English language cinema exists in Germany! Although I said I'd be happy to see it in German, I ended up watching The Green Hornet in English. When the movie was done, I couldn't help thinking I probably would have enjoyed it more of it were in German.
Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the playboy son of newspaper magnate (Tom Wilkinson) who berates him for wasting his life. After his father's sudden death and angry at hearing all the glowing tributes at the funeral when in reality his father was not particularly kind to him, Britt and his mysteriously mega-skilled mechanic Kato decide to decapitate his father's funeral monument. In the midst of this, they beat up a gang who were harassing a couple. Thrilled at the combo of crime-fighting and violence, the pair become vigilante posing as villains, using Britt's paper to fuel publicity. But this has adverse effects by attracting the attention of crime king Chudnofsky (Christopher Waltz).
I hated this movie. Not the deep loathing I reserve for SATC 2 or Paranormal Activity, I hated it for the simple reason that it failed the questions I ask myself when watching movies. As a refresher for people who are too lazy, these questions are
1. What do I expect from this?
2. Am I enjoying myself?
3. Did I get my money's worth?, and finally
4. Is this a good movie? - although it should probably be "Would I recommend this movie to other people?"
I expected to get some mindless entertaining fluff with random fighting thrown in. Well I got the fluff and the fighting but I sure didn't find it entertaining, and at several points I found myself bored and outright hating what I was watching. I place this solely due to Seth Rogen due to his dual roles as both lead actor and writer. I'm sure his character is meant to be viewed as a lovable rogue, your best mate, everyday Joe ...whatever. Britt came across as a stupid shallow asshole who sexually harasses his PA (Cameron Diaz, can't remember character name), realise both his intellectual and physical limitations - and get pissed off when it gets pointed out to him, or even give due credit to Kato, who, let's face it, is the actual one who allows The Green Hornet become reality. It really should have been The Kato Show, a la when Bruce Lee filled the role in the 60s. Instead we get a movie where the most inept character is meant to be the hero when the reality is he's only the hero because he's bankrolling the operation using money he didn't do anything to earn. There's something wrong in the world when this is the case.
In addition, the film can't seem to decide whether it wants to be action or comedy. There are a lot of really incredibly juvenile jokes interspersed with scenes of prolonged extreme violence. And then there are scenes of prolonged violence that are clearly meant to be comedic, for example when Britt and Kato get frustrated with each other and descend into a physical fight. As part of the fight, they kick each other in the nuts. I'm talking about a fight scene that goes for....well it felt like eternity but was probably 5 mintues. And then the villain Chudnovsky decides he wants people to fear him so he carries a double-barrelled revolver and later makes everyone call him Bloodnovsky among other stupid things? Christoph Waltz has an Oscar for playing one of the most chillingly comedic villians out there and they make him do this. *slow clap*.
This movie is a real disappointment from the guy who brought us Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor. I guess I should have insisted we watch it in German cos my friends seemed to love it. Probably the only reason why I'm not giving it a much lower score is that I only paid €5,50 (approx $AUD7.50) to go see it. That's pretty cheap in my mind - much less than what I thought I was going to pay, but still more than I wanted to pay. Having therefore failed 2.25 of my questions, I'm guessing this is a score of:
4/10
Although since my companions loved it, I'm going to estimate their score as being - 7/10. seriously, they all found it entertaining.
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