A week of THE GREEN HORNET (3D)

I watched the media preview of The Green Hornet in 3D two weeks ago, thanks to the folks from Sony Pictures.

Via wikipedia: The Green Hornet is a 2011 superhero action-comedy film, based on the character of the same name that had originated in a 1930s radio program and has appeared in movie serials, a television series, comic books and other media. Directed by Michel Gondry, the film stars Seth Rogen, who co-wrote the screenplay with Evan Goldberg.

The movie stars Seth Rogen as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet, a wealthy newspaper publisher who is secretly a masked crimefighter; Jay Chou as Kato, the Green Hornet’s driver and sidekick; Christoph Waltz as Benjamin Chudnofsky/Bloodnofsky, an eccentric Russian mobster; and Cameron Diaz as Lenore “Casey” Case, Reid’s personal secretary and also both Reid and Kato’s love interest.

I thoroughly enjoyed this action-comedy. I was expecting Kato to be portrayed like the usual token exotic Asian in Hollywood blockbusters, nonetheless, he was given quite a lot of exposure and the Green Hornet turned out to be one who was portrayed like a goon.

Seth Rogen is one funny dude to catch with his goofy antics. Jay Chou’s English was horrible in the movie, often mumbling in a string of indiscernible words. However viewers will quickly forgive him when we witness his dead cool acting and fighting chops. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Christoph Waltz as the crazy, bad-ass Russian mobster. This dude is born to play psychopaths. My impression of him as the ultra Nazi villain, Colonel Hans Landan in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, is still etched deeply in memory.

Here’s the official trailer:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/AAaAKBvFxpM”]

My blog post is titled with “a week” because if I wanted to, I could have watched The Green Hornet thrice at three separate screening events.

After watching the movie at the media preview, I attended the gala premiere last Monday together with a group of 6 lucky winners from a Domino’s Pizza, Green Hornet tie-in contest.

Two pairs of the winners were from Malaysia while the third pair was from Singapore, having participated in the Domino’s Pizza, Feel the Sting contest on omy.sg.

I met the winners and the folks from Domino’s Pizza at a bistro in Marina Bay Sands where we had a casual dinner and chit chat.

The three lucky couples and Domino's staff — The three lucky couples and Domino’s staff

A stretch limousine was arranged to then ferry the winners in style to The Cathay where there premiere is happening. I got to hitch a ride together with them.

When we arrived at The Cathay, some screaming fans mistook our showy vehicle to be ferrying the stars, Seth Rogen and Jay Chou who was to make their appearance together with director, Michel Gondry. You should look at their funny expressions when a bunch of ordinary folks popped out instead!

Group photo before the winners proceed to the cinema

I hung around to catch the red green carpet event. A string of lesser known local artistes stalled for time till the stars for the night, Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and Michel Gondry made their appearance at 8pm.

You can read more about the event via omy.sg. Here are some photos I took:

The Cathay looked really grand that night

Spotted two blogger-friends, Hpility and William

The Cathay was all decked out to welcome the stars

Working crew going around to give out Green Hornet movie premiums while fans wait for the stars' arrival — Working crew going around to give out Green Hornet movie premiums while fans wait for the stars’ arrival

They had a cool green carpet instead of the usual red carpet

Some extras doing kungfu performances to stall for time

Michel Gondry, the director, was the first Hollywood dude to arrive

Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen appeared on stage first and started joking with the audience

The three main stars for the night are finally all on stage

Presenting... Michel Gondry, Seth Rogen and Jay Chou — Presenting… Michel Gondry, Seth Rogen and Jay Chou

Seth and Jay shared good chemistry on stage despite their language difference

One more picture of Jay to keep his fans really happy

Kungfu end pose - you can see who's the funny one and who's the cool one — Kungfu end poses – you can see who’s the funny one and who’s the cool one

Kungfu poses take two... — Kungfu poses take two…

Three days later on Thursday night, I was once again at another of The Green Hornet movie screening. This time, it was a private screening that Domino’s Pizza had generously arranged for their loyal customers and media partners in Singapore. The attendees get to feast on Domino’s pizzas before the screening and mingle around with the folks from Domino’s.