Miscast, irritating, tepid are the unkind words that spring to my mind for one of the main actor in the movie. No, it is not Christoph Waltz, although it fair to say he is regrettably wasted his talent here as the arch villain. We knew what he is capable of, say, a proper direction comes from the meticulous Tarantino. If the opening of Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009) shows Christoph in deadly threat of table talking, then here, the movie opens with the lame introductory of him (as the chief underworld Russian mobster) threatening his victim. Not even an engulfing flame from a blast explosion shows as much intimidation.
No, neither those unkind words is directed at Jay Chou, an established singer/actor superstar in the Far East. He fills the big shoes' role as Green Hornet's sidekick Kato. Following the footsteps of the late legend Bruce Lee who previously donned the same martial art expert character. Although he may at times murmuring his english lines
when (a) he is not at each other's throat with his partner-in-crime, or (b) busy cover his P-I-C's ass during crimefighting. Nevertheless this nerdy looking Jay unknowingly exceeded my expectation. Kato is Green Hornet's late father's trusted mechanic and servant, who become the worthier half of the vigilante costumed duo. The brainy Kato is also an inventor to some very cool gadget, just look at the heavily armed Chrysler Imperial car, the Black Beauty.
when (a) he is not at each other's throat with his partner-in-crime, or (b) busy cover his P-I-C's ass during crimefighting. Nevertheless this nerdy looking Jay unknowingly exceeded my expectation. Kato is Green Hornet's late father's trusted mechanic and servant, who become the worthier half of the vigilante costumed duo. The brainy Kato is also an inventor to some very cool gadget, just look at the heavily armed Chrysler Imperial car, the Black Beauty.
Those stinging words at the beginning of this write up: miscast, irritating, tepid are aim at Seth Rogen, the playboy who inherited the newspaper publishing syndicate from his murdered father, the egotistical loser who bullies Kato, the spoilt brat who is the other "expendable" half of the costumed crimefighters, Throughout the movie until the end, the Green Hornet character has no redeeming features.
Cameron Diaz has aged rather...hmmm... to put in nicely.....indelicately. she looks much older than I thought. Her golden years of hot chick role is inevitably behind her now. Here in the movie they even make fun of her old age. The role she is playing as the love interest will be as fine as it was other newbie actress. By the way, what is Miche
l Gondry doing here? He is clearly having a Fish-Out-of-Water Syndrome. This big budget superhero action vehicle is not exactly the type of the director famed for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Is he in those deal with the movie studio where Michel need to helms The Green Hornet in return of they will fund his next artistic flick (artistic, read: lower audience turnout). Apart from the occasional trademark visual flair, this is all but a bland effort. For Michel Gondry, the Oscar co-winner of Best Original Screenplay, I hope it is not the case of how the mighty have fallen.
l Gondry doing here? He is clearly having a Fish-Out-of-Water Syndrome. This big budget superhero action vehicle is not exactly the type of the director famed for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Is he in those deal with the movie studio where Michel need to helms The Green Hornet in return of they will fund his next artistic flick (artistic, read: lower audience turnout). Apart from the occasional trademark visual flair, this is all but a bland effort. For Michel Gondry, the Oscar co-winner of Best Original Screenplay, I hope it is not the case of how the mighty have fallen.
Well, I have to admit that as part of the contemporary audience, I am a novice for any existing materials of The Green Hornet which dated as far back as half a century ago, but I cannot get over with the notion of such childlike hero, Tell me the original Green Hornet is nothing resemble to it. What is seemingly a money making movie franchise has been washed down the drain when Seth Rogen carried his usual slapstick antic from his previous movies. Even the idea of making the spin-off movie of Kato alone is a better choice! The Green Hornet afficionado should not be too upset by the usage of bullet time technique during Kato kicking goon's ass, because It is understandable that Jay's Kato does not fight with the deftness of Bruce Lee, after all it is the highlight of otherwise an uneventful outing for the costumed crimefighters.Kato's Bullet-time-vision , the retro Black Beauty, weaponary Gas Gun barely save this from being in the same league as Howard the Duck (Huyck, 1986). It got so much potential, it could have been an awesome twosome masked heroes feature, but ultimately paying the price of having a child-like uninteresting actor in the lead role. To sums up my thought for the Green Hornet character, I share what John Mills from Se7en (Fincher, 1995) said: "You're no messiah, you're the movie of the week, a f**cking T-shirt, at best."
1 star = Pathetic, SowYau feel ashamed of watching it
2 stars = Off the mark material, approach with caution
3 stars = Generally good, you should watch it if it's your favourite genre
4 stars = Excellent, strongly recommended
5 stars = A classic status? Only time will tell. But it is definitely in SowYau's Hall of Fame List
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