Post by Eddie Love on Jan 15, 2011 12:12:02 GMT -5
Not content with the slew of movies about smart, underachieving man-children with daddy issues (TRON LEGACY, IRON MAN II) there’s a film that courts the more rarified niche: the moronic, underachieving man-children with daddy issues. THE GREEN HORNET serves that demographic well, all others; settle in for a bumpy ride.
Seth Rogan stars as Britt Reid the spoiled heir to a newspaper publishing empire. When his emotionally abusive father is killed, the perceived mantle of righteous crusader falls to him, and with the help of his front-kick Kato, takes to the streets as the titular crime-fighter.
I thought the first third of this film had a fairly agreeable comic energy, kind of aping the feel of 80s comedies like GHOSTBUSTERS or DRAGNET. The scenes of Reid and Kato bonding had a nice chemistry between the two actors and even the scenes of Britt trying to run his father’s newspaper were kind of cute. The duo’s initial forays as crime-fighters were also fast-moving, and reasonably entertaining. Unfortunately, the film then goes all out with some genuine action set pieces that change the tone entirely. As soon as we realize this isn’t an action film, that it’s, in fact, a shaggy comedy, it becomes an action film, with our heroes killing low-level criminals and endangering police. Also, the eventual need to create tension between our leads generates long, appalling scenes of the two fighting and our wary estimation of the character of Britt nosedives. What could be the comic center of the film, that Kato is the brains and brawn behind the pair, isn’t mined that much and this strange dynamic instead becomes a distraction.
Seth Rogan has a certain rough-hewn comic intensity, but very little real charm. Like the other big comic stars lately (Farrell, Carrell, Black) his whole shctick seems to revolve around his moronic, insensitive obliviousness. (As opposed to – I don’t know – saying witty things to other people in a funny way? I think they used to call these…what’s the word…jokes?) And it’s one thing to go along with his gross, slacker persona when he’s broke in KNOCKED-UP or Z&MMAP, but here’s he’s a rich asshole who bangs hot chicks and treats his one friend like crap, not exactly someone you’re dying to sympathize with.
As writer and star he is set up with with a formidable, but possibly intriguing task of playing a thoroughly anti-heroic comic book hero. But here, as in HANCOCK, the form completely resists this interpretation. Why would we possibly want to watch long, drawn-out explosive action scenes with no one to root for or no genuine heroics? At that point it’s all just bullshit and the last half hour of flying glass and explosions is frankly boring.
As the female lead we get the arrival of the miscast and oddly uncomfortable Cameron Diaz. They briefly posit the notion that Kato may actually be the one to get the girl, then back off it entirely and I never felt for a minute there was any possibility she would hook up with either of these two. It feels like they shoehorned her in for some additional marquee wattage. Christoph Waltz plays the main villain, and I hope the idea isn’t to make him the Alan Rickman for the new century as the go-to heavy, as his performance is a total misfire. I can’t imagine why they gave us a wacky bad guy when our “heroes” themselves are meant to be comically out of their depths. If he’d been at all genuinely frightening, we may have cared for the Hornet and Kato’s safety. Instead, everyone’s an oddball, so there really are no stakes at all.
Full disclosure: I saw this with a packed opening night crowd that stayed with it through the whole thing, laughing all the way, which was kind of infectious. I guess Rogan does have a fan-base keyed into his schtick. Others: beware. I didn't hate this, as I thought there was a funky vibe to the start that quelled my impulse to loathe all parodistic takes on beloved characters. But, by the loud and stupid ending, I was more than ready for it to stop. I doubt I would have made it through a DVD watching.
And enough with the 3-D! If you’re using it for a film with a bold design like AVATAR or TRON, that’s one thing, but for films set in the present day it just neutralizes the pallet of the movie. The only reason they have it here seems to be for the fight scenes that, in addition to looking exactly like when Chuck flashes on CHUCK, made whatever practical fight work being done by Jay Chou look fakey.