THE GREEN HORNET (Michel Gondry)

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We all knew THE GREEN HORNET because of Bruce Lee, but to those of us young enough not to have remembered the TV series, we’ll just have to rely on what the updated version tells us, pretty much what also happened with MIAMI VICE, but Michael Mann’s visceral style of filmmaking gave the Colin Farrell- Jamie Foxx version a unique attitude.

Michel Gondry is a prolific filmmaker. His SCIENCE OF SLEEP, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, and BE KIND REWIND are all thoughtful and creative features, which is why it beats the hell out of me why he took on directorial duties of a film that is all flash and no bang.

Seth Rogen is already typecast for his sarcastic and motormouth characters. Here he just doesn’t know when to shut up, and you could pretty much blame him for that since he co-wrote the screenplay. There’s more foolishness in this movie than action, and the even bigger fiasco happened when they made a fool out of an Academy Award-winning actor. Christoph Waltz should never have been in this movie; his talents are wasted, and any lesser actor could have easily portrayed his poorly- written character.

Jay Chou (I thought at first it was Jon Cho of Harold and Kumar who will portray Kato) is okay; he can kick some serious ass, and he can do some decent comedy, but there really isn’t any clear explanation to the whole Kato character, along with all the weird visuals that keep popping out of the screen, like Kato’s x-ray vision?

Cameron Diaz, sadly is a decoration—another poorly- written character to complete the formula.

If it’s any consolation, I loved the ending of the film. That was the only original idea they came up with, and it was insanely hilarious.

RATING: 2/5




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