The Green Hornet.

I have waiting for the bad press over this one to pass so that I can finally evaluated it without the droning on of the haters out there. I am a big fan of the character of the 'Green Hornet' as I was of his pulp contemporaries 'The Shadow' and the 'Phantom'.


I cut both the later character's movies a lot of slack and I hope that the 'Green Hornet' gives me the chance to do the same - to enjoy it for what it is and not what everyone wanted it to be. I just want some neat gadgets, goofy dialogue and some great action scenes.

Can you give me that Josh Rogan?. While it's true that you have bored me in the past with your stoner takes and lazy line reading, I am whiling to let that all go and give you a chance to impress me.


The movie has some great individual parts but the tone in the first half was often totally wrong for the subject matter. Jay Chou has the perfect approach as Kato but Rogan' Brick Reed is to much a goofy and selfish playboy and not enough of a serious crime fighter.

I knew that something would happen to make him into a true hero but it sure felt a long time in coming. He just annoyed me with his uninspired playing around. Blame that on the writing and the acting style of Rogan's which is not very well suiting to this subject matter. He is fighting the story that wants to be told all the way.

Someone explain to me the whole house wrecking fight between Kato and Brick? What plot device did that serve except to show how much wrong the filmmakers were in the way they developed the relationships between the leads. Initially they follow the route of so many cliche buddy pictures. I had seen it all before and it was done better. The fight is over nothing as both men really have nothing to be angry with each other about.


Christoph Waltz does his best in his role as a crazy crime boss whose name no one can properly pronounce. The arrival of the Green Hornet on the scene really annoys him and gets him thinking that maybe he needs a cape and a gimmick too. He is one of best things about this film and his conversations with his rivals and henchmen are very funny.

I am happy to say that the move got much better towards the end when Brick finally becomes the hero that his father was and we get the cool action adventure that we were hoping to see all along. The part inside the newspaper printing room and offices were particularly terrific and original. More cool than I had any right to expect. The 'Black Beauty' really becomes a character and a strong third member of the crime fighting team.


I actually think that I would like to see a sequel now that I finally figured out what they were going for here with the mix of satire and seriousness. Maybe they didn't go as far over the top as they should have and that is what was responsible for the initial weirdness in tone.

The first and second halves of the movie are two entirely different films. If you watch it with that in mind I know you will have a much better viewing experience.

I have to admit that with it's strong third act, I had a big smile on my face after watching 'The Green Hornet'. I just wish I didn't have to wait a hour to fully enjoy it.

6/10