Green Hornet, The (2010) (Blu-ray)

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General		Extras
Category	Action Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-Seth Rogen, Neal Moritz, Michel Gondry, and Evan Goldberg Custom Play-The Green Hornet Cutting Room Deleted Scenes Outtakes-"Awesome" Gag Reel Interviews-Cast & Crew-"Trust Me" -- Director Michael Gondry Interviews-Cast & Crew-Writing The Green Hornet Featurette-The Black Beauty: Rebirth of Cool Interviews-Crew-The Stunt Family Armstrong Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Finding Kato Featurette-Making Of-The Art Of Destruction Trailer-How Do You Know?; Just Go With It; The Tourist
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	118:53
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michel Gondry
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Seth Rogen Jay Chou Cameron Diaz Tom Wilkinson Christoph Waltz David Harbour
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	James Newton Howard

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 (3254Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Thai Chinese Indonesian Korean	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

"Protect The Law - By Breaking It"

    Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the slacker heir to a media empire who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight after the mysterious death of his father (Tom Wilkinson) from a bee sting. Britt has been given ownership of the media company but knows nothing about running a business having idled away his life as a party loving playboy. After having dismissed most of his father's personal assistants, Britt is dismayed to learn that the maker of his daily coffee, Kato (Jay Chou), has also gone. Britt remedies this situation by re-hiring Kato who, he finds, is much more than a barista. Kato doubles as a martial arts expert and mechanical genius who in his spare time has designed and made multiple gadgets including an almost indestructable car, (much like the batmobile), with more gizmos than you could poke a stick at. The two find they have much in common and form a friendship with Kato as the go-to man for all situations. After an encounter with armed men following a night-time prank Britt becomes inspired to turn over a new leaf and do something useful with his life - that is to become a super crime fighter, but without super powers. Having now formed a formidable vigilante team under the leadership of Britt as "the green hornet", the duo pose as villains in order to infiltrate the criminal underbelly and proceed to systematically eliminate the evildoers. Britt's new secretary at the newspaper Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), is enlisted to research the green hornet's activities, and the newspaper is used to promote their exploits in an attempt to lure adversaries into the open. Tensions between the three arise as feelings for Lenore become more than professional, and a power struggle between Britt and Kato threatens to derail their operation. Will the "green hornet" and his trusty sidekick become derailed from within as well as from the attention of the real criminals?

    The Green Hornet was co-written by Rogen who also acted as an executive producer. Unfortunately Rogen writes the same as he speaks - loudly and often. If you're not a fan of Rogen, and not fond of a motor mouth main character who is continually shouting, then this movie will be almost impossible to like. The always cool and capable Kato would surely have flipped the unlikable and inept Britt Reid well before forming a crime-busting partnership. Diaz as the love interest is suitably sultry but isn't really asked to do much more than look good. Their arch enemy is the always excellent Christopher Waltz as Chudnofsky who is wasted here in a thin two-dimensional role who acts as more of a foil for Reid and Kato than as a villain with substance. The Green Hornet is billed as an action-comedy and certainly the set action pieces and technical wizardry are excellent. I couldn't however find anything funny in the script - but maybe that's me as others I know found it highly amusing.

    As based on a 1930's "The Green Hornet" radio series and action book character this flick delivers to a certain extent on the original premise of wealthy playboy and amazingly capable side-kick as crime fighters extraordinaire. The action is highly entertaining and the performance of Chou as the unflappable Kato is perfect. Direction from Michel Gondry is capable enough and the set pieces are truly awesome - which should make for an excellent all round experience. For me however all the good aspects are overshadowed by the annoying Rogen and his ham-fisted portrayal of Reid. I'd never imagined Reid from my childhood hardbacks as being a loud mouthed unlikable buffoon, but this is what Rogen has done with the character. If not for this I would have rated The Green Hornet as highly recommended.

Video

    This blu-ray film is presented in 1080p and 2.40:1 which is slightly wider than the cinematic 2.35:1 aspect. It is an excellent demonstration of the quality of blu-ray with a pristine crisp image that is only occasionally soft in darker scenes. This movie tends towards a softer palette so colours don't pop out as much as some, nevertheless everything is rendered very accurately with a natural saturation and hue. Blacks are very well detailed with every dark shot easily defined. Overall the video quality is very close to the best you'll see on blu-ray.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    The default DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is encoded at a variable rate of around 3,000 Kb/s with an English for visually impaired option and commentary track both using Dolby Digital at 192 Kb/s. There is also a Thai language track with Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 640 Kb/s. In common with the video the lossless dts 5.1 track is excellent with tight but huge bass, clear dialogue, and a vigorous surround presence. In an action reliant movie directional effects are highly desirable and happily The Green Hornet delivers actions all around you in spades. The music is suitable positioned to complement the action without overshadowing the dialogue which is always crisp and clear and in synch. Overall an excellent offering and great demonstration of a HD surround movie making. Well done Sony for both the audio and video.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Menu

    The menu featured looping video and audio with scenes from the movie.

Audio Commentary

    Seth Rogen, Producer Neal Moritz, Michel Gondry, and writer Evan Goldberg offer an interesting behind the scenes dissection of their movie which never bogs down. Unusually for most commentary tracks these participants aren't scared of pointing out what could have been done better with the final product which is quite refreshing.

The Green Hornet Cutting Room

Deleted Scenes (26:33)

    2.40:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Scenes included here are: See Yourself Out; The Big Fence; Filer Up; Dickweed; Britt's Pokerface; Taking a Punch!; Burning Down the House; Influencing Scanlon; and Let's Roll Kato.

"Awesome" Gag Reel (7:18)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Mildly amusing although the segments with Cameron Diaz are certainly a highlight.

"Trust Me" -- Director Michael Gondry (9:33)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Cast and crew espouse Director Michael Gondry's talents.

Writing The Green Hornet (10:35)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen discuss the writing process and adaptation of the characters.

The Black Beauty: Rebirth of Cool (7:17)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Design and creation of the classic 1965 Imperial automobile.

The Stunt Family Armstrong (7:39)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Interview with stunt choreographer family.

Finding Kato (6:00)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    Casting process for the Kato character and the selection of Jay Chou.

The Art Of Destruction (14:04)

    1.78:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at 192 Kb/s.

    As the title would suggest this segment examines a lot of blowing up and burning down.

Previews (6:00)

    1.85:1 video aspect at 1080p with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio at 640 Kb/s except for The Tourist which is 2:35:1.

    Blu-ray promo (1:19) and Sony titles How Do You Know? (2:50); Just Go With It (2:01); The Tourist (1:54).

BD-Live

    This disc appears identical to the US version apart from language options. Note that there are US and local two disk packages which include both 2D and 3D presentations of the movie along with DVD and digital copy.

    The Green Hornet depends on whether you can tolerate or even endure the lead played by Seth Rogen. Some will think he is great in the role. Others, me included, find him intensely irritating and whose presence spoiled what could have been a real fun movie. Nevertheless the action set pieces are great, the sound and video excellent, and the swiss army knife of side-kicks, Kato, very effective. Many will find this action comedy flick a hugely entertaining blast.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    Extras are comprehensive and interesting.

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Extras
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