The Green Hornet (12A)
Will it cause a buzz?
AN emerald glow flits across Hollywood in 2011 with not one but two ‘green’ heroes out to save the day.
I don’t mean pumped-up eco warriors using their amazing powers of body odour and lank hair to force unscrupulous oil barons to stop drilling.
Nope, it is much more simple than that – we have two superheroes called ‘The Green’ something.
First up is The Green Hornet while later in the year the Green Lantern makes an appearance.
The Green Hornet stars Seth Rogen as playboy turned vigilante Britt Reid and Jay Chou as his assistant Kato.
Britt is the party loving son of media magnate Dan Reid who takes over the empire when his father dies from an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. Before long, he forges a close relationship with worker Kato and, on a drunken night, they stumble across a young couple being mugged.
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The duo spring into action and realise being vigilantes could be the answer to their unfulfilled lives.
Taking on the guise of the Green Hornet and his mysterious sidekick, the pair pretend to be criminals, when, in fact, they are cleaning the city up. However, they may have bitten off more than they can chew when they meet the current crime boss Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz) and try to get rid of him.
Directed by Michel Gondry, the Frenchman behind Be Kind Rewind, The Green Hornet is an action-comedy with plenty of kung-fu kicks and big guns.
The action is well done with Chou the main man. He punches, chops and drop-kicks his way through a plethora of bad guys.
At the same time, he is inventing huge weapons that explode things or send people to sleep.
Rogen, as always, provides the comedy with his hapless attempts to mimic his more dangerous friend.
Both are good in their roles but in truth, Rogen’s schtick is getting a bit tired.
There are only so many times you can hear a gravel-voiced curly-haired goon say something is awesome and believe it.
As for the rest, Waltz is engaging as the image conscious crime lord, while Cameron Diaz pops up as love interest.
A fairly decent film that, like Starsky and Hutch, appears uncertain whether it wants to provide laughs or explosions.
