Even 3D can't save The Green Hornet

Cinematic artiste Michel Gondry brings together four of the most commercial forms in American movies---the '60s television show revamp, the superhero story, 3D photography and Seth Rogen---in this lightly amusing midwinter time-waster. Rogen is Britt Reid, a party boy who inherits a newspaper business from his father (Tom Wilkinson) and, for vaguely explained reasons, simultaneously teams up with Kato (Jay Chou), a master of martial arts and weapons technology, to form a costumed crime-fighting duo. Britt bumbles, Kato kicks ass and Christoph Waltz’s image-obsessed crime boss is an off-kilter delight. Gondry, meanwhile, applies his distinctive visual touch to the action sequences, although the script by Rogen and Evan Goldberg relies too heavily on Rogen’s familiar and increasingly tiresome schtick. Gondry deserves a better outlet for his imagination.