Movie Review: The Green Hornet (2011)

As expected, this movie was basically "No Social Responsibility Batman"; they took "The Dark Knight", stripped out all the pacing, subtlety, characterization, and plot, and replaced it with Seth Rogan getting kicked in the nuts for an hour and a half. Trying to make sense of how Britt Reid's (Rogan) father made enough money by running a print newspaper to fund the absurdly lavish life he leads? Good luck. Trying to make sense of how Kato (Jay Chou) has not only adrenaline-fueled bullet-time kung-fu, but also the ability to craft damage-immune cars from scraps in a matter of days, without any formal training? Yeah, not happening. The movie makes no attempt to explain the plot or character motivations, and the campiness of the concept is only outweighed by the absurdity of the execution. The two main villains lack the teeth to be a real threat to the titular hero and his supporting cast. By the time the credits roll, The Green BeeHornet had the highest 'kill count' overall, and the antagonists only succeed in thinning their own numbers. In other words, "The Green Hornet" is a manic amalgamation of unsubtle humor, painful characterization, and ridiculous plot elements, strung together with the flimsiest stock superhero structure known.

And that's fine.

There is a place in the world for these kinds of over-the-top absurd superhero parodies. Generally, I consider that place to be my local RedBox or cheap-seats second run theater, but even with all of the cinematic sins this film commits, it's still funny to see Cameron Diaz kick Seth Rogan in the nuts, mainly because he sorely deserves it. Despite the lack of plot pacing, the comic timing ranges from acceptable to actually pretty funny; again, though, for every few good gags, there's one or two that are either overdone or just fall flat. Also, for all the negative things I have to say about the content, the artistic style, from the cars to the costumes to the ending credits, is reasonably well done.

WATCH IF YOU LIKE: Physical humor, Campy heroism, No challenging concepts
SKIP IF YOU DISLIKE: Movies Without Much Plot, Realism, or Drama

FINAL WORD: Rent/Skip. Get it from a RedBox or NetFlix when it comes out on DVD. It's a fun movie, but patently absurd, and I wouldn't argue against you if you skip it.

IMDB's entry on "The Green Hornet".