When it came to The Green Hornet, I was more curious than anything else. What would a buddy-cop action superhero comedy written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg and directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) look like? Don’t let its troubled production history fool you – this is actually a really enjoyable movie. I’ve been calling it this year’s The A-Team; the plot makes very little sense at times and the physics are ridiculous, but it’s a lot of fun to watch.

The opening scene is a good representation of the tone we get in the rest of the film. A young Britt Reid has his favorite superhero toy’s head ripped off by his father, an overbearing news magnate played by Tom Wilkinson. While not subtle in the least, the message is clear: this is not going to be your typical superhero movie. Turns out that promise is only partly true; The Green Hornet plays on the conventions of the superhero film that we all recognize but succeeds in separating itself enough from the pack that it stands as its own relatively unique project. Ten years after Bryan Singer’s X-Men and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man helped usher nerd culture to the mainstream, it’s impressive that any superhero movie can feel even remotely fresh.

As to be expected from a script co-written by Rogen and Goldberg, the characters here feel especially self-aware. Nowhere is this more evident in the case of the main villain, a character named Chudnofsky underplayed by Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz (in a role originally played by Nic Cage). Chudnofsky is not your normal Los Angeles gangster: he’s constantly worried about his reputation and how scary he appears to his fellow members of the underworld. He carries around a gun with two barrels (“very difficult to make”) and seems to take criticism of his clothing choices to heart. He’s a likeable villain, someone with enough little character moments to overshadow the lack of originality in his evil plan. (At one point, he wants to change his name to “Bloodnofsky” because he thinks it sounds scarier.)

A high profile cameo in the early minutes of the movie adds to the humor of the villainous portrayals. He comments about the furniture in his lair (“I’ve got sh*tloads of glass everywhere…I have a see-through piano!”) and seems totally aware of both the ridiculousness of his surroundings and the expectations of how a movie villain is supposed to dress and behave. This is easily one of the most entertaining scenes in the film.

The rest of the movie hints at a deeper understanding of the genre and its conventions, but seems to stick just a little too close to the formulaic nature of an origin story instead of truly mining new ground. Long sections of the film that feel as if we’ve seen similar content before are almost enough to make us question the flashes of creativity which with Gondry peppers the movie – almost. If you’re even loosely familiar with Gondry’s filmography (which includes Eternal Sunshine, The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind, etc.), then you’re aware of the man’s distinct visual style. That gets lost through most of The Green Hornet, but the occasions in which those touches make it on screen are pretty spectacular. Kato’s fight sequences turn the character into an almost Terminator-like character (complete with red eyes), with Gondry opting for POV vision that highlights bad guys’ weapons in red but puts martial arts on full display. Perhaps the most “Gondry-esque” scene plays out near the end of the film, in a lengthy exposition scene that would be unbearable if not for his unique approach.

Seth Rogen dropped a lot of weight for this movie, and looks good as a result. He never shows much of a physical presence as the masked hero (or is it anti-hero?) Britt Reid, but he doesn’t have to: he can hide behind the toys designed by his coffee maker/mechanic Kato (played by Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou). A gas gun and the infamous Black Beauty are utilized to their full potential, though some could make the argument that the latter is a bit overused. They seem to form a friendship fairly quickly, but there’s no conceivable reason as to why Kato would want to be friends with Britt in the beginning – he’s kind of a douche who only finds his calling as the Hornet after what essentially is a lucky break during a drunken night out with Kato. In real life, Chou’s language barrier hinders the banter of the characters; it’s clear Rogen, who cut his teeth in improv comedy, wishes he could have someone who could keep up with him in that area, and the film is written as if Chou has those abilities even though he’s clearly lacking.

Regardless, the characters’ friendship progresses and the rest of the movie is spent meandering through ganglands with them as they dispense vigilante justice however they wish. This pisses off Chudnofsky, who is watching the Hornet rack up massive media attention while he gets left in the dust. Since Britt’s father died (under suspicious circumstances – guess if THAT will come back as a plot point), Britt now controls a huge media empire and devotes all the resources of the newspaper to giving coverage to the Green Hornet. Britt and Kato know nothing about journalism or the criminal life they’re trying to infiltrate, so they enlist the help of the unwitting Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz in a forgettable part), a secretary who basically uses her “minor in criminology” to inform the guys’ decisions as the film progresses. Like I said – much of this film makes very little sense.

For me, the most surprising aspect of this movie was how great the 3D looked. This is some of the best post-converted 3D we’ve seen, and this film stands as a beacon that this process can be completed with successful results if done correctly. Much has been made of the rise of 3D, and many of the complaints surround dark picture quality and murky visuals. There’s none of that to be found here, since Gondry and company have somehow cracked the code: the image is crisp, and even scenes set in the dark pop and have nice contrast. And I don’t think I can rave about this enough: the final credits sequence looks phenomenal. Even if you absolutely hate the film, go to sleep and wake up for the end credits because that’s nearly worth the price of admission.

I’m not sure how many people are truly anticipating The Green Hornet, considering it’s based on a character popularized on the radio in the 1930′s and in an almost forgotten TV series playing second fiddle to Adam West’s “Batman.” But if you’re willing to excuse many of the logical flaws and a preposterous climax involving a car riding in an elevator, I think you’ll find a few things to like about this film. Until next time…

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Columbia Pictures has released a new poster for The Green Hornet. In the film Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid whose father mysteriously dies, leaving him his vast media empire. Britt teams up with one of his father’s employees named Kato (Jay Chou), and with the help of Britt’s new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they begin hunting down the man who controls LA’s gritty underworld: Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz).

