Seth Rogen and Jay Chou star in this hilarious super hero movie to kick off the year. I’ve never really seen the original The Green Hornet series (besides clips about Bruce Lee kicking ass) so I’m not exactly sure if it’s supposed to be a serious show, but The Green Hornet just takes an action-loaded movie and throws in Seth Rogen’s brand of humor to spice things up (it was co-written by him after all).
The Green Hornet tells the story of Britt Reid (Rogen), son of a recently deceased millionaire who is suddenly in control of a huge newspaper empire. Wanting to do something meaningful with his life, he decides to start a life of crime-fighting, with his deceased father’s servant, Kato (Chou). The storyline isn’t anything to shout about (don’t expect any twists or surprises), but the jokes and gags in between keep the whole show entertaining throughout.
Seth Rogen is his usual self. Britt Reid/Green Hornet seems to be a combination of all his past characters, except now he’s rich and has access to cool gadgets. Jay Chou does alright in this movie and as usual he’s mumbling more than he’s speaking but he does play a pretty convincing Kato. He’s probably not going to reach the legendary status of Bruce Lee, but he’s not terrible at what he does either. Who knows, we might see him in more Hollywood productions after this stint. Christoph Waltz as Chudnofsky is a believable bad guy and does a good job of killing his own men.
It’s nice seeing Seth Rogen acting with cast who aren’t members of the “Apatow crew” – it’s not his usual role to be a super hero, so it’s pretty refreshing. The chemistry between Rogen and Chou reminds me of the Jacky Chan/Chris Tucker from Rush Hour, and that isn’t a bad thing. This movie won’t be winning any awards, but it is pretty good way to kick start the year. Green Hornet gets 7/10.