Stars: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, Edward James Olmos, David Harbour, Tom Wilkinson
Running time: 118 mins
Rating:★★★

LIKE its masked hero who poses as a bad guy in order to do good, The Green Hornet is a crazy mixed up movie. Perhaps that’s only to be expected when the director is Michel Gondry, a filmmaker whose previous work such as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and The Science Of Sleep have marked him out as someone who makes quirky, offbeat movies.

The Green Hornet is based on a Thirties radio series that ran until the Fifties, then had a life as a comic book and short-lived TV series which introduced Bruce Lee to western audiences. It’s a mess of a movie that, against the odds, proves an entertaining if overlong two hours of action and comedy.

For once 3D helps the experience.

Gondy uses the format in unexpected ways that produce eyepopping effects from the action scenes. Despite all the state-of-theart technology, it kept reminding me of something left over from the Sixties.

The opening scene sees media magnet James Reid (Wilkinson) ripping the head off his young son’s caped superhero figure. No wonder the poor lad Britt (Rogen, from Superbad and Knocked Up) grows up into a playboy who parties a lot and then parties some more.

After his father’s death, Britt turns crimefighter with the help of inventive employee Kato (Asian pop star Chou). They pose as criminals in order to get close to the real LA bad guys.

They have help from Britt’s new secretary Lenore (a wasted Diaz) and the Black Beauty, an indestructible car that’s “equal parts firepower and horsepower”.

Rogen (who co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg) makes an acceptably unorthodox hero but Chou makes the biggest impression as a sidekick who’s better than Britt at this Green Hornet lark.