The Green Hornet

Ein Film, der sich nicht zu mir "bekennt“. Sein Humor ist für mich nur wtf und seine Figuren halte ich für einen schlechten Witz. Mit Gondry passen wir einfach nicht zueinander. Aber auf den Kaffee hätte ich Appetit! (30.08.2011)

For me, a massively pleasant surprise. Green Hornet was a lot of fun, both with the straightforward jokes and with the way it mocks itself (when the villain puts on a red robe and a gas mask is just hilarious… though not everyone will share that opinion) and other films in the genre (the ending similar to the fateful conclusion of The Dark Night). Gondry made it incredibly brisk and playful, like the fooling around of boys unbound by ethics. And the reflection on how the media manipulates with public opinion is not as cheap as you would expect from a comic-book film. I watched it in 2D, I don’t think the 3D version could be any better. (19.01.2011)

Yup, the hillbilly rhetoric and horny teenager humor are more or less Rogen's trademark, which is certainly not a complaint by me. However, the script full of infantile humor is tamed by Gondry in the end. He put the perfect stamp of exaggeration on it and turned all that instantaneous crap into a perfect hit, which pleases especially during the action, when playfulness, original ideas, and wit are combined. No, this wasn't supposed to be the second Kick-Ass, but it definitely is the third Iron Man. (14.01.2011)

Humorvoll, actionreich, recht solide aufgemotzt und umwoben von einer einfallsreichen Struktur eines Superheldenschemas. Die Helden von The Green Hornet verlassen sich nicht auf die Stärke der Maske und bemühen sich, die symbolische Kraft durch ihrerseits kontrollierte Zeitungen zu bändigen - das Ergebnis wirkt äußerst erfrischend. Obwohl The Green Hornet an einigen Stellen insgesamt ziemlich transparent ist, verwandelt sich der Film dank einiger Wendungen sowie der unvermeidlichen Vorahnung von einer ansonsten jugendlich aufgepeppter Fahrt in ein sehr aufregendes und genießerisches Spektakel. Wenn wir da noch Gondrys poetische Einschübe, den exzellenten Waltz (dieser Typ walzt ja wieder!), ein unabgedroschenes Heldenpaar sowie ein angenehmes Kompliment an Den Rosaroten Panther hinzufügen, bekommen wir hier bald einen Kandidaten für den besten Blockbuster dieses Jahres. Nachteile: nutzloses 3D, das wie ein Kinderleporello anmutet und auch, dass The Green Hornet kein vollends ausgewogenes Tempo hat. In Anbetracht dessen verliert dieser Film im Vergleich zum letztjährigen Kick-Ass einen halben Stern. (10.01.2011)

Once again, Gondry played his cards right and came out with a stylish and idea-packed comedy romp that brings to mind Edwards's Pink Panther rather than any comic book movie – though more action packed. (10.01.2011)

I've been feeling lately that I’m giving harsher reviews. I guess it's because I've gotten a whiff of South Korean filmmaking. It's set the bar pretty high. But to the rating… I like the duo of Rogen and Chou, but it hasn’t got enough action for and action film and not funny enough for a comedy. Cameron Diaz played a completely unnecessary role. I guess this was just a name to catch moviegoers at the movies. The ending was pretty much a big "humbug", so 3.5 stars. (13.06.2011)

Strange, but it works. The best thing about Green Hornet is Christoph Waltz who you will just fall in love with. The action is choice, with Gondry often pulling extra treats out of the hat. In fact, I got what I expected. All right. Chudnofsky, kiss my ass. Put your lips to my ass and kiss it. French kiss it. Tickle it with your grey whiskers. I got bittersweet news for you. You're washed up. You're old. You're boring. You're not scary. You dress like shit. It's over for you, okay? That's the bitter news. Now the sweet news is: You can retire. You can go play golf, eat dinner at 3:00 in the afternoon, play with your grandkids, drink Metamucil, old people shit. Okay? Look at me. I got a name people can say. My name’s Danny Clear. I deal with crystal meth. People call me Crystal Clear. It’s easy. Check out my kick-ass hangout here. I got shit loads of glass everywhere. I got a see-through piano. Look at my boys. They're pimped out. We got Gucci, Armani, another Gucci, tailor-made. This is what you need to get to the top today. Not hard work. Not looking like Disco Santa Claus. You need charisma. You look like my Uncle Greg. Very nice guy, but, he's a dentist. Now consider this your retirement letter. Boom. It's over. See you way out. (03.04.2011)

Pfui, ein unglaublich leerer, langweiliger und dummer Film. Wirklich. Der Hauptheld ist noch unsympathischer als Peter Spiderman Parker, das Drehbuch ist noch uninteressanter als in Fantastic Four (und das bedeutet schon was), der Schuft von Christoph Waltz ist fade (die größte Enttäuschung), gegen den US-amerikanischen "Humor", den es hier gibt, bin ich schon richtig allergisch, die visuellen Effekte sind zwar solide, aber zu 90 % völlig überflüssig (ein gutes Beispiel ist Katos "cooles" Öffnen der Bierflaschen), die Musik stört und sie passt zu dem Film nicht (damit meine ich den Song-Soundtrack, Newton Howards Score habe ich gar nicht bemerkt)… The Green Hornet ist womöglich der schlimmste Comic-Film, den ich je gesehen habe. Ich habe wirklich nichts gefunden (Cameron Diaz hat mir nie gefallen), was wenigstens einen Stern verdient hätte. Und ich bezweifle, dass daran eine 3D-Kinoversion etwas ändern könnte. Tut mir leid. (15.05.2011)

I must say that I definitely expected a bit more from this movie than what I ultimately got, but in the end, it's not that terrible. It's just not that exceptional either. Christoph Waltz is absolutely excellent, and it's great that he can make fun of himself a bit. Seth Rogen doesn't stand out in this and is rather annoying. I was quite surprised that Michel Gondry's direction is too much influenced by the genre. It resulted in a rather unremarkable work that will probably go unnoticed. (27.02.2014)

The Green Hornet may not have the crazy grit and "comic-book" flair of Kick-Ass, but it has an excellent bad guy (on a par with Mark Strong in Kick-Ass in terms of quality), precise Snyder-esque visuals, and Seth Rogen, who wrote a perfectly funny script and does a great job playing the main character just as comically as well. Michel Gondry's handwriting isn't lost in what for him is such an uncharacteristic genre, so all in all this is a popcorn film on a solid level. (19.01.2011)