""The Green Hornet"" has just enough talent to keep its mediocre script floating. It might not deliver all the laughs of a typical Seth Rogen project, or all the impressive action sequences of your average superhero flick, but director Michel Gondry's latest project is an ambitious hybrid of the two genres that delivers just enough kung-fu, exploding buildings and drunken superhero banter to make the film worth seeing.
The film's story is an alternative take on the traditional ""crime-fighter"" story. Much like in ""Spiderman,"" the protagonist's father figure dies and the son is inspired to change the world for the better. The alternative approach begins when our hero Britt Reid, played by Rogen, along with is trusty sidekick Kato (Jay Chou), decides that the best way to avoid the typical foils of the traditional hero will be to pose as the ""bad guys"" while at the same time taking down the real villains. The pair are able to control the Green Hornet's story because Reid has inherited his father's newspaper, and by manipulating the media, they are able to maintain their bad boy image while at the same time riling up a group of L.A. thugs led by an insecure Russian mobster played by Christoph Waltz.
The reason the film works is because of the people involved. First off, Gondry has enough visual tricks up his sleep to keep a traditionally paced action film interesting. He uses several interesting editing tricks that keep the film on its toes, the most noticeable example is a scene where he conveys how ""word spreads on the street"" by using a slow building screen splitting montage.
The three main performances in the film also make ""The Green Hornet"" worth watching. Seth Rogen is as big reason the audience can connect to this film. Chou, a pop star from China, has enough charisma and talent to make him a viable partner in the film's main friendship. If the writers did one thing right in this movie it was adding a deep insecurity to their villain. Watching Waltz question his own ""badassness"" is a true highlight of the film. This is Waltz's first performance since his brilliant break out role as Hans Landa in ""Inglorious Basterds,"" and it would have been a shame to waste his talent in a stereotypical villain role.
The film also has some inventive action sequences despite its limiting PG-13 rating. The action in the film is a bit jarring when placed immediately after intimate character moments between Kato and Reid. This genre confusion and lack of direction leads to the main problem with film.
""The Green Hornet"" was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the comedy writing team that brought us ""Superbad"" and ""Pineapple Express."" Both of the previous films have hilarious screenplays and a unique take on male friendship that can support the story. Given their past and the fact that ""Pineapple Express"" somewhat successfully explored the action genre, they seem perfectly equipped to tackle ""The Green Hornet"" adaption. However, something went wrong. The overall story of the film is poorly executed and stops this film from being something more.
This film has been in development for a long time so it's hard to tell if it suffers from having just too many hands touch it or if it truly is Rogen and Goldberg's fault. The film again tackles male friendship but in a much weaker fashion than their previous projects do. It's not hard to imagine that a much better film could have emerged if someone truly immersed in comic book culture, like Kevin Smith, had written the screenplay, or if they'd decided to scrap the Green Hornet altogether and Rogen, Chou, Waltz and Gondry teamed up on something original.
Despite the film's weak writing, everyone has fun with the material and in the end it makes for a film worth seeing. It's not going to make you laugh like previous Rogen-Goldberg projects. It's not going to give you the popcorn action of ""Spiderman"" or the edgy tone of ""The Dark Knight."" However, it is a strong enough effort from the people involved, and if you're a fan of their previous work you're probably going to get your money's worth here.
