First look at Jay Chou's The Green Hornet

And Sony can finally breathe a sigh of relief. For months surrounding its production (and even before then) the film has been touted as a disaster in the making, snarked by bloggers and critics alike. Can't blame them though, I can see why; the idea of a masked superhero without any superpowers or an uber-cool functional costume? It's definitely going into the Realm of Campy and Cheesy (plus, it sounds disturbingly similar to Jay's drama flop Pandamen).

Green Hornet's The Black Beauty: An indestructible car with every weapon imaginable

I think it's still to early to tell (it's just the test screening after all), but the results are encouraging, with 93% voted 'excellent' or 'very good' and 83% said they would definitely recommend it to friends.


To be honest, I still have a hard time grasping the idea of a loser superhero unless it's a comedy, which it is not (it's an action thriller). But that was my opinion BEFORE watching the 3-minute trailer:





LOL! How cool is that? For once the hero actually wants to be one. You'd think, by the Law of Marvel Comics, that all superheroes are a broody and reluctant bunch.


I dig the reverse of dynamic between the superhero and the sidekick here; sidekick Kato (played by Jay Chou) is arguably the real hero, teaching Seth Rogen's character the tricks of the trade. Now I get why Seth Rogen was cast as The Green Hornet (which was previously thought to be a miscast). No one can play slacker-slash-loser cooler than this guy.


The Green Hornet is set for a release at cinemas from January 11, 2011.


More stills:

Fun fact: Do you know? Jay Chou's role, Kato, is the very same role that Bruce Lee played for the 1966 TV series. It was his first starring role on small screen.

Take a look at the The Green Hornet's 1966 TV series version:

 
Via IMDb, Sony Pictures and UDN