The Green Hornet is a Greenhorn

Dear readers,

In Malaysia, Jay Chou's name would be the goodest, the baddest, and the most Mandarin-iest.

It's funny how Hollywood is looking back and adapting stuff for the new audience. Sure everyone know them in a way, but the challenges that come with it could backfire larger than that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano that erupted awhile back (Eyjafjalljökull...).



If it's superhero stuff, it's usually the drama-centric hero's origin and journey. But for The Green Hornet, it also falls under the action-comedy superhero type. Not that other superhero shows are as hilarious as rubber stoppers, but this one definitely tries to be funny. Does this reinterpretation works?



But first, the story, and there is one! It's about a slacker loser named Seth- I mean, Britt Reid (played by Seth Rogen, like duh), who's the son of the hard-ass newspaper mogul James Reid (played by Tom Wilkinson), of the L.A newspaper, The Daily Sentinel.



His dad seems to have died from a bee sting, and Britt inherits the paper, and also fires almost all of his staff from his mansion. He finds his coffee to be lousy, and discovers it was made by Bru- I mean, Kato (played by Jay Chou/周杰伦), his dad's mechanic, who can make super-cars, can do super kung fu moves and play the piano. Britt's floored by this, and fresh from the both of them being irked by their boss-dad, comes up with the idea to have them become superheroes, but pose as villains to mess up the villain's minds, apparently.



Their crime fighting eventually catches the attention of the head mobster of L.A with a mid-age crisis and a double-barrelled handgun, Chudnofsky (played by Christoph Waltz), and even the corrupt District Attorney Frank Scanlon (played by David Harbour) as they both want the Green Hornet (and his 'nameless' 'sidekick') out of the picture. Funny enough, it's also a personal story of how Britt & Kato come to terms with their dad/ex-employer.


The biggest draw of the show is of course, NOT the Green Hornet factor. Let's face it, he's not as well known as Batman (new sequel coming soon!) or Spider-man (new reboot coming soon!). It was a good decision, marketing-wise, to use the co-writer of the show, Seth Rogen and Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou as the original dynamic duo. They are unfortunately one of the main problems of it.


See, Seth as Britt Reid made a lot of sense on the surface, as he's playing a slacker loser-sort with a comedic bend on things. Funny enough, as the co-writer of the show (the other being Evan Goldberg), one would've thought he would spruce up his own lines more, as he comes off as one-dimensional, consistently a dumb jerk with no human variety.



As the story goes, he does get some character development, particularly when he finds out how his dad really died, but the kind of character we get from Britt is either 1. a self-centred, pompous jerk 2. a self-centred, whiny jerk. Nevertheless, the origin scene of Britt being belittled as a kid made a lot of sense as to why he's no. 1 & no. 2, but he remained too same-ol'-same-ol'; even as the Green Hornet he was uninteresting.

It's well-known fact that Seth tried to buff up for the film, did it matter?

Kato, is of course the 2nd most central character of show. He's the flip-opposite of Britt, not rich but rich in talent, not a visionary (which Britt sort of is in the show) but a tech whiz. So there was lots of potential for the character, but unfortunately, Jay Chou is no actor. I didn't see his other shows such as Initial D, but there were scenes in the show that calls for some acting skill, such as when Kato threatens Britt to never boss him around anymore, but Jay was unable to flex them enough and comes off as wooden.



The slightly good news is that when they are together onscreen being buddies , it is pretty convincing, & it's some of the better non-action moments of The Green Hornet.


Every superhero needs a supervillain, right? Enter this guy:

Chudnofsky. The man with the Double-Barrelled handgun & a really weird name.

Chudnofsky, oddly enough, works a suitable villain against the Green Hornet. Even though he's the head mobster of L.freakin.A, he's in a rut both in personality and style, the mobster with a middle-age crisis.

It's unfortunate that Christoph was underused as he's actually pretty good as the foil for the Hornet. You can see his enthusiasm in wanting to be a 'cooler' villain as opposed to being an actual style-less mobster, actually telling one of his henchmen of his new plan to wear a cape, dress in red and calling himself Bloodnofsky.

Even more underutilized was Cameron Diaz, who plays Lenore Case, Britt's new secretary and researcher in the Green Hornet and predicting his latest move (actually just giving the clueless Britt ideas on what to to next). It's not that she was bad in her performance , it's just that she doesn't seem to have to be there. She serves as a convenient dues-ex machina to be used to find out what to do with the Hornet & to be in a rather awkward love triangle for Kato & Britt. Basically, being a trope.


