THE GREEN HORNET 3.5***






Ever since I heard about "The Green Hornet", I had expected a bad movie. It didn't seem like it would work...boy was I wrong. So I walked in with zero expectations, except I knew I liked Seth Rogen,, and walked out having laughed throughout the movie and having REALLY enjoyed the action and chemistry between Rogen ( the “Green Hornet”) and Jay Chou, who plays his sidekick, Kato, who is really the brains and brawn of the two. In fact, Kato steals the movie and that’s saying a lot when you have Rogen in the movie. Kato’s accent is sometimes hard to understand, but he is surprisingly funny, and Kato-vision (time slows when his heart starts pumping during fights) turned out pretty cool in 3-D.
Throughout the movie, I was surprised by how often there were laugh-out-loud moments, as well as some great one-liners, usually by Rogan. Of course, there is the climactic chase scene and shoot out, with some new and interesting ways in order to make it fresh. You won't be saying "I've seen THAT before" - believe me. But, the truth is,” The Green Hornet” is really a buddy comedy disguised as a superhero movie, something of a “bromance” but with less raunch and more explosions. Even with solid special effects and fairly interesting, if not mind-blowing, action sequences, the film is strongest when focusing on the banter between its two leads.

It's full of action. It's full of thrills. It is over-exaggerated and it's unrealistic as hell. But that's the point! It's a superhero movie people. The action scenes are well done, with great use of slo-mo, and even in 3D, the "Kato-vision" scenes looked awesome. The fight scene in the middle between Kato and Green Hornet that goes on and on was probably one of the funniest scenes, and long though it may be, it just gets funnier and more ridiculous as it goes on.

If you’re willing to suspend belief when it comes to the movies, and just let myself get wrapped up in the spectacle unfolding on the screen, "Green Hornet" is just the movie for you. It is funny, action-packed, well-acted and gadget-filled and one of the better of the superhero movies lately.

The movie isn't perfect, I didn't feel Cameron Diaz added a whole lot to the movie except being great “eye candy” and the tension to create a rift between guys. But if you're looking for a pure escapist fun ride, then look no further than "The Green Hornet."

Clark