There are a lot of superhero movies out there. Who doesn’t love the tale of some ordinary or semi-ordinary person becom­ing a symbol of justice? Who doesn’t love the break of reality that lets us believe for just a moment that the world is filled with guys in costumes who fight bad guys? It’s a formula and story that we’ve heard many times before in many forms. The Green Hornet, directed by Michel Gondry and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is another one of those of those iterations. It’s the superhero movie we’ve all seen and heard before with a little comedic twist that makes it just different enough to keep things entertaining. At the end of the day, though, it can be a little too nonsensical, preventing the film from being something really noteworthy.

Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the son of a billionaire media mogul with little regard for anyone but himself. Following the tragic death of his father, he befriends his father’s mechanic Kato (Jay Chou), and they engage in some harmless pranks in order to vent some of Reid’s frustration. During their antics, however, they rub some guys the wrong way and almost end up getting killed, if it were not for Kato’s martial arts expertise. After this experience, Reid comes up with the idea that the two of them should don masks and rid the streets of crime under the alias of the Green Hornet, posing as criminals in order to infiltrate the Los Angeles underground. However, this eventu­ally puts them at odds with a crime boss who vows to destroy the duo. If this sounds stupid to you, that’s because it is. The concept itself doesn’t sound all that bad, but the overall im­plementation is very poor. Reid never really goes through any serious change or revelation that prompts him to become a masked crime fighter, other then some sort of weak connec­tion to his dead father’s integrity. Kato is just kind of there the whole movie, and it’s never really explained why he is so talented at martial arts or why he is so good at altering cars. In fact, it’s never really clear why he is there in the first place. With that being said, the movie does have its moments when it’s pretty funny, especially some of the banter between Kato and Reid. If you never really take the plot too seriously, it can be a decent buddy comedy.

If the plot doesn’t really satisfy you, which it probably won’t, there are some pretty cool spe­cial effects and explosions to keep you distract­ed. There are plenty of over-the-top car stunts that are prevalent throughout the film. The fight sequences are also pretty well choreographed with an interesting effect that slows down time, similar to The Matrix. It’s not entirely original, but it’s implanted well. If there was one thing that seemed out of place, it was the score. It ei­ther seemed overly dramatic at times or simply didn’t fit with the scenes. It’s a minor detail, but distracting at times.

The Green Hornet isn’t anything but entertain­ing. It’s caught somewhere between super hero comedy and actual super hero movie, but it never entirely makes the distinction between the two. If you want to see a light comedy before you start trying to fit as many Oscar movies into your schedule as possible, then it’s worth a shot. If you’re not though, it might just be best to stay home.