I have vague recollections of the TV version of The Green Hornet with Bruce Lee and that other guy (whatever happened to him?) but I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say it has very little in common with the big-screen adaptation with Seth Rogen and Jay Chou. Sure there are the same costumes and souped-up vehicles, but that’s the extent of it. This movie is has more in common with Pineapple Express.
Rogen plays the titular character, aka Britt Reid, who inherits his father’s newspaper after the old man unexpectedly dies. He befriends his father’s old mechanic Kato (Chou), and discovers all the neat tricks Kato can do, like add bazookas to cars and build guns with knockout gas. Why Reid's father wanted an arsenal is never explained, but no matter. One night, Reid gets the idea to go out and fight crime. Of course it’s Kato that ends up doing the brunt of the crime-fighting, with Reid basically getting in the way.
The two eventually catch the ire of L.A.’s only crime boss, Chudnofsky, and the familiar action clichés commence.
It’s funny to see Rogen play variations of the same slacker character he launched in 40-Year-Old Virgin. Although the only difference I noticed here was his massive weight loss and lack of explicit curse words. And while Chou may be a good action sidekick, he sucks as a comedic one, largely because the script relies so much on funny dialog rather than physical humour. Pineapple Express might not have been Rogen’s best work, but at least he and James Franco had good chemistry together.
(Speaking of Franco, I’m not ruining too much by saying he has a pretty funny cameo in the beginning. I hope that ends up on youtube soon).
Still, this isn’t a bad movie as far as action goes, and Michel Gondry manages to be a surprisingly good choice as director. Some of those stop-action moves were badass, and the 3D doesn’t detract from any of the fight scenes either.
