The Green Hornet – movie review

I have been very excited to see The Green Hornet. I love Seth Rogen, and I love superheroes. I loved every second of the movie–was not at all disappointed.

I love how the character of  The Green Hornet even came to be in the movie. Britt and Kato got really drunk and decided to steal the head off of Britt’s dad’s statue, and ended up saving some people by coincidence–but the only thing that got in the news was the stolen head. Britt gets the brilliant idea to be a hero while posing as a villain. It’s much less boring than other superhero origin stories. Something I didn’t like is that it’s way too obvious who’s behind everything earlier than it should be in the movie. There was no shock value, because it’s obvious who the real bad guy is the first time he shows up on screen.

One bit of directing I thought was brilliant in the movie was right when Britt inherited the newspaper, and he goes into his father’s old office as the boss for the first time. On the opposite side of the screen is a statue of Atlas, which I thought was brilliant considering the entire weight of the world seems to be on Britt’s shoulders at this point. The more we see the office throughout the movie, the less we see the statue, which I think matches Britt’s mood well.

My biggest complaint about The Green Hornet is that it isn’t in 3D. I know that there’s a lot of movies out there that are in 3D that don’t need to be, but I think in this case it might have enhanced the movie. Kato’s fight scenes especially had guys floating in air and flying all over the place, and with the various explosions in the movie, 3D might have been awesome.

I have an eye for catching actors I love, and there were two in this movie. The more obvious one is James Franco as Crystal Clear. Of course, it’s James Franco and his name was not on the poster, so things did not go well for his character, but the scene he was in was still funny. The other actor I enjoyed seeing in the movie was Joe O’Connor, who many 90s kids may know as Clarissa’s dad from Clarissa Explains it All. I was happy just to see him.

Seth Rogen was hilarious as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet. It was obvious that he had no clue what he was doing throughout the entire movie, but that only made the crime fighting thing a little more epic. Britt is also spiteful, which played out for laughs on screen. Rogen also had good on screen chemistry with Jay Chou.

Kato was epic, and Jay Chou really brought him to life. He’s a super genius martial artist mechanic and weapons specialist that also makes a great cup of coffee. Kato is pretty cool, but once in a while Britt can piss him off and bring out the worst side of him. Overall, though, he’s just awesome, and I hope to see Chou in many more movies in the future.

Christoph Waltz’s performance as Chudnofsky was delightful. The character is constantly wondering throughout the movie why nobody thinks he’s scary while simultaneously proving that everybody thought wrong. When he does give in to everyone’s preconceived ideas of scary, it turns out that he’s quite dashing in red. Waltz also has great comedic timing, so he’s simultaneously scary and funny.

Overall, The Green Hornet was a really fun movie. It has a great cast, awesome fight scenes and explosions, and it brings the laughs. I already can’t wait to watch it again.