Green Hornet Trailer Buzzes Onto Web

News, Trailers

Despite a fluke power outage sabotaging the planned unveiling of the Green Hornet trailer last night on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, the first footage from next January’s superhero film has found its way online.

Directed by Michel Gondry and staring Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz and Jay Chou, The Green Hornet is a big screen adaptation of the popular crime-fighting character who has previously appeared in comics, television and film serials.

Once upon a time, The Green Hornet was scheduled for release this upcoming weekend. After being pushed back to December, the film was further moved back a month in order to convert the movie into 3D. Now set for release on January 14, 2001 in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D, The Green Hornet looks to balance straight action with some comedy in a tone that is really giving me a Big Trouble in Little China vibe.

Because The Green Hornet is not a character largely remembered and beloved by today’s youth, I don’t expect there will be a huge outcry over any liberties taken with the character’s origin. Rogen stars as Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher who decides to moonlight as a hero masquerading as a villain. Chou plays Rogen’s sidekick Kato, a role popularized by the late Bruce Lee.

While I’m a bit disapointed that more of Gondry’s trademark pizazz was not on display in the trailer, I’m still not quite ready to write the film off as a future box office disaster — despite the studio moving the movie to the cinematic dumping ground that is the month of January.

What do you think of the trailer? Do you think Seth Rogen has what it takes to be a believable action star?

Robert Saucedo is an avid movie watcher with seriously poor sleeping habits. The Mikey from Life cereal of film fans, Robert will watch just about anything — good, bad or ugly. He has written about film for newspapers, radio and online for the last 10 years. This has taken a toll on his sanity — of that you can be sure. Follow him on Twitter at @robsaucedo2500.