Review of The Green Hornet (2011) by Dillinger P — 10 Feb 2014

I always have intrigue for indie film makers who end up on big budget block buster movies, sometimes you get a match made in heaven, other times you get a one sided mess. The Green Hornet stands somewhere in the middle.

For a start, its an enjoyable retelling of the classic TV show in which bruce lee worked on all those years ago, made modern, as you may have expected and made "quirky" which you may have sadly also expected too.

The cast are not to blame here for this films short comings, the talent in this movie is excellent, Seth Rogen does what he can with the material, Waltz is terrific but with so little include in the overall story he struggles to develop a character that will stay with us, Tom Wilkinson and Edward James Olmos also make appearances, both thunderous talents but used so sparingly that it almost feels like a waste.

Jay Chou is the star of the show here though and he rocks it, no one can ever beat Bruce Lee, but Jay has fun with the character and doesnt aggrivate or annoy you, neither is he used as just the sterotypical ass kicking machine, which is a breath of fresh air.

Cameron Diaz on the other hand is just there... not much else to say about her really. The film looks great, with some stunning visuals and some fun camera work at play, of course were watching Michael Ghondry at work here, but it just falls a bit flat.

One minute the film is stearing you in the direction of fun and quirky bromance, before it leaps into action/comedy then flips into espionage it just falls apart after that. Everything is tied up perfectly, like a happy family scenario.

Its alright but I honestly expected more. There are nice ideas at work, but their pinned down all the time by just stupid or irrelevant commonplaces. For example after the duos first hilarious outing where they develop their plan to become a vigilante duo, we then get the rest of the experiences through montage or half arsed segments.

The only time we invest in them is when they are not under the masks and thats not good for a vigilante/superhero movie. Its worth your time but dont expect the work you would usually from the talent behind this.