The Green Hornet (2011)

Title: The Green Hornet (2011)

Director: Michel Gondry

Cast: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz

So Gondry doing a commercial film, that’s what really called my attention towards this film. It wasn’t Seth Rogen or even The Green Hornet character because I was never that much into the character. I’d read a comic book or two, but basically all I knew about The Green Hornet was that Bruce Lee had been in the 1966 television show, that’s it. It was only later that I found out it had been a radio show in the 30’s. But Michel Gondry directing a commercial film? That was the real grabber for me because Gondry has never done what we would call a commercial film. Most of his films are always artsy films like Human Nature (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), The Science of Sleep (2006), and Be Kind Rewind (2008) all awesome movies on their own right, but big summer blockbusters they were not. So how did Gondry’s trip down Hollywood lane turn out?

Thats Gondry to the left. The Green Hornet and Kato from the 1966 television show on the right

I’d say it went pretty damn good. I mean, I was really curious about this film because it had many strange things going for it. Gondry directing a big budget flick like this one was a first, but that was something I was definitely willing to give a try. What caught me off guard was Seth Rogen playing the hero. In previous attempts at bringing The Green Hornet to cinematic life, actors like Mark Wahlberg, Vince Vaugh, George Clooney and Jake Gyllenhaal were considered for the role. Hell, even Eddie Murphy tried to play Britt at one point. Eventually, years and years passed and Rogen took an interest in the film and decided to write it and produce it himself. He also put himself in the lead role as the films hero. To me, that also went against type because what Hollywood normally does in superhero films is place a buffed up dude in the role of the hero, and Rogen is everything but that. Reportedly, Rogen lost 30 pounds to be on this movie, but he still didn’t come off as a muscle bound superhero. I don’t care about that though, I think he did just fine the way he is. Who says all heroes have to be muscle bound? And finally, another strange thing about the film was its tone, apparently according to the trailers; this was going to be a comedy. So The Green Hornet was definitely shaping up to be a film that was playing with our expectations of a comic book film. But what the hell, it looked like a fun time at the movies so I gave it a shot.

I’m glad I did. I mean, it delivered exactly what I was expecting: a fun lighthearted superhero film. Rogen plays Britt Reid. A millionaire, son to the head honcho of the local newspaper, ‘The Daily Sentinel’. When his father dies, suddenly Britt is faced with the responsibility of running the local newspaper. Problem is that Britt isn’t a very responsible person. He likes to party like its 1999, all the time! He doesn’t give a damn about the newspaper or how it is run. But that all changes one night when he and his trusty driver Kato manage to stop a robbery. It is then that he realizes that he has the power and the means with which to fight crime, so suddenly he has a change of heart and decides to do something worthwhile with his life. He will fight crime with his side kick Kato as the masked avenger known as The Green Hornet!

There’s a lot of good things I can say about this movie, number one, having Gondry as the director is major asset. Gondry was supposed to direct this film as his first feature film way back in 1997, when this film was first attempted. So in a way, Gondry had always been involved with this picture. The cool thing about Gondry is that he has always been known for using lots of visual gags on his films, and on this one he goes all out with this. Whenever The Green Hornet and Kato go out to kick some ass, there’s some sort of visual effect to keep things interesting, especially in the fight sequences. His visual trickery makes the film that much cooler to watch. In the film, Kato serves as the gadget maker for Britt. I mean, essentially, Kato is this genius inventor who can make anything! He turns Britt’s car into a mean crime fighting machine, equipped with machine guns and everything. He makes all the gadgets and the cars, plus he is a Kung Fu expert! And he can make a mean cup of coffee! So all of Kato’s gadgets (brought to life by Gondry’s visual trickery) make the film fun to watch. It was interesting seeing Gondry taking full advantage of CGI and 3-D as well. Speaking of the 3-D, I gots no complaints about that either.

The film’s themes are against political corruption, it deals with a politician who wants to use the local newspaper to boost his image in the publics’ eye by printing bullshit stories that make him look good. In this way increasing his chances of becoming President of the United States. The film has a very subversive nature to it because it addresses the power that the media has to manipulate how the masses perceive the world. I liked that about it. They really go into how a newspaper headline can change peoples perceptions of things. Put this or that in the headline and poof! that’s how people will see things. The Green Hornet is perceived as a villain, a vigilante out to take justice into his own hands. So the film also addresses how the media will often times portray the bad guys as the good guys, and the heroes as the villains, all to fit the political scheme of things. A bold statement for what is essentially a very lighthearted film.

