The Green Hornet (2011)

Based on the 1930s radio program and the mysterious masked super hero created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, The Green Hornet makes a re-appearance in the new upcoming film for 2011.

This exciting film stars a collection of great actors ranging from the hilarious Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Funny People, Observe and Report) to the dazzling Cameron Diaz (Knight and Day, My Sister's Keeper, The Holiday). Just by noticing that Seth Rogen plays the main role in the film, we instantly know that there is a comical theme to the production. This assumption is correct as the genre is an action, comedy.

I personally cannot wait for this moviee From viewing the trailer, the action mixed with the Seth Rogen-style comedy works beautifully with one another. For once Rogen gets to play the role of a wealthy playboy character, Britt Reid instead of a money-struggling pothead. This interesting choice of actor will definitely give the movie more appeal especially with the younger generation and hopefully will start a trend of comical adaptations of classic superheroes whilst still maintaining that fast-paced, exciting action.

The film still keeps the classic image of the Green Hornet character and the famous, weapon-filled 'Back Beauty' (the car). As well as the expensive lifestyle Rogen (Britt Reid) takes advantage of by hosting parties, consuming great quantities of alcohol etc, the new film contains some extravagant weapons ranging from a double desert eagle to extreme machine-guns hidden within the famous car's chassis.

As well as the hero vigilantes, the villains are also well presented. Christoph Waltz plays Benjamin Chudnofsky, a gangster with the plan to merge all the powerful crime families together to produce a "super-mafia". Waltz also a villain in Inglourious Basterds, is a very powerful and villainous character, perfect for an evil gangster. Originally Nicolas Cage was intended to play the part of Chudnofsky, but pulled out due to disagreements about the character. Cage believed that there wasn't any of Chudnofsky's background which explained his violence and his aimless killing. He says:

“‘The Green Hornet’ was something that I wanted to do, I think Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work but I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character."

Ghost Rider obviously had Cage's ideal depth of character and to be honest I'd rather watch a Nazi playing the part rather than a skull with a few flames on its cranium.

The film will also be shown in 3-D and in IMAX cinemas, an exhilarating feature which, in my view will make the production twice as superb and thrilling than the normal dimension of film.

Every good super hero has to have a sidekick and the Green Hornet has the martial arts expert, Kato (Jay Chou). Asian pop singer and movie star, Chou is a mostly unknown actor unless you're into Asian cinema of course. But don't let his pop career and basketball obsession leave you doubtful about his ability to pull the character off. His calm, quiet and serious character is a great contrast to the wild character of Britt Reid. Chou is also called in the trailer a "human Swiss army knife", basically telling us to prepare ourselves for wild, imaginative new gadgets and weapons which Chou mainly operates. But the question is, will the new Kato live up to the legend of Bruce Lee from the previous Green Hornet?

Whether the new film lives up to the old Television series or not, the 2011 production will be great and exciting. It'll also be interesting to see whether the characters live up to the expectations the true original Green Hornet fans have especially those played by Seth Rogen and Jay Chou. I know one thing: January 14th will be placed in my calender.

Trailer