Tags: BD-Live, Cameron Diaz, Chad Coleman, Christoph Waltz, Edward Furlong, Edward James Olmos, Evan Goldberg, George W. Trendle, James Franco, Jamie Harris, Jay Chou, Michel Gondry, PS3 Theme, Seth Rogen, Sony, The Green Hornet, Tom Wilkinson
This uses 26.9GB for the movie out of 40.8GB total.
Trailer:
The Movie Itself is based on the original character “The Green Hornet“” from the radio series created by George W. Trendle. The screenplay was adapted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — the same two guys who wrote “Superbad” from 2007 and “Pineapple Express” from 2008; both of which were also made at Sony. The film was directed by Michel Gondry, best known for directing “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” from 2004. Most folks of my generation of the generation before remember this character from the 1966-1967 television series that starred the late martial arts expert Bruce Lee. This telling is a bit different than either the original radio series, short films or even the television series — as in it is a lot more comedic in nature, but more on that later.
This film’s story slightly differs from the 60′s TV series but there are some of the same characters in addition to “The Green Hornet” / “Britt Reid” and “Kato” — but more on those later. Our main character as we are introduced to him after a flashback from 20 years prior is now a party monster wealthy young man in his thirties by the name of “Britt Reid” (played by Seth Rogen) who’s living off the fortune and such of his father (played by Tom Wilkinson), a journalist / owner of a newspaper. The second main character here is an Asian martial arts expert by the name of “Kato” (played by Jay Chou) who is the mechanic to our leading character’s father.
The other characters that are taken from the 60′s TV series are the secretary “Lenore Case” (played by Cameron Diaz) and “D.A. Frank Scanlon” (played by David Harbour). The basic plot here is simple and involves the main character inheriting the newspaper that his father ran and along the way deciding to become a superhero with his mechanic who makes a great cup of coffee and can also (just-so-happens) slow down time to kick some ass via martial arts. That’s pretty much the premise here with the addition of a villain. That villain is one that is downright hilarious and purposely outdated. Our villain is a man by the name of “Chudnofsky” (played by Christoph Waltz).
In closing, I feel it’s worth noting that this is BY NO MEANS your typical superhero movie — as most of them don’t really come from this much of a comedic nature or contain this unique style of filmmaking that director Michel Gondry delivers. I think that’s actually probably why a lot of folks (critics and viewers) didn’t end up liking it in the theatrical run. I think maybe they went in just expecting something totally different and also maybe a bit too much pot humor as well in terms of comedy since Seth Rogen was the star. In actuality it’s Jay Chou (as “Kato”) that steals the show so-to-speak, much like Bruce Lee did back in the old TV series from the 60′s. Also, it should go without saying that Christoph Waltz is downright amazing and also hilarious as the villain here. Sure, it’s nothing like his role in “Inglourious Basterds” but it still is something to behold.
Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio. According to IMDb this was shot on quite a few different types of sources as well as cameras. The majority (it seems) was shot digitally on Hi-Def cameras like the Phantom HD and Red One while some other scenes were shot on traditional 35mm film using the PanArri and Panaflex cameras from Panavision. This all blends together great and works in 2D, while some folks were heavily critical on its 3D presentation. I’m not a huge fan of the 3D, so I can’t say I really care about the 3D here as I’m reviewing the 2D Blu-ray. Enough about that and now on with the actual assessment of the video quality of the 2D presentation on Blu-ray.
The black level here is perfectly solid, the color palette is vibrant at times (especially with emphasis on green and red for the two main characters) and the flesh tones are accurate throughout. There’s a huge amount of detail here and that’s mainly because the filmmakers’ choice to use (in my opinion great cameras) like the Red One camera. The detail really shows off in the close-ups and early scenes like 40 minutes or so in when we see the car being created. There’s a whole lot of detail here, is my real point and it looks great but it doesn’t “pop off the screen at you” so-to-speak. There’s no real visual flaws here at all, not any compression or heavy use of filters like DNR or EE. All and all, this holds an impressive Hi-Def presentation worthy of a “4.5 Star Rating” for overall video quality. One last thing I’ll add, the fight scenes with “Kato” look absolutely awesome here, even in Hi-Def and don’t show off many, if any flaws from editing and such.
Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The film starts up with some really great use of the 5.1 soundscape in the opening music (a song by The Rolling Stones on the Soundtrack) and also during the action of the first 30 minutes of the film (no spoilers involved). In regards to the realism of sound effects. Let me say, there’s a lot of realistic sounding crashing in the car chases, gunshots and such as well as other sounds during fight sequences like punches or kicks. This all makes for some really excellent use of the 5.1 lossless mix with downright amazing rear channel presence, pans and such at times. There’s also an excellent amount of LFE (bass) here in the film’s original music and Soundtrack as well as in the action throughout. Enough so for me to say it’s actually pretty damn “intense” at times of a 5.1 mix. Plus, there’s quite a few action sequences almost worthy of deeming “demo material” here. It’s safe to say that the audio presentation is pretty damn impressive and will possibly “blow you away” during a few scenes. That being said this a downright awesome “5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.
Bonus Materials are ALL presented in 1080p Hi-Def (HD) video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo @192kbps sound.
BD-Live is included on this Sony Blu-ray Disc release. This requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable internet connected Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content and features from the studio. “The Green Hornet Cutting Room” is EXCLUSIVE to the Blu-ray Disc release. This is a BD-Java application in Hi-Def that allows you to create your own unique video edit and then share it online via BD-Live. There’s a 2 minute 17 second tutorial in Hi-Def also included to explain how things work. A Theme featuring “The Green Hornet” for Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) users is included. This is pretty cool. “Filmmakers’ Commentary” is an audio commentary featuring director Michel Gondry, Producer Neal H. Mortiz, screenwriter Evan Goldberg and co-screenwriter/star Seth Rogen. Deleted Scenes (26:33 – 1080p HD) “Awesoom – Gag Reel” (7:14 – 1080p HD) is pretty effin’ funny. Director Michel Gondry steals the show so-to-speak. “Trust Me – Director Michel Gondry” (9:33 – 1080p HD) is absolutely great and takes a closer look at this director’s unique vision and style. “Writing The Green Hornet” (10:35 – 1080p HD) features interviews with screenwriters Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen. “The Black Beauty: Rebirth of Cool” (7:17 – 1080p HD) focuses on the car that our main characters drive — 1965 Imperial. “The Stunt Family Armstrong” (7:39 – 1080p HD) “Finding Kato” (6:00 – 1080p HD) is really cool and let’s us learn that Jay Chou is actually a huge pop star in Asia, namely China where he’s from. The featurette is obviously focusing on how the filmmakers ended up casting Jay. “The Art of Deconstruction” (14:04 – 1080p HD)
Overall, the bonus materials here are pretty worthwhile as they are ALL in Hi-Def and total up to a little over an hour in runtime. There’s also the Theme included for PS3 users as well as a few Blu-ray exclusives like the “Cutting Room” BD-Java application and BD-Live included with possible title-related exclusive content.
Blu-ray Disc packaging:
Screenshots:
NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Please be patient with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.
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