THE FACTS
Director – Michel Gondry
Stars – Seth Rogan, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Tom Wilkinson, Cameron Diaz, Edward Furlong
THE GIST
Britt Reid is a rich brat. His mean ol’ dad dies. So Britt teams up with his dad’s whiz-kid assistant Kato and they become a masked crime –fighting duo with lots of great superhero toys.
THE REASONS
1 Jay Chou – big star in Asia on the way to becoming a big star in Hollywood. He’s a great talent who can handle comedy, handle dramatic emotion and handle himself like a demon when it comes to stunt action. He is the next big thing – no cliché intended.
2 Seth Rogan as a spoiled brat in the opening scenes continues the ‘geek is good’ theme of 21st century popcorn coming-of-age movies proving once again as he rolls around with girls in obscene wealth – that the geek shall inherit the Earth.
3 Try and figure out why big name actress Cameron Diaz is in a no-name role. After Knight & Day, if she thought she could cameo her way back into credibility a la Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder – she was wrong.
4 The cars. The cars. The cars. I haven’t seen this much sex-on-wheels since Rodriguez’s Machete. I blew kisses at the screen. The garage of cars and gadgets is like something out of Iron Man – overrun by a couple of big kids.
5 It has the best buddy bash up sequence since Peter Griffin took on the giant chicken in Family Guy.
6 Christoph Waltz is in it and playing a more comedic villain than his award-winning role in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
7 Director Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind) married a great visual style to the 3D enhancement but the 3D did not cope with camera pans – very annoying when you sit up the front of the cinema like I do.
8 Really good soundtrack – and the instrumental accompanying the coffee sequence sounds like the work of the composer who did the music of State & Main.
THE VERDICT
There’s enough pop and enough corn to get you to cough up the bucks to see it on the big screen and you will get a sugar hit high from all the stunts, but like a sugar hit, it wears off quickly.
7/10