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http://daunerobinson.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/movie-review-jonah-hex/

Movie Review: Jonah Hex
June 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I love being pleasantly surprised by a movie! I’m not sure why I wanted to go to the preview screening of Jonah Hex, because I didn’t have very high hopes for the film, but I’m glad I did. I enjoyed it!

Here are some things that will help you decide whether you want to go: the comic book genesis of the movie is very prevalent, to the point that they tell some of Jonah Hex’ story with comic book frames; Jonah Hex is an anti-hero, meaning you’re asked to root for a guy who has done some very bad things in his life; the movie is dark and intense, with a bit of a supernatural element to the evil side. If you’re still with me, you might want to go. Josh Brolin is perfectly brooding, as the growling and disfigured Jonah Hex. He fought in the Civil War for the confederate side and went afoul of some even worse men who took away the things he held precious. That sets him on a course of vengeance and bounty hunting. Much is made of Megan Fox in the film, but she does what any pretty girl in a western/action film does. She tries to make the most of her minutes, and she looks good in her corset. Can she act? Probably not. But, no actress wants to take that part in this movie, so I don’t have a problem with it. My only criticism is about a later scene, where she’s out of the bordello, and I think, at that time, such a gal would have her hair up and act more ladylike, but it’s a COMIC BOOK MOVIE, right? John Malkovich does his thing as the bad guy. My son, as always, liked the psycho sidekick, played by Michael Fassbender. I enjoyed solid cameos from Lance Reddick and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It was blissfully short, because it’s very dark and violent, at just 80 minutes. And, they preserve a PG-13 rating by cutting away from a lot of the more gruesome acts. For summer action, I’d rather watch this again than see the last Transformers movie. Then again, that’s not saying a lot. I give Jonah Hex a 7 out of 10.

http://www.coreplanets.com/forums/showthread.php?7429-Jonah-Hex...

I went out to see this on Friday. I didn't think it was too bad. I actually had fun during the movie. Megan Fox was perfectly cast as a worthless prostitute.... she serves no purpose in the movie and is just there for the people who still haven't discovered internet porn. Jonah's origin and backstory is told in 5 minutes worth of flashbacks and then it's on with the action. I thought Brolin and Malkovich both did a good job but that Michael Fassbender (who I'd never heard of before) was awesome as Turnbull's right-hand man, Burke. It's a really short movie at 1:20 so even if you don't like it at least it will be over soon.

http://jonahhex.blogspot.com/2010/06/susan-speaks-out-on-jonah-hex.html

Monday, June 21, 2010
Susan speaks out on Jonah Hex
Susan Hillwig, she of Weird Western Quarterly and sometimes alias of Jonah Hex, wrote her review of Jonah Hex, tossed it into an email for me to read and I knew I HAD to share it with everyone else. Here, for your reading pleasure, Susan Hillwig:


Been hearin’ the rumors for months now, crazy talk ‘bout how he’d changed so drastically, how he wasn’t the same person. But me and him, we go back a ways, and I figured the only way to get the truth was to go seek out the man himself. So I met up with him in a darkened theatre, and we had good long talk for about 80-odd minutes.

And let me reassure you, friends, that Jonah Hex (in the guise of Josh Brolin) may look and act a bit different than what we’re used to, but on the inside, he’s the same man we’ve known for over 38 years.

It was kind of a shock, in a way. Everything I’ve been hearing had lowered my expectations to near-zero, so I thought I’d be groaning under my breath for most of the film. I will concede that those who don’t know the character at all might not like it because, as those that do know him are aware, Hex is not an easy character to love: he’s dirty, he’s surly, he’d sooner spit in your eye than offer a kind word...and I’d say that Brolin nails every bit of that attitude. Unfortunately, movie franchises are not usually based around guys like that, so I reckon the critics are a little taken aback by what they saw, but as a Hex-nut, I was pleased. He does show a soft edge here and there, but only when appropriate, and that’s not out-of-character for him either...Hell, I was damn-near moved at one point because, once again, Brolin nailed it. Either he or the writers studied Hex real close, because I can’t think of one line coming out of his mouth that rang false.

