A medial mogul’s son takes over the family business and also becomes a crime fighter in the latest superhero film, THE GREEN HORNET.Seth Rogan is Britt Reid, a reckless twenty-something thrust into the role of newspaper owner after the untimely death of his father. Although Britt takes over a powerful role in the media world, he becomes more fascinated with his father’s cars and Kato, the mechanic behind the machines.
Britt decides with Kato’s souped-up rides and fighting skills, the two should masquerade as superheroes during the night, beating up bad guys and more or less having fun.
Just as Britt and Kato are thinly disguised as superheroes, so THE GREEN HORNET is thinly disguiseed as a superhero movie.
THE GREEN HORNET is first and foremost a buddy comedy, attempting to capitalize on Rogan’s recent popularity and boyish charm. This works in flashes, but the film begs for something more.
A flimsy script is held together by adequate action sequences that fail to ignite, and performances that deserve to be in a better film. Rogan and Jay Chou, as Kato, make for an unlikely, but effective duo, with Chou’s pitch-perfect deadpan reactions to Rogan’s wisecracking and childish tricks. Adding some extra fun to the mix is Christoph Walz as the Green Hornet’s nemesis Chudnofsky, the crime kingpin of LA. As he did in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Walz chews up every scene he’s in. Chudnofsky is as over-the-top as one should and could expect.
In spite of the right performers in the right roles, THE GREEN HORNET’s screenplay seems to be on auto-pilot, and the direction by the talented Michel Gondry is lackluster.
THE GREEN HORNET may be a buddy comedy, but it’s one that could have used a little more sting.
Grade: C
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