“THE GREEN HORNET”
Screenplay Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Based upon “The Green Hornet” created by George W. Trindle and Fran Striker
Directed by Michel Gondry
* 1/2 (one and a half stars)
You know, when you have to get all the way to the end credit graphic designs to finally find something interesting in a movie, then it has undoubtedly been quite the slog of a movie going experience.
This past weekend, I happened to view both Kenneth Branagh’s terrific adaptation of Marvel Comics’ “Thor” and Director Michel Gondry’s hugely disappointing adaptation of “The Green Hornet” within a day of each other and the difference in quality is further confirmation of the extreme difficulty that exists when trying to make films of the superhero genre work successfully. It is a genre that has long received a unfortunately tremendous lack of respect and in many cases, I can understand why. In short, for every towering achievement like “Superman II” (1981) or “The Dark Knight” (2008), we are more than likely to receive poorly written, badly acted, weakly executed, special effects dependant material. Even a filmmaker of Sam Raimi’s talents struggled supremely with all three of his “Spider-Man” films with only “Spider-Man 2” (2004) emerging as the unquestionable grand slam.
In regards to “The Green Hornet,” I have to admit that I was more than a little curious. While my knowledge of this character was decidedly limited in comparisons to other comic book characters, the thought of Seth Rogen interpreting this material was intriguing. I had hoped that he would provide a fresh take within a genre that dangerously runs the risk of overstaying its welcome or becoming clichéd. While I certainly will not question Rogen’s commitment to the material, especially as he had been trying to get this project off the ground for some time, and I do appreciate the artistic risk, it was sadly all for naught as the film turgidly spun its creative wheels.
Rogen stars as 28-year-old spoiled brat Britt Daniels, son of the crusading journalist and Los Angeles newspaper publisher James Daniels (played by Tom Wilkinson). To call the relationship between Father and son “contentious” would be an understatement. James’ uncompromising work ethic and strict belief system has led Britt to feel himself to be a life-long failure, a role he petulantly and publicly plays into at James’ expense. Britt’s conflicted feelings towards his Father are brought into the forefront of his life as never before after a fatal bee sting kills James Daniels. Grief stricken, Britt absently takes over control of his father’s newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, along with veteran Managing Editor Mike Axford (Edward James Olmos). Britt also fires the entire staff of his mansion, save for the maid and Kato (Jay Chou), James’s personal mechanic, technical wizard, martial arts master…and exceptional coffee maker.
Meanwhile, the city’s crime wave is escalating with the increased efforts of Russian gangster Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), whose pursuit and elimination of all criminal competition had been under scrutinous investigation by James Daniels before his untimely passing. Wanting to redeem himself, Britt strikes upon the idea of becoming a masked vigilante, albeit in the duplicitous guise of a dangerous new criminal named The Green Hornet, and convinces Kato to join forces with him. Utilizing The Daily Sentinel to advertise their exploits, Britt and Kato hope to enrage the increasingly paranoid Chudnofsky and eventually bring him to justice. With the unwitting aid of the beautiful new secretary and Criminology expert Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), Britt and Kato conceive and execute their illegal exploits with the hopes of attaining retribution and redemption.
I have to admit that “The Green Hornet”’ starts well as the first 20-25 minutes sets up the story quickly, cleanly and is fused with some well placed and well timed bits of Seth Rogen’s brand of laconic, smart aleck humor. Where the film began to lose me was during the sequence when Britt and Kato engage in their first mission when they arrive upon a young couple who are being harassed by a group of thugs and potential rapists. Aside from the subsequent car chase scene which engages in all sorts of explosions, one of which I wondered fatally injured a responding police officer, thus negating anything heroic Britt and Kato could have achieved, it just set the film, as a whole into a tired, one-note rhythm from which it just never recovered for me.
“The Green Hornet” is an action comedy but the comedy is essentially relegated to one joke: Kato is the brains and brawn of this entire operation and Britt Daniels is a manipulative, egomaniacal jerk who receives all of the notoriety and credit. This joke is not just part of this movie. It is the movie and I’m sorry, unless the dialogue is truly crackling, the characters are supremely written and the action is executed to perfection, that joke only goes so far and Gondry and Rogen beat it to death and then some. Which is just a shame as I was honestly excited to see what a director of Michel Gondry’s skills and talents could bring to the table.
