Jonah Hex

Jonah Hex is another movie with the trend of being based on a comic book or graphic novel. While the overall premise of a mysterious bounty hunter with super natural powers bent on revenge against the man who killed his family in front of him has the makings for a solid movie. Unfortunately, Jonah Hex falls short of the standard that has been set recently in the graphic novel/comic book adaptation genre. While, it is bad in so many ways there were still some enjoyable moments throughout.

Unfortunately, the acting suffered greatly in this movie. For some reason James Brolin as Jonah Hex did not work for me. As the main character I did not connect at all with Jonah Hex. There was a lacking depth for the character that would have been needed to help me want to cheer for the main hero. Brolin delivered his lines, yet he just did not command the screen. While there were some good one liners from him he did not have chemistry with anyone else on the screen. Megan Fox as the saloon girl was a terrible decision. While Fox is definitely easy on the eyes, her fake accent was horrendous. She does not connect on screen with anyone and comes across being hollow and the audience sees that she is trying so hard to act and that she does not become the role.

One of the redeeming points in this movie were the action scenes. Yet even this the movie marketers messed up because the best action sequence of Jonah Hex on his horse and firing two Gatling guns that are mounted on the side of the horse. This really cool sequence rather then keeping it hidden until the movie released they made the mistake by putting it in the trailer. The best action movies know this and they keep the best action scenes unshown until the audience sees it in the movie. True to action movies Jonah Hex does give plenty of fights, gun firing and explosions to get any males blood pumping.

The writing for the storyline was definitely lacking. Brolin and Malkovich normally give strong performances and while they do not connect with the audience the lack of depth for the characters falls on the heads of the writers. The interaction is not there as well. It would have made a huge difference if the writing would have made the characters less shallow.

Jonah Hex fell short on so many levels, from the writing to the acting did not meet the standard that has been set in recent years with the emergence of so many comic book/graphic novel adaptations to movies. I am giving Jonah Hex two buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that if you want to just focus on the decent action parts that I stated earlier it may be worth the cost of renting, otherwise I would skip this movie.

-The Movie Man