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Thursday, April 18, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD THE GREEN HORNET (3D)
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: **
In 1966, a man of Chinese descent made his acting debut in a
TV series. The series with this Chinese sidekick lasted just one season, but it
would later help the same man launch his acting career in Hong Kong. The man was
the legendary Bruce Lee and the series The Green Hornet.
There was nothing exceptional about The Green Hornet series - either in its
previous radio avatar or later on TV. Sadly, the film isn`t much of an
improvement either.
Britt Reid (Rogen) is the playboy son of a rich newspaper editor. He hates his
father but finds himself entrusted with his dad`s property after his sudden
death. Hating his father in life, he rejects almost his entire legacy, except
for one - a Chinese origin man called Kato (Chou), who is a genius with as much
penchant for invention as for kicking butt with his martial arts. After a
night`s fooling around leads them to save a couple from being killed by a street
gang, they decided to turn vigilante, for fun.
Despite its genuinely funny moments, The Green Hornet disappoints.
This wouldn`t have been as disappointing had it not been from director Michel
Gondry - the auteur of such masterpieces as Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep and Be Kind
Rewind. His typical penchant for the absurd floating over some simple
emotions as seen in all these three films is missing in The Green
Hornet.
The reason for this clumsy excuse for cinema could be two - perhaps there was
too much producer interference for this Frenchman director to handle or maybe
Gondry knows what to do with scripts that emerge from his own imagination but
does not know what to do with scripts written by others.
The fans of the original series would have enough to cheer about. Like the radio
series that used classical music for themes and to bridge scenes, this has ample
dose of your past-masters. Then there is the tribute to Bruce Lee, with Jay Chou
imitating many trademark Bruce Lee stunts - the massive side kick, lightning
non-stop punches, the one-inch punch etc. Gondry accentuates his stunts with
slow motion and strobe effect.
What is however missing in the film is a sense of direction - an idea or soul,
if you can call that - something that audiences have begun to expect from
vigilante films as a rule, after films like V for Vendetta,
The Dark Knight and Iron Man redefined rules of a
superhero film. A fun, pointless film with cool gadgets will not suffice
anymore.
Even in the genre of funny vigilante films, KickAss (unreleased in
India), have set such high standards of humour and wit, that the strain will
show on any new film, as it does here.
Perhaps Seth Rogen who is also the producer and co-writer of the film, should
stick to that which he indeed is good at - acting, instead of meddling with
story writing.
Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the son of LA’s most prominent and respected media magnate and perfectly happy to maintain a directionless existence on the party scene – until his father (Tom Wilkinson) mysteriously dies, leaving Britt his vast media empire. Striking an unlikely friendship with one of his father’s more industrious and inventive employees, Kato (Jay Chou), they see their chance to do something meaningful for the first time in their lives: fight crime. But in order to do this, they decide to become criminals themselves – protecting the law by breaking it, Britt becomes the vigilante The Green Hornet as he and Kato hit the streets.
