Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Green Hornet



I had heard plenty of bad reviews about this movie over the past several months, so when the hubs and I finally decided to rent the DVD, I had pretty low expectations. Boy, was I disappointed....or should I say pleased???

This movie was not the huge BOMB I'd been led to believe. Sure, there were a couple scenes that could have been shortened a bit...OK, a good bit...but all-in-all, it was actually a pretty fun flick. I have to say I'm tired of all the 3D stuff (seems everything is coming out in 3D now), and since I watched it on DVD, that was all lost anyway. But the movie itself was pretty good.

Now, I'm not going to say Seth Rogen will ever win an Oscar or anything, but who cares. He had a lot of fun with this movie, and I think that's why so many were disappointed in it. With all the big comic book movies out there now, people went in expecting the usual: lots of special effects, huge story line, BIG heroes, etc. This wasn't like that. This movie took the comic book hero genre into another direction. It made it a bit less serious, a bit more fun.

Seth Rogen did a good job as the partying Britt Reid who, after the death of his father and a whole bunch of other stuff, becomes The Green Hornet. Of course, he could not have done that without Kato (played by Jay Chou), a character who is really the main fighter/hero-type in this movie. With his fighting ability and brains (the man built an espresso machine from scratch, not to mention the car, the weapons, etc), the duo becomes...well...dynamic.

I even liked Cameron Diaz's character Lenore Case. She didn't end up with either of the main characters, even though they both had a "thing" for her, and I like that. I'm so tired of the typical formula of the strong woman who falls for someone and gets all mushy and stuff. Case is a strong intelligent woman who helps the guys out without throwing herself at either of them. Way to go!

I really wish this movie would spawn a sequel, but I have a feeling it won't. It wasn't a huge hit after all, and most reviews were bad. But, I would watch it again myself, and probably will. And if you like a bit of comedy with your action, I'd highly recommend it. (FYI: the scenes when they bring out the knock out gun for the first time....TOTAL HILARITY.)