Thanks for checking out our Jonah Hex review
Genre: Action Comic Book
Directed by: Jimmy Hayward
Staring: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett
Released: June 18th, 2010
THE GENERAL IDEA
Jonah Hex is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a tough and stoic gunslinger who can track down anyone… and anything. Having survived death, Jonah’s violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the “other side.” His only human connection is with Lila, whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. Jonah’s past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can’t refuse: in exchange for his freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull. But Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah’s oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead.
THE GOOD
Josh Brolin NAILS Jonah Hex so well. His presence, personality, kickassery. All of it. He plays off the stoic and grouchy man on a mission perfectly. They couldn’t have asked for a better man to play this part. But one man won’t win the whole game for you. Its a team effort. This team should have been traded.
There is a lot of fluffy action and some one liners that make this movie fun at least in that aspect. For the popcorn quality of it, there are enough fisticuffs, gunfights and explosions to make you pay attention. But that’s all it has going for it aside from the perfect performance of Josh Brolin.
Oh, and the opening credits are actually pretty well done.
THE BAD
Ok… are you comfortable?
First off, every good adventure movie needs a good villain, and while the motives and actions of the villain are well thought out, John Malkovich is misserably terrible at portraying him. Yes, I get the reasons why he does what he does, and he honestly thinks he is doing the “right” thing in the processs, but never once is he an appealing personality or presence. In the end he is just the badguy and inconsequential. He is there because we need a badguy. Completely missed out opportunity with an actor who does know better.
Megan Fox was certainly eyecandy, but they could edit the movie without her in it and it would be no better or worse. She just didn’t matter. Her acting is about what we expect, and she does look like a whore. I just wish they didn’t involve her as the sidekick. Unneccessary.
And now I know that this is supposed to be an alternative western based on a comic book, so its not going to be traditional. But the comic played the supernatural IN the Wild West and didn’t screw around with the setting. They took the other stuff and brought it along with a traditional world and it worked. Having the high tech weaponry that simply did not exist back then (dynamite crossbow might as well have been a grenade launcher) distracted me, and the rock music was the steel toed boot that fully kicked me straight out of the setting. Dammit that made me think that it was pretty much a modern era movie that took place in a Civil War re-enactment fantasy camp (many of the extras were in fact re-enactment enthusiasts)
And the pacing of the movie is erratic. When its up, it bangs right through. But the buildups are just not there, and most of the impacting plot points just have no impact. Some things are left vague for later explaination – which if used should be used to some effect or big relveal but instead we just get a “oh, thats what that was” uneventful reveal.
Oh, and I might be wrong, but not once does anyone call him Jonah… its Jonah Hex. Every time.
The supernatural element was also unimportant. They could have ignored the whole “talk to dead people” thing completely and replace it with a living snitch and the plot is the same.
OVERALL
The light plot, wasted villain, The Fox Standard, disfunctional era setting, bad soundtrack, and one perfectly played hero.
If you turn your brain off for this, its still not that much fun. Not completely terrible, but for me it wasn’t worth the drive to the theater.
I give Jonah Hex a 4 out of 10 for brain-off popcorn stuff, Fox’s corset and mostly Brolin’s presence
