Dvd
The Green Hornet
The ingeniously creative French director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind) turns his hand to the superhero genre with this big screen adaptation of a 1930s radio serial.
Seth Rogen (who co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg - Superbad, Pineapple Express) stars as debonair newspaper publisher Britt Reid, who fights crime at night as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. With his sidekick, Cato, and his souped-up vehicle, The Black Beauty, Reid faces nefarious villain Chudnofsky (Inglourious Basterd's Christoph Waltz). Cameron Diaz plays the female lead.
Starring Seth Rogen, Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz, Jay Chou, Edward Furlong, Tom Wilkinson
Directed by Michel Gondry ('Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Science of Sleep', 'Be Kind Rewind')
Written by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Thriller, Crime, Action | 1hr 58mins | Rated (M) | Contains Violence & Offensive Language | Origin: USA | Official Site »
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The Talk
12 votes / 2 comments
Flicks review
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3
Dishevelled comic everyman Seth Rogen and French auteur Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) don’t seem like the most natural pairing, least of all for an action blockbuster. Clearly they’re going for something a little different from the standard superhero fare in this action-comedy. So, does it work?
Rogen, who co-wrote the script, clearly had the title role in mind for himself as the character fits him like a glove. Cynics might suggest that he essentially wrote it as a platform for his personal routine but it’s still entertaining, particularly the buddy comedy stanzas with his sidekick, Kato. This aspect is the film’s strongest point, with an atypical superhero/sidekick relationship that is decently fleshed out and funny. Meanwhile, Gondry shows off a new string to his bow. The fight scenes are well done, whether enhanced with visual effects or played for laughs.
Cameron Diaz is both the love interest and the glaring weakness. Her character only seems to be present so that we know the gay banter between the crime fighters is ironic and to advance the plot in jarringly obvious ways, symptomatic of the patchy script. She doesn’t have the acting skills or comic timing to compensate, so there’s a dip in quality whenever she’s on screen.
The Green Hornet is a bit shapeless as a story but relies on the charm of Rogen and a few big set pieces to connect the dots.
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The people's reviews
16 reviews
Press Reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
An almost unendurable demonstration of a movie with nothing to be about.
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Empire (UK)
2
High hopes of magic from the Gondry-Rogen pairing are dashed. Some neat touches aside, this isn't so much eternal sunshine, more superbad.
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Guardian (UK)
2
There's an uneasy sense that Rogen, though aware of the perennial need to preserve and build his brand as a comedy star, would still like to be seen as a leading man of some quirky sort or other.
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Hollywood Reporter
Never achieves sufficient traction to go the blockbuster distance.
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Little White Lies (UK)
It comes as some disappointment – albeit no great surprise – to say that despite a few fanciful flourishes, Gondry has fought the Hollywood law, and the law has won.
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New York Times
Quite a bit less than the sum of its appealing parts.
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Total Film (UK)
3
Though tonally uneven, Hornet nonetheless works as breezy, irreverent entertainment that makes a virtue of its unlikely elements. And there’s the added buzz of James Franco’s cameo.
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Variety (USA)
The film is a blast.
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foureyes
this crap sucks ass, largely due to the untalented seth rogen
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