Still, if you're looking to this movie to find some meaning in life or to work your brain, you should've watched The Dark Knight, even Iron Man will flex the brain a bit. This show is all about the comedy and the action, the two things that are the saving graces for the show.


There are plenty of action scenes to behold, from the first time we see Kato kick criminal butt to when Chudnofsky tries to crush Britt & Kato with cement trucks to the climatic car chase where Chud-Bloodnofsky's gang chases after the Black Beauty (The Hornet's really awesome set of wheels). The action scenes throw realism to the wind and goes for over-the-top mayhem thanks to Kato, and it works well with the style of the movie. Britt/The Green Hornet does get some action done, particularly at the climatic action scene, but on foot (or in-car, or almost all the time) it's all about Kato.

That cement truck only wants their autographs! Why are they running!?

Now remember, this is directed by the Michel Gondry, who directed some of the most visually whacked out films and music videos of our generation, including The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep & of course, lot of music videos for Björk (lesbian robots making out anyone? All is Full of Love). Keeping those flicks in perspective, in many ways this is Gondry's most visually uncreative work.


The most visually arresting moments, besides the action and the fast-forwarded montages, is when Kato gets all pumped in action and the camera zooms and highlights things in red in the environment that lead him to do awesome kung fu stuff (Kato Vision). Even the Green Hornet get this in the end, but the highlights are green of course. Gondry pushes the creativity, but his talents are not being put to full use sadly.


The action certainly bring fun to the forefront, but so does much of the comedy, in fact most of the scenes will try to milk the comedy out. As aforementioned, when Britt & Kato are together, it's some of the funnier comedic moments with the two going back and forth either with quips or with physically arguing with each other. A fun one would be when Kato gives Britt a Hornet gas gun, but Britt accidentally shoots himself, knocking him out for eleven days. Britt got his revenge and shot Kato back with a 1 hour knock-out round. Not the most mature of comedies, but it's still funny and it comes in spades.


Ultimately though, because of the milking, it's pretty clear that the comedy is given focus as opposed to the story. The plot itself, is rather messy. This is because there were just too many convenient things happening to move the story along. How to figure out what to do to fight crime? Enter a secretary who knows journalism. How does Britt win in an immature spat with Kato? Have Kato unable to swim. There is one scene where this works, which is when Britt gets shot and there's a hilarious follow-up where Britt is too scared to have the bullet taken out by Lenore and he makes a public speech just to pretend he was shot at to get medical treatment. But there are too many other bad instances and they all end up making the story and even the comedy not as driven or as gripping as it should be.


Conclusively, it's enjoyable in the comedy and action, but those two things need to be help up by strong characters and a tight plot, two things that The Green Hornet lacks. 3/5


Pros: Good variety of action; lots of comedy; decent villain

Cons: mostly wooden acting; shaky story; generally forgettable

This isn't a screenshot from the film, but equating Keira Knightley with Seth Rogen=interesting?

Sincerely,

Lee Zhi-Li

P.S Please go ahead and comment on this post, I'd love to read all of your feedbacks so that I may improve on my writing! Don't be scared to be tough, I'm a feedback whore!

Jit & Jo in Leonardo's

Dear readers,

Have you ever been curious at how creativity works? How stand up comedians can say things in the most matter-of-fact shit but still you end up shitting from all your laughing?

Certainly creativity in Malaysia is a struggle sometimes, both in using it as a career & as a way to not get bored and commit suicide.

A lawyer named Edward Soo decided to change that with Leonardo's Dining Room & Wine Loft (http://leonardos.my/index.asp), a restaurant in Jalan Bangkung. They were in the news recently for 'going beyond good food', and having a few arts-related events, to promote a more knowledgeable, more vibrant arts-loving community.

I was called up by the Instant Cafe Theatre Company (http://www.instantcafetheatre.com/) to help out with front-of-house for the latest event in Leonardo's, 'CHAI's the Art Instinct Series 2011: Ep 1 Jit Murad and Jo Kukathas'. It happened on 25th Jan 2011 and it's a series about the arts & intellectuals talking about the art instinct & what it means to be creative.

You can read some books there, and yes, that adorable stuffed dog is smarter than you.

I brought along my good friend Joel Peh, who funny enough, approached me about this event before I did. BTW, he's a business student but he's always looking out for the next big arts event, so kudos to him.

This is Joel. Wait, shouldn't I be over there working?

If you're a longtime ICT fan, you'd probably know that they have regular events like this one in CHAI (Instant Cafe House of Arts & Ideas), their HQ & Jo's evil lair. I'd day it was a good idea that this collaboration happened as it allows CHAI to bring what it does to other places.

