The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet-2011

 The Green Hornet has had an unusual, albeit interesting trip to the big screen. Years ago, Kevin Smith wrote a script, but dropped out for fear of doing a action film that he may not be prepared to direct. Then Stephen Chou, writer/director of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer signed on to direct, but awkward script changes made the writers wary of having him take part. Now, its final iteration seems like the most intriguing of lineups. With Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind directing and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the team behind Superbad, writing, it should be unusual, yet hilarious take on the superhero genre, while also remaining a strong keystone in their creative development. Unfortunately though, the final product comes off as a disappointing film that seems to water down the talented writers and director.

The origins of The Green Lantern border somewhere between Batman Begins and Billy Madison. Britt Reid, played by Rogen, is the son of a successful newspaper publisher, which means that Britt is free to be a rich millionaire playboy with no responsibilities. But once Britt’s father dies, he decides he must make his life mean more than countless parties and a new one-night-stand every night. With his fathers’ assistant Kato (Jay Chou), he decides to fight crime, while using the newspaper business handed down to him to make The Green Hornet and Kato look like the bad guys they are trying to infiltrate. This leads crime leader Chudnofsky, played by Inglourious Basterds’ Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, to make it his personal vendetta to take out this up-and-coming crime group.

Rogen and Goldberg’s dialogue is all but lost here, settling more for a generic superhero origin story that has been seen all too much in the past decade. Rogen and Goldberg’s dialogue usually focuses around the witty banter between the two main protagonists, such as Michael Cera and Jonah Hill in Superbad or Rogen and James Franco in Pineapple Express. But with Rogen and Chou, the script falls flat, with both of them seeming out of their element. Rogen doesn’t seem comfortable in a PG-13 environment where he can’t flow freely and Chou is hardly able to keep up with even the tamed down version of Rogen due to the lack of knowledge of the English language.

            

With Gondry, you always know that he is going to make the film look great and have his distinct DIY directing style that focuses less on special effects and more of what can be handled in-camera. With Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry created a labyrinthian world that mimicked the world of dreams. With Be Kind Rewind and The Science of Sleep, Gondry made his approach look more homemade, which made it all the more charming. Gondry’s style, especially with the use of 3D, seem like they would be a refreshing change for this genre, but most of his style is absent here. With the exception of a few camera tricks and a car chase that screams of Gondry, most of the film looks as cliché as the genre itself.

That’s not to say that The Green Hornet is a terrible film. In fact, The Green Hornet works best as a meta joke; a borderline parody of the superhero films it is trying to create. Instead of a hero with a weaker sidekick, the tables are turned. Waltz’s Chudnofsky plays his villain like a kid who wants to be one of the cool kids. And the origin of The Green Hornet is almost apropos of nothing, with a threadbare reason at all for him to be fighting crime. There is barely any of Rogen and Gondry seeping out of The Green Hornet, but it’s enough to make it enjoyable, especially in these beginning of the year doldrums.

Rating: C+