Last weekend, I saw "The Green Hornet" in 3-D. I was fairly excited(Although, Gamespot forums and Rotten Tomatoes defrauded much of it) I expected great-action scenes, very-good acting(By Seth Rogan, Jay Chou and Christoph Waltz) all-while being entertained. The latter failed-to-meet my expectations.
The Plot: "Playboy Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) becomes the new publisher of Los Angeles' "The Daily Sentinel" after the sudden death of his father. Britt's party life is about to change when he and his driver and kung fu expert, Kato (Jay Chou), stop a robbery. With the help of Kato, Britt starts a new career of fighting crime as the masked superhero "The Green Hornet".
Sounds like we got a good-plot, huh ? Wrong! This is were "The Green Hornet" fails, pretty-hard(Maybe because Seth Rogan helped write the script?) A lot of the time, we are forced to watch Britt insult, harrass, and act stupid - JUST to make-us laugh, which worked 50% of the time(Excluding me). The "action-scenes" are quite refreashing(Not-including the action-scenes at the end) Whenever Kato's heart starts pumping(We get the first-person view), he highlights the weapons, items and objects red, and there the action takes place.
The Acting: I'll be forming my opinion on the four-main characters, only. Britt Reid(played by Seth Rogan) is not a likeable character, at all ! I don't know if it has to do with Seth Rogan's portrayal of him or if he was like that in the first-place. He doesn't bring-much to-the-table. If he is not doing the stuff I mentioned earlier. He is - I don't know, asleep ? My opinon on his performance might seem vague, but it's probably because you'd have to have seen the film to understand. Kato(played by Jay Chou) on-the-other-hand, not only brings-forth an actually likeable character, but he's one of the few-things that actually make the movie work. Lenore Case(played by Cameron Diaz) is soley there to provide nothing-more than a "Love Interest". Her performance is not all-that bad, though. Chudnofsky(played by Christoph Waltz) is the best-actor in the entire film. He brings-forth a stern-villian that wants nothing-more than to be responsible for ALL the crimes. His professional look doesn't seem to "scare" anyone in the film, though.( They need someone wearing a mask or some-type of costume to do so - Go figure)
The Comedy Factor: It's not there - Unless you find Britt acting and talking stupid funny. Along with people not being able to pronounce "Chudnofsky" the right-way humerous.
The Pros: 3-D brings a lot more realism to the film. I felt, at times, that the people on-screen were actually RIGHT in-front of me. It's that good ! The action-scenes only help make 3-D worthwhile. The performances by Christoph Waltz and Jay Chou are the only mentionable ones.
The Cons: The dialogue is not well-done. It's consistently crude and profane trying to provide "Cheap Thrills" and laughs. Which it gets tiresome. Seth Rogans acting along with some pretty-pointless scenes doesn't sum-up well.(Besides the action-scenes - Watching the film in 3-D is kinda pointless, unless you like seeing flowers up-close-and-personal.)
Overview: I wanted to like this film, but by the time there was only -15 minutes left, I lost all-interest. I enjoyed the 3-D experience and the action-scenes. Watching the story unfold was somewhat interesting and I liked Jay Chou and Christoph Walt's performance. But the film couldn't reach my expectations. Simply because of the lazy, childish, profane script ruined just-about everything it had going for it.
My Score: 5/10