I used to watch The Green Hornet reruns when I was just a kid, which is why I wanted to see how the the film adaptation turned out. I have low expectations of it because of Seth Rogen’s involvement in the project and I’m glad that I did.
Green Hornet is a campy movie with a corny story. Well, Seth Rogen wrote the script and I blame him for coming up with a badly made movie. It is a comedy with lots of explosions. There are some things in the movie that worked for me but most of it didn’t.
Green Hornet pays homage to the TV series. It features a Bruce Lee drawing, uses the Flight of the Bumblebee tune, and has an exact replica of the Black Beauty. A lot has been said about the Kato character from the TV series. It was the 60s and being Asian, Bruce Lee served just as a sidekick to the Green Hornet. He didn’t have much dialogue and was relegated in the background. In the movie, Jay Chou as Kato is constantly arguing with Seth Rogen regarding Kato’s role. While nobody can ever surpass Bruce Lee, Jay Chou does a good job doing his best Bruce Lee impression.
Green Hornet in the movie is an asshole and Seth Rogen is a perfect fit for it. But with an idiot as the main character, you can’t really root for him at all. You want him to fail and the movie to end at once. Rogen wanted to make an ass kick ass but he destroyed well-established characters along the way.
Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz): You said I’m boring. My gun has two barrels. That’s not boring.
Had they cast someone else as the Green Hornet, the movie would still fail because Rogen was involved with the screenplay. Cameron Diaz is part of the movie as well but her presence alone can’t save the movie. If you want to watch The Green Hornet, look for copies of the original TV series instead.
