Jonah Hex is a result of DC Comics foray into westerns in the early 70s. I’ve always been a fan of westerns, an influence of my mother I think. So of course when I discovered Jonah Hex I was an instant fan. He was and is a different kind of character from their normal fare. Grittier tales set in the old west with nary a superhero or scrap of spandex to be seen. For the most part they were more realistic tales with only the occasional supernatural bent. Just a hard man surviving against impossible odds with nothing more than his guts and a pair of side arms. Of course he also tends to be one of DC’s more obscure characters, a cult figure who has always languished among the c-listers. As a result when I heard a movie was being made I was pleasantly surprised. I was also a bit worried how they’d try to reinvent the character for the screen.
Casting for the movie raised my optimism. Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex turned out to be an inspired choice. He plays Hex straight as a hard man, one betrayed and scarred both physically and emotionally by the world. But he keeps enough humanity in him so that the character doesn’t become too much of a cliché. Then you have John Malkovich as his nemesis the insane Quentin Turnbull. Malkovich is always a delight to watch, especially as a villain. The rest of the cast list is decent but none of them really get enough screen time to stretch their acting muscles. Of all the supporting cast only Megan Fox has any significant screen time and her character is such a cliché and really has so few lines that its hard to judge her acting. Really any pretty face could have played the part.
At the same time however I started looking at the director and started to get worried. Turns out this guy’s only previous directorial work was as co-director on “Horton Hears a Who!”. Prior to that he was an animator at Pixar. Frankly not a high recommendation for making a big budget action film there. Then of course you have the writers who’s previous claim to fame are the films “Crank” and its sequel. That at least gives them a pedigree of action, but neither of those movies is known for its strong story. Then to add to the quagmire the director was booted after turning in his cut and Francis Lawrence of “I Am Legend” was brought in to reshoot many scenes and re-cut the film. Even without all this knowledge the fact that the movie had a troubled production history becomes painfully obvious the moment you watch it. Its like two different movies were stitched together by a blind man.
The movie opens on the darkest moment in Jonah Hex’s life. His former commander General Quentin Turnbull, having tracked him down after the Civil War, murders his family and brands him as punishment for killing his own son Jeb. Though it doesn’t follow the comics storyline it’s a good start. However the movie then shifts to an animated piece as the opening credits roll and we get a convoluted bit of backstory that honestly would have made a much better plot for the film then what we got. From there the film is a convoluted mix of the supernatural, steampunk style technology, and a spaghetti western. The film jumps from scene to scene with no real transitions, the directors favoring apparently not caring if the audience has a clue what’s going on.
What should have been a dark gritty R-rated western with a very light supernatural over tone became a bad B-movie with a big budget and only a passing connection to its source material. Its only redeeming features are the Brolin and Malkovich as the leads. But even they can’t save a film with such an incoherent story. The past few years Hollywood has proven that with a good story and good direction a comic book movie can be not only good but incredible. Jonah Hex had neither, and as a result the movie is not just a bad comic book movie, but just plain bad. Though peppered with moments of enjoyment the total package is barely worth a rental. Wait and catch this one on cable people.