"The Green Hornet" Review

This is a good year to be a comic book movie fan.  With today's subject kicking it off, and many others coming such as "X-Men First Class," "Captain America," and "Green Lantern," I can expect to be going to the movies much more often than in previous years.

Now, as for "The Green Hornet," this movie definitely takes not-so-subtle cues from the "Iron Man" movies in terms of its setup.  We have a trust-fund jackass who takes over his father's business, and becomes a tech-based superhero in his quest to actually make something of his life.  Gee, where have we seen that before?

The only difference here is that Tony Stark was actually competent, but Britt Reid, the hero this time around, has no clue of even how his dad's business works.  Take that perfect combination of ineptitude in all things and extreme arrogance and you have the perfect role for star Seth Rogen.  Personally, I am indifferent towards Seth Rogen.  I don't find him particularly funny in any movies he's been in, but his presence isn't necessarily a deal-breaker.  He's not Peter Jackson, and he's not Michael Bay; he's just J.J. Abrams.

There's a clever dynamic going on between Reid and Kato, played in the old TV series by Bruce Lee and this time by Jay Chou.  It really deconstructs the hero-sidekick relationship, and I'll just say things aren't alway rosy between the two.  It's kind of like the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Watson in the most recent film adaptation, where the sidekick is less flawed than the hero, and acts as a neutral agent to guide the hero's character arc.  Bringing it up again, we also saw this dynamic played out between Rhodie and Tony Stark in "Iron Man 2."

Cameron Diaz does fine as the leading lady, but special props go to "Inglorious Basterds" star Christoph Waltz as the villain, Chudnofsky (aka. Bloodnofsky).  He perfectly plays off an antagonist who is more insecure than threatening, and tries to reverse this throughout the entire movie.  There are even opportunities for him to bring in some of the off-beat dark comedy displayed in "Basterds."

Deconstruction is the theme of the movie.  There is the deconstruction of the hero-sidekick dynamic, but there is also the deconstruction of the father vs. son, myth vs. reality dynamics going on with the elder Reid, the dynamic between the hero and the leading lady (which, refreshingly, leads to nothing in the movie), and the traditional role of the villain.  There is a self-awareness present here that we've previously seen in some of the joyously entertaining comic book movies of last year.

Overall, though, the spark of those ridiculously entertaining films is not present here.  I did not leave the theater with scenes from the movie abuzz in my head, or with any desire to talk about the memorable moments.  It just did not have the kind of offbeat energy that "Kick-Ass" or "Scott Pilgrim" had.  It seems that the trailblazers of the uber-entertaining, self-aware comic book movie have already rolled through, and "The Green Hornet" is the first piece of bland studio junk to follow the path.