This article is about the 2011 film, For the 1940 serial see The Green Hornet (1940 serial). The Green Hornet is a 2011 American superhero comedy film based on the character of the same name by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker that originated in a 1930s radio program and has appeared in movie serials, a television series, comic books and other media. Directed by Michel Gondry and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film stars Rogen in the title role, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Edward James Olmos, David Harbour, Tom Wilkinson and Cameron Diaz.
Plot[]
Britt Reid is the playboy son of James Reid, the publisher of the Los Angeles Daily Sentinel. They have an estranged relationship until James dies from an apparent allergic reaction to a bee sting. After James's funeral, Britt fires the staff aside from his maid, but later rehires Kato, a mechanic and martial artist and friend of James, as his assistant.
Britt and Kato quickly become best friends and get drunk together. Upon agreeing that they both hated James, the two visit the graveyard to decapitate James's memorial statue. After they succeed, they rescue a nearby couple being mugged. When police mistake Britt and Kato for criminals, Kato evades them in a car chase as he and Britt return to their mansion.
Britt convinces Kato they should become superhero-like crime-fighters posing as criminals. Kato develops a car outfitted with several gadgets and weapons, which they call the Black Beauty. Britt plans to capture Benjamin Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster and gangster uniting the crime families of Los Angeles under his command, and whom his father was trying to expose. To get Chudnofsky's attention, Britt uses the Daily Sentinel as a vehicle to publish articles about a "high-profile criminal" he names "The Green Hornet."
Britt hires Lenore Case as his researcher, and uses her unwitting advice to raise the Green Hornet's profile. Britt and Kato blow up several of Chudnofsky's meth labs, leaving calling cards so Chudnofsky can contact them. Throughout all this, the Daily Sentinel's managing editor, Mike Axford, fears this single-minded coverage will endanger Britt's life, and District Attorney Frank Scanlon frets over public perception that he cannot stop the Green Hornet.
Britt asks Lenore out for dinner, but she rebuffs him and instead invites Kato, making Britt confused and jealous. Kato learns from her that mobsters often offer a peace summit to rivals in order to get close enough to kill them; Britt then tells Kato that Chudnofsky has offered them such a meeting. Kato tries dissuading him, but Britt, feeling overshadowed, follows his instincts. This nearly proves fatal when Chudnofsky tries to kill them.
Barely escaping to the mansion, Britt and Kato start arguing and the two get into a fight, causing Britt to angrily fire both Kato and Lenore, who he believes are in a relationship. Later, Kato receives an email from Chudnofsky on the Hornet's calling-card email address, offering $1 million and half of Los Angeles to the "Hornet" if he kills Britt. Meanwhile, Britt discovers that Scanlon is corrupt and that he tried to bribe James into downplaying the city's crime level to help his career. Chudnofsky, meanwhile, suffers a midlife crisis and renames himself as a supervillain known as "Bloodnofsky".
Scanlon invites Britt to a meeting in a restaurant, where he reveals that he was responsible for the murder of Britt's father as he is shown to be an ally of Chudnofsky. Chudnofsky arrives with his henchmen to kill Britt, but Kato appears and saves Britt before they escape. At the Daily Sentinel, Britt intends to upload a recording of Scanlon's confession onto the Web - which he belatedly discovers he did not manage to record. Chudnofsky and his men, who followed the duo there, engage them in a firefight, wounding Britt in the process. However, Kato ultimately impales Chudnofsky in the eyes with two large pieces of wood in self-defense before Britt guns him down.
A SWAT team appears and fires at the Green Hornet and Kato, who use the remains of their nearly demolished Black Beauty to run Scanlon out of the building to his death. The Green Hornet and Kato flee to Lenore's house where she learns their true identities and hides them from the police before trying to help by removing the bullet from the wounded Britt. The next morning, Britt promotes Axford to chief editor and lies about being shot by Kato, further establishing the Green Hornet as a vigilante and allowing Britt to get treated by professionals in a hospital.
Later, Britt and Kato weld the head back onto James's statue. Now with Lenore on their side, the two decide to continue protecting Los Angeles by breaking the law while also fighting criminals and saving civilians.
Cast[]
- Seth Rogen as Britt Reid: A wealthy newspaper publisher who is secretly the masked crimefighter known as the Green Hornet.
- Jay Chou as Kato: A personal mechanic and martial arts expert who is the Green Hornet's valet and partner.
- Cameron Diaz as Lenore Case: The love interest of both Reid and Kato who is Reid's secretary for The Daily Sentinel.[3]
- Tom Wilkinson as James Reid: Britt's stern and wealthy father who is a successful newspaper publisher.
- Christoph Waltz as Benjamin Chudnofsky: A paranoid Russian gangster who plans to join all of the crime families of Los Angeles together to organize a "super-mafia."[3] Throughout the film, he worries that he is losing his edge, and eventually starts calling himself "Bloodnofsky" in a misguided attempt to intimidate his enemies.
- David Harbour as D.A. Frank Scanlon: In this film, Scanlon is an ally of Benjamin Chudnofsky who bribed town officials into downplaying the city's level of crime in order to help his career.
- Edward James Olmos as Mike Axford: The managing editor of The Daily Sentinel.
- Jamie Harris as Popeye
- Chad Coleman as Chili
- Edward Furlong as Tupper: A meth dealer
- Analeigh Tipton as Ana Lee
- Jill Remez as a Daily Sentinel Reporter
- Reuben Langdon as Crackhead
- Jerry Trimble as Chudnofsky's Man
- James Franco (uncredited) as Danny "Crystal" Clear: A rival of Chudnofsky.[4]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
| The Green Hornet |
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| The Green Hornet (1940), The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941), The Green Hornet (2011) |