Review: Jonah Hex

Plot: When Confederate cavalryman Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) sees his entire family murdered in front of him at the hands of his former commanding officer Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) as retribution for killing Turnbull's son Jeb (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Turnbull brands Hex and leaves him to die. Surviving the ordeal, Hex begins life as a bounty hunter after discovering that Turnbull apparently died in a fire. However, when Hex discovers that Turnbull is in fact alive and planning to blow up Washington D.C., revenge gets ugly.

Review: I'm not going to say that Jonah Hex is the most brilliant graphic novel movie adaptation ever. It's not. However, it's not nearly as ugly as other critics would have you believe. This is due in large part to director Jimmy Hayward who keeps the run time at a sleek and tight 81 minutes. The brevity of the screen time makes for a fun and fast paced action ride that rarely lets up, from the opening scenes of the Hex family slaughter, to the final climatic clash between Turnbull and Hex in the Washington D.C. harbor.

Unfortunately, the short run time also allows for very little in the way of character development. However, one might expect this from director Hayward who for most of his career in Hollywood has been an animator for Disney. It's Hayward's first foray into live action and it shows throughout Jonah Hex, as almost all of the characters are as two dimensional as a cartoon. Hayward isn't completely at fault however. Mark Nelvedine and Brian Taylor's screenplay is completely without nuance and severely lacking in dialogue. The scene where Hex speaks to his dead best friend Jeb (did I mention Hex can talk to the dead too?) is almost laughable. The gunshots had the most passionate lines in the movie.

The casting choices aren't exactly top notch either. Malkovich falls flat as Turnbull. He never seemed like a very menacing character and there is no explanation for his intense hatred of the Union. Instead Malkovich comes across as a hackneyed Snidely Whiplash. Eye candy Megan Fox is forgettable as Tallulah Black, a prostitute and love interest of Hex. The only reason Fox seems to be in the movie is because the producers needed at least one hot chick amidst the bevy of beefy men.

Thankfully, Brolin did a good job of carrying the film as the movie's main character. I think a great indication of an actor's talent is how well they do in bad movies. Brolin is one of the few bright spots in a decidedly ridiculous movie. Gritty, tough, and completely believable as a disfigured bounty hunter, Brolin's performance contrasts nicely with his turn as Tom Chaney in True Grit. Brolin exudes menace and vengeance. Another pleasant surprise is Michael Fassbender as Burke, a psychopathic Irishman and Turnbull's right hand man. Fassbender is deliciously wicked. With turns in movies like Inglorious Basterds, 300, Jane Eyre, and the upcoming X Men: First Class where he plays Magneto, it's safe to say that Fassbender's career is on the upswing.

Explosions, gunfights, and action rule the day in Jonah Hex which is about what you'd expect from a film like this. It's a schlock fest that relies more on in your face tactics rather than subtlety. While Jonah Hex doesn't totally hit the target, I guarantee you won't want to disfigure your face after you watch this movie.

My rating: 5/10