So last night Trey and I decided (on a whim) to go see the midnight showing of The Green Hornet. And now, before I continue, let it be known that there are immense spoilers in this post! Don't read it if you haven't seen the movie!
MOVIE: The Green Hornet
RELEASE: 01/14/2011
RATINGS:
Rotten Tomatoes: 44/100
IMDB: 6.9/10
Me: 7/10
Alright, so this movie was good, but not great. Unfortunately, I often judge movies in terms of their trailers -- Is the movie better than the trailer? Or was is a bit of a let down?
The Green Hornet? Kind of a let down.
Now, this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the movie, because I did. But it just didn't quite meet up with my expectations. Let's start with the actors:
Seth Rogan - Plays Britt Reid, the son of a very wealthy newspaper owner, who (big surprise here) dies 5 minutes into the movie. While Seth's character is a bit predictable (think of any Seth Rogan movie, and you'll know what to expect from Britt Reid), it's still enjoyable. However, I was a bit annoyed with him for the majority of the movie. You know how in most films the main guy (or girl) has that sudden realization and changes who they are for the better? I swear I thought that was never going to happen. It certainly seemed like he was just going to remain a very spoiled and annoying jerk for the rest of eternity. Luckily, the whole fiasco between his father and the DA led to a quick 5-second redemption (hey, let's put his head back on!), but it was better than nothing, I suppose.
Now, before moving on to the next character, I want to elaborate a bit on what I think of the plot twist between Britt's father and the DA. I was very pleased to have that change in the storyline -- otherwise it seemed like there wasn't really any way for the movie to end, at least not in a way that would leave me walking away and happy about the two hours of my life spent sitting in that theater.
BUT. One thing bothers me: Why was the DA not punished? I mean, I understand that losing his life is kind of a punishment, and that OBVIOUSLY means that he can't be reelected to office (can zombies hold seats in government?), but why not make sure that his name is tarnished? As it were, he instead got a hero's recognition and funeral! Now he's going to be remembered as the amazing DA who brought the crime rate down 6% (lies, all of them!) instead of the horrible DA who attempted to pay off the local newspaper and actually coordinated with crime leaders to make himself look better. Now, I understand that Britt wasn't successful at getting the evidence to convict him (what an idiot), but nonetheless, why not open the idea up to the public? Show them the box of articles that were never published. Show them proof of blackmail between the DA and Britt's father. Even though they may not be able to prove that the crimes actually occurred, there will at least be that hint of suspicion that will move towards dampening the heroic image that has been created of the guy.
Perhaps, by this point (meaning the point where Britt began to understand his father), there wasn't much need to put out the facts -- the DA was dead, and if the information was to be made public, the aftermath would also tarnish the newspaper and those who helped control it in the past couple years. But nonetheless, I would have liked to see even a small hint that the truth would be revealed, even if it was just a quick clip before the credits of them dropping the box of rejected articles off at some media outlet.
Moving on.
Jay Chou - Plays Kato, the mechanic/coffee-maker who worked for Britt's father until his untimely death. Now, even after looking on IMDB, I can say that I've never seen this guy in a movie before. But he's pretty good, and his character is mostly original. But while I enjoyed the brief moments of still-life where Kato analyzed situations and planned things out, I feel like it didn't really fit the movie. It was, to me, very random, and I even turned to Trey to ask if the guy was going to end up being a robot (he didn't). It was a nice effect, but I would have preferred to just see some really epic action scenes.
Luckily we did get to see some awesome martial arts, and Seth Rogan even got in a few good moves without making himself look like an idiot.
Cameron Diaz - Played Lenore Case, Britt's secretary at the newspaper. Her part is small, but cute. And guess what? She's finally in a movie where she doesn't drop to her knees for the first guy she sees! Yay! She doesn't even hook up with either of the main characters at any point in the movie. It was a welcome relief, if I may say so myself (which I may).
Edward James Olmos (OMG IT'S COMMANDER WILLIAM ADAMA!) - Plays Axford, the second-in-command (or whatever that guy would be called) at the newspaper. He essentially takes over after the death of Britt's father. Now, I had one problem with this aspect of the plot line. The first time that Britt had a conversation with Axford I had big idea: Axford is going to figure out what's going on -- he could even become the Lucius Fox of the Green Hornet! Why didn't that happen? Why didn't this man have a bigger part? While the newspaper company had a major part in the movie, it still seemed to be kind of a pushover. Yeah, Britt is in charge, but why doesn't anybody fight him? Because it was his dad? So what? What would he start caring now? I feel like Axford should have had the sense to look into things and figure out why Britt was suddenly so focused on his dad's 'attackers'.
Then again, I'm aware of the fact that this could have made the movie worse. Between that and the I-own-the-city-man, the plot might have gotten a bit too twisted and therefore just bad. But it's still an idea. And if that had happened, it would mean that my initial guesses were right, which is always a cool feeling.
Now, there were definitely a few things about the movie that I did not like (most of which I've already mentioned). But one more was the fight scene between Kato and Britt. I mean, it was cool at first. And then it was still cool. And after a couple minutes passed and it was still going on, it lost its cool. The fighting itself wasn't all that special -- apart from a couple of super awesome and random moves, it was boring and I really just wanted it to end. And there wasn't even any epic action-y music to go along with it. It was pretty silent. And pretty wasteful.
As for the end of the movie, I liked it. They way that they covered up the gunshot wound was cute, and it allowed for the 'Green Hornet' to go on. There were two things that bothered me though. First of all, wouldn't the doctors at the hospital be smart enough to notice that the gunshot wound wasn't recent? That it had happened the night before? But that's not a really big deal I guess. And then there's the fact that as of that day, the Green Hornet was no more. Don't you think that people would be suspicious about the sudden disappearance of their latest villain? I'm not saying that they'd point their fingers at Britt, but still. Someone would have to be like, wtf?
So that's The Green Hornet. Overall, it was a good movie. Nice plot line and characters (though I obviously love to bash them regardless). I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys action comedies.
Oh, and to my lovely boyfriend Trey, who stated that this movie was only based off of an old radio show, go check IMDB. It was a TV series!
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