Review: ‘Hornet’ Car a Beauty, Rogen Bugs

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The Green Hornet

Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz

Summary: The Green Hornet has certainly come a long way since the days of radio. What started as a popular radio program in the 1930’s has seen many reinventions over the years from films, comics, and a brief TV series in the 1960’s starring little-known actor Bruce Lee.  For those of you unfamiliar with the story it centers on young Britt Reid, a newspaper mogul by day and vigilante hero by night. Accompanied by his trusty sidekick Kato they battle the forces of evil while masquerading as villains in the criminal underground.

This movie version has Seth Rogen as Reid and relative newcomer Jay Chou as Kato, and is yet another movie that was pointlessly converted to 3D.  Christoph Waltz is always a delightful villain. He plays Chudnofsky as a criminal going through a bit of a mid-life crisis, with a campy madness reminiscent of Nicholson’s Joker in Batman. Chou does a good job as Kato even though he struggles with the language.  Already a superstar in his native Taiwan, I have no doubt he will find success here in the States.

Now it pains me to say this, because I really love the guy, but Seth Rogen is the weakest part of the film. He was loud and obnoxious and not in a way that benefitted the character. Even though he lost 30 pounds and cleaned up a bit I don’t believe that Rogen has the artistic range to play someone like Reid, but since he co-wrote and co-produced the film he made the role his own. For me the true star of the movie was the car Black Beauty.  That car was cool enough to make any Bond vehicle jealous.  Grade: C

Trivia: Jay Chou’s childhood ambition was to become Bruce Lee, which he achieved somewhat by playing the character that Lee played in the TV series.

Rated: PG-13 - For violence, language, sensuality and drug content.
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