Jonah Hex (2010)
** (out of 4)
After seeing his family murdered and himself brutally mutilated by Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) turns bounty hunter to capture any bad guy he can but soon the President asks Hex to track down and kill Turnbull who has stolen a massive weapon that could take out the country. Without the ending credits this thing clocks in at 73-minutes, which is rather amazing in today's world when it seems movies keep getting longer and longer. I don't mind the short running time as I feel it something we need more of but at the same time this film is a mess. For starters, while watching the thing it's clear this was meant to be longer and more violent. The film jumps around from one bit of the story to the next and it appears the short running time was done to build the "style" of storytelling. Well, it just doesn't work because you feel as if you're watching something that is missing footage. This continues with the violence because at times we're watching a rather dark and moody film but then we get quick edits when the violence happens so to my eyes it's rather obvious that they wanted to get this a PG-13 rating. Would the more graphic violence had helped? I'd say probably so because, again, it's obvious the film had it cut out. I put the majority of the blame on director Hayward and his style. The quick edits, fast zooms and the various other "cool" objects he throws at us is just distracting and in the end they become very boring. This isn't a complete bomb as we do get some nice stuff and that includes Hex's ability to talk with the dead by touching them and bringing them back to life. I found some of these special effects to be off but at the same time it gave the film a certain darkness that I enjoyed. The best moment in the film happens when Hex brings his dead friend back to life, a friend he just happened to kill. The film takes place just after the Civil War and I thought they got the look of the land pretty good and this here was another plus. What does keep the film moving better than it deserves was the performance by Brolin who managed to make the character his very own. I loved the laid back approach to the role and Brolin's dry sense of humor worked perfectly as we do get a few nice one-liners. Malkovich appears to be having fun but the film doesn't get to spend too much time with him. Megan Fox plays the prostitute who Hex cares for and delivers a rather blah performance. There's nothing bad with her but there's nothing good either. She's obviously just here for eye candy as she's constantly in skimpy clothes and it's never made clear why she's in love with a disfigured Hex. I normally don't go for a film like this but the subject matter, cast and trailer made it look interesting but sadly the end result is extremely mixed and all in all a major disappointment. This film should have been so much more but the poor direction and ugly style just kills it in the end.
** (out of 4)
After seeing his family murdered and himself brutally mutilated by Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) turns bounty hunter to capture any bad guy he can but soon the President asks Hex to track down and kill Turnbull who has stolen a massive weapon that could take out the country. Without the ending credits this thing clocks in at 73-minutes, which is rather amazing in today's world when it seems movies keep getting longer and longer. I don't mind the short running time as I feel it something we need more of but at the same time this film is a mess. For starters, while watching the thing it's clear this was meant to be longer and more violent. The film jumps around from one bit of the story to the next and it appears the short running time was done to build the "style" of storytelling. Well, it just doesn't work because you feel as if you're watching something that is missing footage. This continues with the violence because at times we're watching a rather dark and moody film but then we get quick edits when the violence happens so to my eyes it's rather obvious that they wanted to get this a PG-13 rating. Would the more graphic violence had helped? I'd say probably so because, again, it's obvious the film had it cut out. I put the majority of the blame on director Hayward and his style. The quick edits, fast zooms and the various other "cool" objects he throws at us is just distracting and in the end they become very boring. This isn't a complete bomb as we do get some nice stuff and that includes Hex's ability to talk with the dead by touching them and bringing them back to life. I found some of these special effects to be off but at the same time it gave the film a certain darkness that I enjoyed. The best moment in the film happens when Hex brings his dead friend back to life, a friend he just happened to kill. The film takes place just after the Civil War and I thought they got the look of the land pretty good and this here was another plus. What does keep the film moving better than it deserves was the performance by Brolin who managed to make the character his very own. I loved the laid back approach to the role and Brolin's dry sense of humor worked perfectly as we do get a few nice one-liners. Malkovich appears to be having fun but the film doesn't get to spend too much time with him. Megan Fox plays the prostitute who Hex cares for and delivers a rather blah performance. There's nothing bad with her but there's nothing good either. She's obviously just here for eye candy as she's constantly in skimpy clothes and it's never made clear why she's in love with a disfigured Hex. I normally don't go for a film like this but the subject matter, cast and trailer made it look interesting but sadly the end result is extremely mixed and all in all a major disappointment. This film should have been so much more but the poor direction and ugly style just kills it in the end.