Hex’s backstory took a few bad lumps, though, which is understandable: in this knee-jerk, politically-correct age, no studio would likely let ritual scarring by angry Apaches hit the big screen. So instead, the honor of administering it goes to Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich), but don’t worry, kids, they still manage to work in a red-hot tomahawk to the face later on, much to my surprise. There’s also the garbling of the Turnbull/Hex feud, taking away the element of Hex’s accidental betrayal of his unit and making it deliberate, but with good reason, as Turnbull was steering them towards wholesale slaughter as opposed to simple battlefield tactics. The full details behind the betrayal are never made clear, but they do say that Hex shot Turnbull’s son Jeb, so on that count at least, Hex is guilty, and this leads directly to Turnbull’s eye-for-an-eye vengeance. Another alteration on that, as Hex is given an Indian wife and son (and going by the kid’s age, I’d say this marriage predates the War). Sadly, their only reason for existence seems to be as sacrificial lambs and possibly a tenuous link to Hex’s brief Indian upbringing (if we miraculously get a sequel, I’d like to see that explored). Luckily, those Indians are also the ones who pull Hex back from the brink of death after Turnbull shatters his life.

And that brings us to a major change in Hex’s character: he talks to dead people. Before going into the movie, I psyched myself out by saying that Brolin’s Hex was nutters and he imagined this ability, but nope, he’s really doing it...and Lord help me, Brolin makes it believable. In his hands, talking to the dead becomes simply another tool in Hex’s arsenal, and he treats it as such. For the record, we only see him use it three times: the first establishes the parameters of how it works, the second provides us with a scene that lays out a remarkable depth of feeling for Hex that I really don’t want to spoil, and the third is over with lickety-split but it’s so creative and mad-dog mean that you know the comic-book Hex would do it too if he could. I still think they shouldn’t have saddled an all-too-human character with a supernatural trait, but they made me accept it within the confines of this flick, so I’m okay with it.

As for other oddities...well, some work and some don’t. The acid-spitting weirdo in the pit-fighting scene seems to have no purpose but to up the crazy factor a bit (though the conversation between Hex and Tom Wopat’s character happening just above the pit-fight works well). Hex’s specialty weapons look like stuff he might consider using if he could actually get his hands on them (though that horse of his must be very well-trained to tolerate the noise of twin Gatling guns like that!), and Turnbull’s “nation-killer” gun is the ultimate in steampunk, reminding me of the Nazis’ actual “Big Bertha” gun in a way. I give the writers props for working in Eli Whitney (and accurately mentioning that he’s responsible for modern manufacturing as well as the cotton gin...both of which are inadvertent causes of the Civil War, by the by), but for the life of me, I can’t think of what in blazes those flaming dragonballs the cannon spews out are supposed to be made of! Oh, and I take points off for giving the thing Capitol building-shaped crosshairs...that’s just plain silly.

I suppose I should take a second to review the other characters in this flick. John Malkovich does a good job as Turnbull, and though he’s more physically active than his comic-book counterpart, I noticed that, as with Brolin/Hex, the attitude is the same: he spends more time playing mastermind and directing others to do his dirty work than he does getting his own hands dirty. Even the way he talks, all blustery and spelling everything out, conforms to the original character. Megan Fox’s character of Lilah doesn’t get as much screen-time as the ads would have you believe, but she does a decent job when she’s there. The age difference between Brolin and Fox is a mite distracting, but since I remember Hex one time bedded down with a gal half his age, I could excuse it. What surprised me about Lilah was how well she handled her weapons...but since I knew what her full name was before it was said on film, I shouldn’t have been surprised at all. The biggest pleasure for me was watching Michael Fassbender as Turnbull’s Irish crony Burke. This guy was just wicked fun every time he was on screen, and a real threat to Hex. Plus he made me grin when he kept calling Hex “little flower” as a put-down.