But have I mentioned the food? Now for a cover charge of RM10, every viewer that came in got a glass of punch & canapes, but what glorious surprises they were.

Here's a little list of the little delectable canapes: veggie pizza (delicious mushrooms), Hawaiian Chicken & Pineapple Kebab (the barbecue sauce brought everything together), etc.

I apologize for the poor image quality, but from left to right: the kebabs; Faberge Eggs; dumplings; glasses of punch

& my personal favorite, the Fabarge eggs. Get this: grapes coated with fruit cheese and toasted pistachios. It sounds bonkers, but it was my culinary surprise of the year, & yes, it's only January, but everything about it was melt-in-your-mouth.

So after me & Joel stuffed our faces (& worked the FOH) a bit, ICT's program coordinator, Rahel Joseph (sorry Rahel, forgot to snap a pic of you!), first introduced us to veteran playwright, actor & comedian, Jit Murad. I don't know him personally but he's written many Malaysian plays such as Visits & Goldrain & Hailstones. And he talked about the creative impulse, & how his life relates to it.

"Despite my humility, which is awesome, I'm intrigued by myself,"

& Mr. Jit does have an interesting life macam giler, the man studies Sociology & ended up a playwright, my goodness! He narrates a surprisingly large amount of his life and how it made him the man he is today. He told the audience how when he was a young boy, he made a lot of little children's books, and one of which was a tornado that he drew & a star he drew next in the tornado, as the tornado felt lonely. It's the little things that counts you know?

One of the quotes he said that I jotted down but didn't fully grasp at first was, "I like to know what I like to think about things," If my inferior brain can comprehend, he's stating that it's important to get your thoughts down, & understand how they are to you and your world, like actually writing that script instead of keeping it in locked doors.

Next up is the Jo Kukathas, artistic director of ICT, actress for many iconic roles such as the YB, Ribena Berry, which appeared in shows like 1Sex. 1Money 1Scandal. The Virus Returns & many other works of satire with equally long titles.

Sharon Nelson was Jo's ex-Eng. Literature student, and she intro-ed her up.

Like Jit, Jo had some stories of her own, & she opened with one about a baby and an electric socket. She states that you could tell a baby a thousand times, 'no, don't put your fingers into the socket holes even though it looks as if you can!', but they will still want to try, it's only when they try it then they can hold the power of decision-making in their little soft hands.

She elaborated further about how scientists and artist are like this curious baby, trying to make sense of things and making up stories, even saying that scientific reports are simply stories written in a scientific fashion.

"You may be a banker, but you may have a soul of a poet,"

Jo also expressed worry that creativity may be exploited in the wrong way, particularly in being too results-oriented. She had an analogy that students in these modern times are like cars; how much to the gallon for its mileage, some may ask?

She insists that being too results-orientated when it comes to the application of creativity stifles creativity. I myself see that it runs the risk of the employee kissing the ass of the employer just to please the hand that feeds. If that's creativity, that employee needs to rethink his life for awhile.

& probably the strangest story told tonight was about her father, the writer K. Das telling her about the story of Mehitabel the cat and Archy the cockroach, especially since Jo is scared of cockroaches. K. Das explains to a younger Jo that Archy's previous life was a poet, but him being reincarnated as a roach gave him so much more NEED to write.

Me and Joel passed to everyone a poem 'the life of mehitabel the cat' that Archy wrote, about how Mehitabel was once Cleopatra, and even though she's now a cat, she still has that spirit of a queen in her, 'toujours gai my kiddo toujours gai'. That spirit inspired Archy the NEED to write.

As a final hurrah, everyone got a copy of John Tusa's two quotes on creativity, as a way to close the talk.

This blog is dedicated to Jit, Jo and Edward Soo.

But wait! There was a Q&A session! And that's when I noticed in the crowd of roughly 30 people was that me and Joel were surely the youngest kids in the lot. Everyone else seemed to already have a job & far off the recently graduated path. I did feel a little sad that people my age were not in on this, have I mentioned the food?


They also, in the Q&A, mentioned a tip about creativity that also appeared on the Facebook event page. If you find yourself stuck with ideas, open a book, randomly select a word, and formulate ideas incorporating this word.

Edward Soo everybody!

Epilogue: before the event started, me and Mr. Edward had a little chat. I told him I was a graduate from the Diploma in Performing Art from Sunway Uni (no-more-college-oh), and he enthusiastically told me that if there were any artistic ideas that I have, Leonardo's can be involved in it. Let's put this in perspective, there are so many other artistes with portfolios the size of Texas, and he asked ME about coming up with events? Young people, old and new, where are you?

Sincerely,

Lee Zhi-Li