Jonah Hex (Movie Review)

Although I’m a big fan of DC comics, I’ve never followed the Jonah Hex comic book, so I can’t speak of this movie’s fidelity to the source material. And normally I wouldn’t review a western, but the previews for this movie indicated some clearly supernatural elements that made it a good fit for the kind of movies I review.

Jonah Hex is about a man in the 1800’s whose family was killed in front of him and who is now a bounty hunter, trying to punish criminals to make himself feel a little better. But when it is revealed that his family’s killer, once thought dead, is still alive, Jonah drops everything to hunt him down. Oh yeah, and a hooker with a heart of… well, she’s got a heart and she’s tagging along because she likes Jonah, or something.

This is going to be a short review because I found this movie extremely forgettable. I don’t remember a single interesting character. Hex was most interesting in the flashbacks dealing with the death of his family. Otherwise, he showed no depth of character. In fact, every character in this movie was pretty flat. John Malcovich plays the villain, Quentin Turnbull, but because of his “unique” style of acting, it’s hard to tell whether or not he’s phoning this one in. Either way, Turnbull was flat and boring in nearly every scene he was in.

The explosions were fine, the effects were fine. Everything was fine. But nothing was great, or even very good. Predictable plot, flat characterization, conventional shooting style and set/costume design. This movie might have been something special if it had used more supernatural story elements and been more creative in its visual design.

As with any story that deals with communication with the dead, this movie could potentially lead to conversation about the afterlife. But the movie is so bland that you’ll probably be ready to talk about something else before you even get out of the theater.

At least it’s short. From opening to closing credits, I clocked the movie at under 80 minutes. I can’t help but wonder if some good material was left on the cutting room floor.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, disturbing images and sexual content.

Quality: 7.0/10

Relevance: 6.5/10