The Green Hornet

To be clear, I didn't have high expectations for this film.  And it's a good thing that I didn't.

This film is about the heir of an empire named Britt Reid (Seth Green) who inherits his father's business when he dies from a mysterious allergic reaction to a bee sting.  Reid meets his father's assistant Kato (Jay Chou) and together they fight crime under the mask of criminals.    

The problem that really stood out to me in this movie was the speed of the film, where the move from event to event was completely rushed instead of gradual.  This bothered me to no extent. That is exactly how you do a disservice to all the fans of the comic.  This movie must have been under serious time restraints, because how else could you explain the rush?  Everything happened so conveniently; Kato so willing to agree to Reid's ridiculous plans, Kato being an engineer that has nothing better to do than create crime fighting weapons and machines and designs for heroes, both of them being amazing fighters out of nowhere.  It was all so convenient and unrealistic.

The writing was complete crap.  I'm sorry to be so harsh, but it was.  You could tell that Rogen was relying completely on his facial expressions and his exaggeration in the line delivery, which just ended up over compensating for the crappy lines.  I found that Rogen's character was an arrogant prick, which I understand is the point, but is it not also the point to have some sort of redeeming quality?  I found none in Rogen's interpretation.  I actually preferred Chou's way of playing Kato then Rogen's way of playing Reid.

Cameron Diaz did nothing for me in her acting, in her character, or in being any sort of addition to the film.

If I were to summarize this film in one word it would be amateur.  When a film has to reference Twilight you know something's wrong.  I rolled my eyes so fast, as a knee jerk reaction.  We have come into a new age for comic books turned movies.  The stories are taken more seriously, more dramatically, and much more hardcore.  This film only brought it back 20 years.  Get with the times people!

The only scene I actually enjoyed was the very beginning with James Franco as one of the bad guys.  He is hilarious as always and it brought me back to Pineapple Express with both Franco and Rogen.  It also reminded me that it was Franco who made that movie what it was and how weak Rogen is as a single entity.

I give this film 5.8/10 for simply trying to turn a comic that's never been done before into movie form - but basically failing.