And trust me, the film is lighthearted. It never gets too violent or graphic or anything. It keeps a fun vibe all through out. The dialog had me cracking up all the time. There is something about the characters, they come off as extremely likable. Rogen plays his character the way many of Gondry’s characters are portrayed in his films, like grown men with 12 year old sensibilities. Think about it, Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine and Gael Garcia Bernal in The Science of Sleep where grown men acting like children. Same thing happens here. Rogen sounds like a little kid most of the time. I’ve always liked that about Gondry’s films, his characters never loose that sense of child like amazement and wonderment. Kato comes off as a father figure to Britt, the big kid with the expensive toys. And speaking of Kato, he totally dominates this movie and often times comes off as more of a hero then Britt does. So this is the kind of movie where the hero isn’t all that perfect and awesome, he is flawed. Most of the time he ends up getting his ass saved by Kato, his sidekick. Kind of like how you felt that Kick-Ass (2010) was more about Hit Girl then Kick-Ass himself, that’s how this movie plays out.

But considering how much money The Green Hornet is making, we might get to see the character grow into a full blown hero in future films. I’m thinking the purposely made him out to be a goof ball, because like Kick-Ass, he is just learning how to become a hero. The Green Hornet aint gonna change your life or nothing, but it will entertain ya pretty well for an hour and a half!

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Title: Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Comments:

Every Tarantino movie is a special treat for me. His films dont come out every year, he takes his damn good time to start working on a new project, but more often then not, that 'in between film time' is well worth the wait. Tarantino films are films for people who really enjoy a good movie. He really takes that extra time and effort to set up a sequence, to write the pitch perfect dialog, to escalate the suspense in a sequence to brilliant heights. Inglorious Basterds was a project which he had been wanting to do for some time now, and its finally come to fruition. Its based on an Italian film made in 1978 dealing with similar subject matter (Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato a.k.a. Deadly Mission) but ultimately, Tarantino's film is a whole other thing. So whats the veredict for his latest nazi hating opus?

Story concerns a group of dudes known as "The Basterds" who go around doing nothing more then killing Nazi soldiers. This is one part of the story, where we follow these guys capturing, questioning, torturing and finally killing nazis all around France. But theres another story in which we follow a woman whos whole family was killed by Nazi scumbags. She escapes, tries to live a normal life...until the moment for her pitch perfect revenge practically falls on her lap. Both stories collide in the third act of the film to offer us one glorious revenge filled moment of triumph!

So basically, it appears as if Tarantino had to blow off his hatred for Nazi's. It happens to directors every now and again, hell, it happens to anybody every time they read the history books. Cant say I blame 'em. Hitler and his pack of dogs were some of the slimiest group of people to ever walk the face of the planet. Who the hell were they to say they were the best, and the only ones deserving to walk on this planet? I say, to hell with those Nazi bastards, and lets all make sure nothing like that ever happens again in history! Ever! Steven Spielberg released his hatred for the Nazi party when he made Schindlers List back in 1993, hell, the Nazi's were the villains in two of the four Indiana Jones films. Many more films have shown their hatred towards the Nazi's: The Pianist, Life is Beautiful, Sophies Choice, to name but a few. So now its Tarantino's turn to spew some intense hatred towards them.

Most films dealing with history try to be as historically accurate as possible. They gotta stick to the way things happened. Heres were Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds takes a bit of a turn from your usual Nazi film. Basically what Tarantino did was he developed this story around people who are suffering over the Nazi's occupation of France. But he takes the story his own way and shows us how he would have wanted to get Hitler and his closest buddies all in the same room at the same time to wipe them off the face of the earth. Im not going to go into details as to how he does this, but its one of the coolest revenge stories Ive seen. The last moments of this film are truly awesome, makes you wish it had really happened that way. But it didnt, so dont expect this movie to stick to history and the way things happened cause thats not what your going to see. This is a "what if" sort of story.

This movie is 100% a Tarantino film. How do we know this? Well, for starters, its a revenge story. We all know how much Tarantino loves those! One of its main characters is a woman, which goes right in line with most of Tarantino's films, which most of the time end up giving women the power to overcome their troubles on their own. See both Kill Bill films, Jackie Brown and Deathproof for examples of this. The film is divided into chapters, which is a very common Tarantino landmark. We have a scene where everybody in the room just whips out their gun and shoots the hell out of each other, which is something we've seen in many a Tarantino film, even as far back as his True Romance days. So be ready for a film thats purely and undoubtedly a Quentin Tarantino film.

