels in both physical comedy and verbal comedy. Seth Rogen and Jay Chou work well as a comedic team with Rogen playing the irresponsible goofball and Chou playing opposite as the straight man and the pair play off each other hilariously.  

The other actors in the film also display comedic skills, whether it’s light-hearted or, in the case of Chudnovsky, black comedy. On the action side of things, the fights in the film are very well choreographed and it shows due to the slow-motion fight sequences with Kato.  Unfortunately, not everything about The Green Hornet is positive and the 3D is one of those things. This is a movie where the 3D is just an obvious cash-grab as it made essentially no difference, even in increasing the film’s visual depth. I would recommend saving your money and seeing it in 2D, if possible.

Overall, The Green Hornet is not an intellectual film in any sense of the word, but it’s still a fun way to spend an afternoon. It garners a 7 out of 10 and is an entertaining feature-length excursion for the green-coloured hero.

Adam Wilson is a student at Innisdale Secondary School and reviews movies for The Advance.

Source: http://www.simcoe.com