Filmus Criticus: The Green Hornet

A potentially great movie that went seriously wrong. The story of the movie, which is (loosely) based on the comic of the same name by George Trendle and Fran Striker, follows the exploits of young bachelor Britt Reid (Rogen) following the bland and emotionally empty, death of his father (as well as the only multi-dimensional character in the movie). In his quest for retribution, Reid decides to become a superhero, pretending to be a criminal, in order to……- ok, enough of that. I’m not going to go through the whole plot, as it is not really worth it, and other sites will provide it for you if you actually care that much. I’m going to give you my critique of the movie (and boy is there stuff to criticise).

The story is bad, seriously, there is no other way to express it. I will preface this by saying that I like the Green Hornet character, the Dynamite re-boot of the story on which this movie seems to draw from, is pretty good and is worth a read if you have the chance. But this movie just doesn’t work; the cast just does not fit with this type of movie. Rogen is still reprising the exact same role he has been doing for the past 5 movies, Chau is impossible to understand so I can’t comment on the dialogue and comes off more as a bratty kid than helpful sidekick/mentor and confidant. I don’t even have time to discuss all the bad things about Waltz’s character Bloodnofsky (not making this up), as I would need something comparable to the works of Balzac to cover all the problems with the character.

Overall, the plot has no fluidity, nor does it offer anything noteworthy that would make it stand out or salvage it from the overwhelming feeling of blandness it conveys. Maybe if they would have used a similar comic book character, like Green Arrow, who actually has some of the personality traits that Rogen was portraying, then it might have worked. But, the laid back attitude of the movie doesn’t  justify the innumerable ADHD moments, where it jumps around from drama, to comedy and hijinks, while occasionally going back to the “love triangle” between Rogen, Chau and Diaz’s characters, which can only be described as a bad sales pitch for There's Something About Mary  2.

[pro] The costumes and gadgets are very well designed; Black Beauty looks awesome; and it may improve sales of the Green Hornet comics.

[con] To many to list, but mainly the convoluted plot; the personality of the characters not fitting the theme of the story; and the constant feeling that I was watching spoof a of Batman Begins or Iron man.