Culture

'The Green Hornet' Review Roundup

by Jordan Yerman | January 13, 2011 at 03:08 pm

298 views | 1 Recommendation | 1 comment

The Green Hornet Reviews

Those waiting to see Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet are wondering about two main factors: if Seth Rogen can pull off an action-hero role, and if Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou can put a definitive stamp on the role of Kato, which was made famous by Bruce Lee. Those questions are getting answered as Green Hornet reviews appear ahead of the January 14 opening.

Variety's Peter Debruge gives The Green Hornet his seal of approval, saying that the film keeps things funny, fast-moving and self-aware; Debruge says that the film handles its update from its 75-year-old source material with grace as well.

Given a comic spin by star Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg, this 21st-century "Hornet" coasts on sheer fantasy fulfillment as the against-type protag -- more couch potato than caped crusader -- revels in the chance to suit up and act out his childhood superhero fantasies.

Variety: Rogen and Chou are a great team, but Bruce Lee is irreplaceable.

Hollywood Reporter found fault with the script's tendency toward overt self-commentary, which slowed down the action for reviewer Michael Rechstshaffen.

AV Club's Keith Phipps bemoaned the collective skill of writers Rogen and Evan Goldberg and director Gondry, saying that the final product that is The Green Hornet suggests that their skill does not lie in blockbuster-style actioners. As for Kato, Phipps said that Chou's screen presence, while formidable, could not overcome his trouble with English pronunciation. Phipps scores The Green Hornet as a near-miss.

Gondry’s imaginative touches are best felt in a handful of inspired scenes, particularly an early fight sequence, an inventive split-screen interruption, and the handmade quality of the Hornet’s gadgets. Rogen, meanwhile, brings his usual unstable combination of teddy-bear vulnerability and caustic distance.

Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times was far less generous, describing The Green Hornet as "an almost unendurable demonstration of a movie with nothing to be about."

Seth Rogen deserves much of the blame. He co-wrote the screenplay, giving himself way too many words, and then hurls them tirelessly at us at a modified shout.
[...]
Jay Chou is no Bruce Lee, but it's hard to judge him as an actor with Rogen hyperventilating through scene after scene.

Ebert and the other reviewers agree on one thing for sure: Cameron Diaz is wasted in her role as Lenore Case, given nothing to do.