Check out the dark and mysterious poster out below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KZ8pJkHLi8

The Green Hornet will be released in January 2011 and is directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).

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When the first official trailer for The Green Hornet hit a few weeks ago it surprised a few people as it actually looked pretty watchable. There was talk of a turd following Columbia’s decision to push it back to January and convert it into 3D, add to that it is the first superhero movie to go the comedic route as opposed to being ‘dark and gritty’.

Well today Sony released a new UK trailer for the film, and it contains a bunch of few scenes including more slo-mo action shots and more of Christoph Waltz (although we have yet to hear him speak).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KZ8pJkHLi8

In the film Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid whose father mysteriously dies, leaving him his vast media empire. Britt teams up with one of his father’s employees named Kato (Jay Chou), and with the help of Britt’s new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they begin hunting down the man who controls LA’s gritty underworld: Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz).

The Green Hornet will be released in January 2011 and is directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), although you wouldn’t have thought it.

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The first official trailer for The Green Hornet has been released online. In the film Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid whose father mysteriously dies, leaving him his vast media empire. Britt teams up with one of his father’s employees named Kato (Jay Chou), and with the help of Britt’s new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they begin hunting down the man who controls LA’s gritty underworld: Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz).

It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would. There have been some negative reports that have surfaced following Columbia’s decision to push it back to January and convert it into 3D, but it looks pretty watchable. Although I wouldn’t have thought Michel Gondry is the man behind it.

Watch the trailer below:

Cameron Diaz and Christoph Waltz seem a bit underused but that may be different for the next trailer. After winning an Oscar for Inglourious Basterds Waltz has jumped onto the radar of many movie-goers so they will be wise to show a more of him in the marketing.

What do you think of the trailer?

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After switching directors and actors a couple times, Sony landed on the rather bizarre decision to give Michel Gondry control over the upcoming Green Hornet adaptation. Could it be that this decision has come back to bite them in the ass? Well, according to IESB, Sony is not too happy with Gondry and Seth Rogan’s efforts at a Green Hornet movie.

What we’re hearing is the Sony executives are displeased with the results. The tone is too campy, they’re not happy with the work from director Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen does not look the part. At all. In fact, the feeling at Sony is the movie is a disaster. That sucks to hear because frankly I’m a big fan of both Rogen and Gondry. I was really hoping they’d make something worthwhile.

Whenever a production company is expressing a lack of faith in their film, there is cause for worry. Though one has to wonder how Sony didn’t expect a Green Hornet movie to be campy. Especially after considering Stephen Chow for director.

Despite this bit of off the record disapproval, MovieWeb is reporting that Sony rep Steve Elzer remains optimistic about the project, saying:

“The stuff that has been shown to us is remarkable. We fully support [Gondry] and are confident in the direction he is heading.” The original story, which Elzer called, “complete garbage,” claimed that the studio wasn’t happy with director Michel Gondry’s take on the film, but it was said that the studio has only seen about one-third of the film so far and Elzer added that, “What we have seen is outstanding.”

It’s possible that they never lacked faith to begin with, but it seems equally likely that Elzer was just trying to cover up a bit of bad publicity. Either way, I remain enthusiastic about the project, and am looking forward to seeing the final product on December 22nd.

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The Green Hornet, for those of you not familiar with old radio dramas and serials, is newspaper publisher Brett Reid, who puts on a mask to fight crime as The Green Hornet (reportedly the “angriest” color of hornet) with his masked driver and manservant Kato.

The film adaptation that has been under development for over a year, with Seth Rogen writing the project and getting in shape to play Reid and Michel Gondry attached to direct.

The movie suffered what seemed to be a major loss last week when Stephen Chow, the writer/director/actor behind Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer dropped out of the role of Kato and left a large Asian-shaped hole in the cast.

This lead to rumors that the film had been shut down once again, mired in development hell. Strangely, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard the film was dead. Ever since Sundance of this year, there have been persistent rumors that Sony was shutting down this revival of a franchise whose original audience is too old to enjoy Seth Rogen movies, but on the Funny People junket, Rogen insists that The Green Hornet is getting made:

Mr. Beaks: I keep getting emails from some guy who’s trying to play the role of hollywood insider on GREEN HORNET. He keeps trying to feed me information, and he is consistently wrong.

Seth Rogen: Yeah? (Laughs)

Beaks: He’s always trying to tell me the movie is dead. And I’m like, “I’m pretty sure it’s not!”

Rogen: No, we’re building sets! There’s more people working on the film every day! They traditionally don’t spend millions and millions of dollars on movies that are dead. (Laughs)

If that’s not enough for you, HitFix got Rogen to qucikly hint, then retract, then hint again that The Green Hornet would have a presence at this week’s San Diego Comic Con:

“There may be a little something at Comic-Con,” Rogen acknowledges, haltingly.

Anything in particular? The movie isn’t scheduled for any sort of panel…

“I never know what I can say and what I can’t say,” he says, followed by a nervous laugh and no further answers.

After the press conference, HitFix approached Rogen and asked if, as we’ve heard, Comic-Con throngs may get their first glimpse at the film’s version of Black Beauty, Green Hornet’s famed Chrysler Imperial.

“It may be…” [Long pause.] “It may not be.”

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