Another thing that distinguishes a Tarantino film from all others is the excellent choice in actors. Many might view Brad Pitt as nothing more then a pretty face, but I beg to differ. Ive always thought he was one of the finest actors from his generation. Sure, he's just as guilty as the next hollywood actor for making crap (Mr. and Mrs. Smith for example) but you need only to look through his resume to see some excellent performances. My favorite of the bunch is Early Grayce in Dominic Sena's Kalifornia. Where Pitt plays this hill billy white thrash whacko with some serious psychological issues. Highly recommend you check that movie out if you doubt Pitts acting skills. Other films Id recommend as examples of Pitts excellent acting skills are 12 Monkeys, Seven, and now I'll add Inglorious Basterds to his list of excellent performances. Here he plays Lieutenant Aldo Raine, a guy who wants nothing more then to kill Nazi Basterds and collect their scalps! He plays that country boy accent from Tenesse very well! His character is the one responsible for some of the more comedic moments in the film.

What actor doesnt want to jump at the opportunity to be in a Tarantino movie? We get an excellent cast here of great actors that you've probably never seen or heard of before, but probably will see and hear a lot of from now on because they were in this film. Example: Christoph Waltz the actor who plays the most hateful of the Nazis in this film (Col. Hans Landa) is already lined up to star in next summers comic book flick The Green Hornet. But I have to say, he deserves his upcoming success, on this film he plays a truly hateful Nazi commander! The kind of Nazi that will question you and question you and question you until he finally discovers you are hiding something, or being unfaithful to the Fuhrer and then he will make you pay for it! Great character! Very versatile, Waltz character demanded that he speak four languages! French, Italian, English and German! A memorable villain played by a very experienced actor, he has not made many American films, but you should see all the movies this actor has made all over the world! Same thing with the beautiful Melanie Laurent, who has an impressive resume of French films, but had never made an American one. She plays the rebel who got away, the vengeful woman in Tarantinos Nazi universe. We also get a great supporting cast, among them Eli Roth (director of Hostel I and II and Cabin Fever testing his acting chops) playing the "Bear Jew", a member of the Basterds who is famous for smashing Nazi skulls with a baseball bat! We get Mike Myers playing a cameo as an American col. Though I have to admit, I found Mike Myers role to be very unnecesary. His performances is a simple cameo, nothing truly relevant. Or maybe I just couldnt get past the fact that its Dr. Evil trying to play a "dramatic role".

But aside from the excellent actors and production values, this film portrays once again Tarantinos ability to whip up some great dialog and suspense. The dialog on this film is plentiful (something Tarantino is very well known for as well) but its not your usal "Tarantino Bullshit". Often times in Tarantino movies characters will start talking about the most mundane things, and go on and on about them for minutes on end. On example of this is in Reservoir Dogs when the characters start talking about the true meaning behind Maddonas "Like a Virgin" or in Pulp Fiction when Vincent talks about what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France. In Inglorious Basterds characters do have extended conversations, but to my surprise, they were all pertinent to the story. The lengthy dialog simply served the purpose of enhancing the supense or the drama in the scenes which I thought was a step up for Tarantino. Everything the characters said needed to be said and only enhanced the story as if the dialog though plentiful was distilled of any unnecesary words. Speaking of suspense, there are many scenes which start out ever so slowly, and before you know it they build up to a great climax. These Nazi bastards can really get to you even in film, when you know they arent real. Tarantino really constructed some fearful Nazi soldiers, characters that act and think like cold robots without any feelings or sympathy.

Do not expect a film that sticks to historically acquarate facts. This film takes place on its own Tarantino Nazi Universe, things dont happen the way they did. But youll wish they happened the way Tarantino portrays them on this picture. The film is very violent and graphic at times, be ready for just the right amount of gore and graphic mayhem. But you can also expect lots of comedy, some of the situations end up being quite funny, like the moment in which Pitt is trying to pass himself as an Italian film crew so he could get close to Hitler, and one of the Nazi officers starts questioning his Italian accent and he tries his best to speak Italian, though its obvious his Italian doesnt go any further then saying "arrivederci!" Hilarious.

All in all, a great Tarantino film. Well worth all the wait. Highly recommend you check it out at the theater. Its the kind of movie thats made for people who truly appreciate a good film. Great script, great performances, fun times. Tarantino's still got it.

Rating: 5 out of 5