The Green Hornet in 3D- Review

Seth Rogan (Superbad, Knocked up) is Britt Reid, son of a millionaire, party animal extraordinaire. After the loss of his father to an allergic reaction, Britt inherits his fathers millions, and his media tycoon. After a night fighting crime with employee "Kato", played by Jay Chao, the pair agree that becoming masked vigilantes is the way forward. The pair look to take down, what is essentially, the Los Angeles mafia, and regain order and integrity to the LA that Reids' father once knew, whilst battling personal issues on the way. With a twist, however. To stop innocent civilians getting hurt, or killed, the pair act as criminals. Hence the tagline "Breaking the law to protect it".

If you were to imagine modern day superhero films on a line, with Kick-Ass on the "all out comedy" side, and The Dark Knight on the "deadly serious, hell this may as well be real life" side, with Spider-Man in the middle, The Green Hornet leans towards the Kick-Ass side. It's cliched, it's predictable. But at the same time, it's very funny. The characters, to an extent, are well written, and every superhero film convention used to great effect, and this adds to the comedy played out on screen.

Seth Rogan does a decent job of playing the selfish millionaire (clearly taking some inspiration from a certain Robert Downey Jr). Everything that he said is very casual. At times it feels too casual. Certain action scenes that could potentially be really tense are tainted by Rogans want to get another laugh. More than likely this is down to the reuniting of him and his writing partner from Superbad; Evan Goldberg. The script isn't as good as Superbad, of course it isn't, but they get across that they want it to be fun. They want the audience to enjoy themselves.

The role of Kato is almost show stealing. Chao did a good job of portraying an uptight, anxious, stressed side kick looking for more than being know as "The Green Hornet's sidekick". Stand out, for me at least, was the role of "Chudnofsky", played by Christoph Waltz. Waltz brilliantly played a gangster afraid of being left in the dark. Always making sure his associates are scared of him, always looking for a way to get his name said again, I was very impressed by the overall performance.

As mentioned earlier, the film was written by the pair that wrote Superbad. I suppose it isn't bad. The story is quite engaging, to be fair. But it relies too heavily on the character interation to drive it forward. Cameron Diaz plays a part in the overall film, however her character is almost non-existent. Her character is written boring, and as a result, she is boring. You feel that more time had been put into the inventions for the black beauty, and the jokes for Rogan to be a part of, rather than the overall character development.

The Green Hornet is not the film you go to see when you're looking to be impressed. The 3D is tacked on, and, until the credits, it's hardly noticeable. It's not a film to win any awards, either. It's stupid, it's silly, it's violent. But it's exactly those thing that make it funny, and somewhat charming. Some of the action sequences are genuinely brilliant, and you'll laugh at least once. At the very least, it's the closest to a summer blockbuster you'll find at the start of the year.