The Green Hornet
This is the latest in the list of resurrected franchises, based on a radio show cum TV show that helped make Bruce Lee popular.
Here we have Jay Chou playing the horribly mispronounced Katou - originally Japanese, then Filipino, Korean for a bit, and now Chinese. He's the "sidekick" to Seth Rogen's idiotic and bumbling Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet.
I suppose it's a nod to the popularity of Katou vis-a-vis the Green Hornet that Britt Reid is almost completely incompetent, delusionally narcissistic, and relentlessly and ignorantly condescending (primarily to Katou but to most of the other characters); however I was extremely irritated by the time Reid and Katou engaged in (ultimately unsatisfying) fisticuffs, and there was not proper resolution of the issue by the end of the movie. Despite Katou's genius-level abilities in mechanics, music and martial arts, Reid rides roughshod over him with impenetrable arrogance and emotional manipulation; Katou's Asian taciturnity makes him an easy target for incessant insults.
Aside from that, the movie was pretty good; its real-life comical superheroes reminded me of Kick-Ass (though no one was as cool as Hit-Girl). James Olmos was a bit distracting (I kept thinking of the BSG fans who want to lynch him); Cameron Diaz didn't really do enough or wear little enough (there was a brief scene of her in underwear); Scanlon was good; the villain was pretty silly and only becomes moreso (I was hoping for Crystal Clear to beat him) though his checkout scene was good. I wasn't particularly impressed by the depiction of Katou's threat perception, but the multi-pane sequences was a lot of fun.
Here we have Jay Chou playing the horribly mispronounced Katou - originally Japanese, then Filipino, Korean for a bit, and now Chinese. He's the "sidekick" to Seth Rogen's idiotic and bumbling Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet.
I suppose it's a nod to the popularity of Katou vis-a-vis the Green Hornet that Britt Reid is almost completely incompetent, delusionally narcissistic, and relentlessly and ignorantly condescending (primarily to Katou but to most of the other characters); however I was extremely irritated by the time Reid and Katou engaged in (ultimately unsatisfying) fisticuffs, and there was not proper resolution of the issue by the end of the movie. Despite Katou's genius-level abilities in mechanics, music and martial arts, Reid rides roughshod over him with impenetrable arrogance and emotional manipulation; Katou's Asian taciturnity makes him an easy target for incessant insults.
Aside from that, the movie was pretty good; its real-life comical superheroes reminded me of Kick-Ass (though no one was as cool as Hit-Girl). James Olmos was a bit distracting (I kept thinking of the BSG fans who want to lynch him); Cameron Diaz didn't really do enough or wear little enough (there was a brief scene of her in underwear); Scanlon was good; the villain was pretty silly and only becomes moreso (I was hoping for Crystal Clear to beat him) though his checkout scene was good. I wasn't particularly impressed by the depiction of Katou's threat perception, but the multi-pane sequences was a lot of fun.