Jonah Hex

Jonah Hex 2010
Director: Jimmy Hayward
Writers: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
Starring Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, John Gallagher Jr., Tom Wopat, Michael Shannon, Wes Bentley, Aidan Quinn and Julia Jones
I am a self avowed comic book geek and one of my all time favorite characters is Jonah Hex. And a film on the character is something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. This film came close to being a great comic book film, the main thing that sent it back is the horrible performance by Megan Fox. Josh Brolin really embodies Hex and is magnetic to watch any time he is onscreen. It is just the screechingly bad performance of Fox that holds it back. The casting people and the costume designers must never have seen a prostitute in other western films because they never look that good and polished. They usually look used up. Another problem is a lot of the story elements seem borrowed from other films like The Legend of the Lone Ranger and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is a shame because I love the character of Hex so much and he gets relegated to a B movie.
The plot basics are this, Jonah Hex (Brolin) is a Lt. in Confederate army and decides to not go ahead and do an act and ends up having to kill his best friend. This enrages his father and his superior, Colonel Turnbull (Malkovich) and he enacts a revenge on Hex by torching his family and scarring his face for life. Hex then becomes a bounty hunter and searches the West for scum to bring down. It seems now though, that Turnbull plans on terrorizing the Union with a special weapon and the President (Quinn) asls for Hex’s aid in stopping Turnbull. Hex agrees so he can get his revenge on Turnbull and damn anyone who gets in his way.
This film has many good elements but somehow falls flat. The direction by Hayward is good. He sets up and pulls off the action sequences. I especially liked the Gatling gun scene which took me back to Django. He tried his best with the Fox character scenes but they just fell flat. The script has some decent elements but also cribs its ideas from other better films. The very ending seems like a carbon copy of the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The cast has its good and bad parts. Brolin really embodies Jonah Hex. He is magnetic every time he takes over the screen. Malkovich really overacts but it really fits the role. Fox on the other hand is just horrible. It is like she is reading her lines like she is reading a report. Quinn was also good as President Grant and I also like Wes Bentley as the conniving Lusk. The SFX and action sequences were done quite well. They really pulled off the look of Hex’s visage very well. Another thing I really dug was the animated sequence in the beginning of the film. The score is very dynamic and fitting for a Western film and really sets the tone for the film. This is a decent comic book film, with some glaring issues that keep it from achieving a great status. I would recommend it to both Western and comic fans though.
This one gets 3 out of 5