The Green Hornet

Movie Reviews — 13 January 2011

Welcome to the Kato show, brought to you by, ”The Green Hornet.”

It seems lately that a lot of superhero crime fighter capers are being brought to life via the big screen. Well, “The Green Hornet” is one of those, but a different kind of superhero. One that lets his side kick do all the ‘leg’ work. In fact, Kato (Jay Chou) does all the work. He fixes the coffee from a state-of-the-art coffee machine he designed, to all the other gadgets I am about to share with you in this new action/comedy staring a slimmed down Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, and Christoph Waltz.

First off, let me bring all you young-gun hustlers up to date about “The Green Hornet.” Who is he and where did he come from?” The original Green Hornet tv series ran for only one season, from 1966-1967 and stared Van Williams as “The Green Hornet”, Bruce Lee (his first appearance in anything and who doesn’t know Bruce Lee’s famous role in “Enter the Dragon?”) as Kato, and Wendy Wagner as Lenore Case. Now, over 30 years later, Hollywood is reviving the show to the big screen. This one, however, is not as serious as the original. It is goofy, has comic book violence but on the other hand, has the “Black Beauty.” It’s what Kato (Chou) names the car he invented to be indestructible.

After Britt Reed’s father dies suddenly when Britt was younger, he discovers he was actually murdered in a poisonous manner. Britt goes off on the deep end but inherits his fathers newspaper fortune so has time to get with any woman he desires. How can I get rich that way? He then goes on a venting spree and discovers his coffee isn’t the way he prefers. Enter Kato. The new housekeeper, groundskeeper, new bodyguard, new everything.

Welcome to the Kato show folks. Britt (Rogen, from Step Brothers, Knocked Up) goes on a silly rampage pissing off numerous people including the ones who work for him, mainly his secretary Lenora Case (Diaz). He soons convinces Kato to hang with him but they fight like brothers but still have love for one another. Ahh. The thing with Britt though, he wants to go out incognito. He suddenly comes up with this idea after many other rejected ones, to become “The Green Bee. “Why an insect? Never thought you young hustlers would ask. You have to see the film to figure that one out. Sorry I can’t spoil everything for you, just give you a synopsis. But Kato comes up with “The Green Hornet.”

In the original radio and tv series he took the name from his car’s defective horn. In the updated version, it’s different but these days who cares about continuity. Before you know it, Britt is The Green Hornet, dons a shirt, tie and mask like that of the Lone Ranger. Kato too. But Britt is a different kind of superhero. He is a scardy cat/perv and stirs up trouble in order to fix it. He breaks the law in order to uphold it and depends on Kato to come to his emotional rescue. He discovers in the midst of all the ruckus, the killer of his father. Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz from Inglorious Basterds).

Enter The Black Beauty an armored car Kato invented along with many others, that is virtually indestructible and armed with more weapons than you can count. And he puts them to good use. however, when it comes down to it and you can’t run from a fight, just call on Mr. karate weapon himself, Kato. He takes care of business but some of the fight sequences and explosive scenes are far fetched but still pretty cool. There is one scene with Kato punching through a car window and the Black Beauty taking care of a piece of machinery that had them buried deeper than a well diggers ass. But wait, they are hot on the trail of Chudnofsky butt and confront him in a way that you have to see to believe.

Britt’s thing though, is he likes flirting around and hitting on women, especially his “you’re fired, you’re re-hired secretary, Lenore. He always has Kato to bail him out. Director Michel Gondry has way too much of a comedy here and not enough of a serious crime fighter story. It’s goofy and sometimes just stupid, but the younger kids in the screening audience who viewed with me, would love to beg to differ.

“The Green Hornet” opens in theaters and some in 3-D January 14, 2011 and is rated Pg13 and runs for about two hours. Also keep in mind another fear factor here. This film has been sitting on the back burner for over the a year. Maybe so Seth Rogen could drop some pounds and he does look slimmer knowing what he was carrying around before.

2 1/2 stars by Hustlin Bob Higgins