Just take a moment and think back to Gondry’s past work. The painfully romantic head trip of “Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind” (2004); the euphoric documentary chronicle of a community's ability to produce a free outdoor hip-hop concert in “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” (2005); the ambitious art house dream world of “The Science Of Sleep” (2006) and even the subversively moving ode to the life of a neighborhood and joy of moviemaking in “Be Kind Rewind”(2008).
Michel Gondry has a startling talent of somehow injecting his personal style and visual inventiveness into a film while always staying out of the way of the project’s stars and subject matter. I guess that with “The Green Hornet,” he did achieve his usual standard inasmuch as he stayed out of Seth Rogen’s way considerably. Furthermore, this project was not of his conception in the first place so, what could I have expected? That said, the film easily contains the glossiest sheen of all of Gondry’s work thus far, and its slickness seems to go against Gondry’s scruffier and more handmade aesthetics. It’s a shame when you take the unique filmmaking talents of Michel Gondry and have him utilized as an impersonal director for hire and I cannot help but to wonder how much studio involvement there was in streamlining his unusual technique inorder to attain box office success.
Aside from those ponderings I just feel that this film’s “Achilles’ Heel” is Seth Rogen. As he co-wrote the screenplay with his writing partner Evan Goldberg and served as the film’s Executive Producer, “The Green Hornet” is decidedly his baby yet the final result is surprisingly thin. There’s just not much to this movie and at many points, it seemed as if Rogen and Goldberg essentially re-wrote their screenplay for “Pineapple Express” (2008) as basic plot points, action scenes, deaths of villains, an endlessly bombastic climax and even aspects of comedic tone concerning the film’s villains are exactly the same yet with the stoner humor dialed down. Christoph Waltz, for instance, just plays the same villain that Gary Cole played in “Pineapple Express,” sadistically violent but with some oddball comic edginess (Waltz’s character is always concerned that he’s losing his criminal edge due to his name and wardrobe) that never really congeals successfully.
Additionally and conceptually, there is just nothing redeemable about the character of Britt Daniels. He is an idiot, a coward and a blowhard and never elevates from that state. Perhaps this is Rogen’s subversive take on the entire superhero genre. What if the hero possessed absolutely no virtuous qualities? OK. That’s an interesting take. But, parody or not, Britt Daniels is still a boorish oaf and it made the film increasingly insufferable to sit through. Maybe this reaction to this character is a tad less to do with the writing and mostly because Seth Rogen is not much of an actor…yet.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a big fan of Seth Rogen and his work as one of Judd Apatow’s reparatory players has been consistently terrific. Of course, Rogen is essentially playing the same character over and over and finding different shadings of which to play them. His acting is always a variation of a theme and he does it very, very well. And while I am certain he knows he just is not the type to be a conventional action hero, it seems that he really wants to be that action hero regardless (and more power to him). If his idea of having the character of Britt Daniels be subversive or at least a character that is shrewd enough to keep the audience guessing as to his true motivations and beliefs, Rogen just isn’t very strong. He doesn’t yet have the skill that Robert Downey Jr. shows as Tony Stark in the “Iron Man” movies, for instance. Stark’s heroic nature is always something for us to question. Is he noble or are his exploits solely existing to fuel his massive ego? Downey Jr. is masterful and he makes it all look so effortless as well as being more than convincing at being an action hero.
Rogen is not effortless in projecting that suave, ironic, “devil may care” attitude that Downey Jr. Eddie Murphy and Bill Murray are kings at within films that blend comedy, action, drama and special effects. I just found his knowledge at his own lack of skills translated into an on-screen nervousness that just made him talk, talk, talk, talk, talk and talk some more. It was incredible to me to see that Seth Rogen who spent much of the beautiful television series “Freaks and Geeks” rarely speaking and now he is in a film where he NEVER shuts up!
Dear readers, while I just did not like this film at all, it was, at least, a film that tried. It wasn’t lazy and I didn’t feel as if the faceless Hollywood suits stole from me. It was just a project that didn’t work for me one bit.
I do applaud Seth Rogen’s desire to change the face of action comedy films, if only a little bit. But “The Green Hornet” just failed to hit the mark.
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