Now to address two problems that keep coming up in other reviews I’ve seen: the length and the editing. Honestly, I didn’t feel that the movie clocked in too short, though I could’ve sat through at least another hour of it and not complained. Not once did I look at my watch, which I normally do at least once during a movie, so if they can keep my eyes on the screen and not on the time, then that’s a plus. As for editing, it doesn’t get choppy for me until the end fight (I swear there’s one split-second scene that they showed twice within maybe five minutes, but that might’ve been my eyes playing tricks), but where I can see what might be off-putting for some folks in the interspersing of the actual fight between Hex and Turnbull alongside a “internal” fight of those same guys on a field of red clay (which also pops up here and there throughout the film). If I understand from other sources, the red clay sequence was supposed to be the original end fight, but they nixed it in favor of steampunk cannons. Luckily, somebody found a way to work it back in that’s artsy as Hell, and I loved it. Personally, I could probably spend a paragraph dissecting the meaning of the red clay sequence, but I’m trying to be brief here.

All in all, I had a good time, and best of all, I don’t think they insulted Jonah Hex one bit. That was my biggest concern from the moment they announced there would be a movie: the notion that they’d toss any old junk together and call it good because he’s a lower-tier character. There are a few bumps in the road that I could’ve done without, but I’d go see it again, and I hope the inevitable DVD comes with so much extra stuff that they need 5 disks to pack it all in.

Now I just have to find a way to explain this flick to anybody that isn’t a Hex-nut...
Posted by Dwayne "the canoe guy" at 11:53 AM

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/jun/22/jonah-hex/

Jonah Hex

Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, and Megan Fox star in a film written by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, based on the DC Comic book, and directed by Jimmy Hayward.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
By Josef Woodard (Contact)

Nobody will accuse Josh Brolin of pulling a pretty boy card in his latest role. As Jonah Hex, the hell-bent gunslinger, bullet-impervious post-Civil War bounty hunter, Brolin sports a mangled mug and a permanent air-sucking snarl which could be called the opposite of a facelift. In other facial news, the crazed former Confederate officer Quentin Turnbull, who has visions of anarchy and payback after losing the war, is played with longhaired grizzliness by John Malkovich, who puts his slightly cross-eyed visage to good use in the über-villain role. And in between these visions of ugliness is one Megan Fox, again cast in a role that finds her living up to her last name, as a prostitute most often seen in fancy undergarments.

If this visual scheme seems cartoon-y, it is, according to plan. Jonah Hex, based on the DC Comic book, takes a fresh spin at the Western genre, going freely over the top while also checking in with cozy old cultural clichés. Brolin is your standard lone gunman, at the ready with one-liners and killer aim, but Native Americans also invest him with mystical powers; “a knack” for briefly bringing corpses to semi-life. In the artillery department, Hex ain’t messing around, bearing mini-Gatling guns under his overcoat, and procuring a fancy mutant weapon that’s part holster-sized crossbow and part rocket launcher—a mash-up gun well placed in a mash-up neo-Western. But Hex’s arsenal is nothing compared to his foe Turnbull’s evil scheme, to deploy a strange proto-WMD—a “super weapon, nation-killer”—and wreak havoc over our nation’s Centennial.

A crazed genre-bender movie, like a latter-day twist on the old semi-sci-fi television western Wild, Wild West, Jonah Hex wears its narrative and stylistic audacity proudly, but at the expense of our bearings and empathy with the story and its characters, however archetypal/anti-archetypal. Marco (The Hurt Locker) Beltrami’s musical score, for instance, moves from spaghetti western-ized baritone guitar to heavy metal distortion from Mastadon, the kind of sonic touch germane to the world of comic book fans and video gamers. In other words, there’s something for everyone here, to a fault. But sinister fun lines the way.

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/06/24/conroe_courier/lifestyles/0625_huckaby.txt


‘Jonah Hex’ has style, imagery to become a cult classic

“Jonah Hex”

Rated: PG-13 for intense violence and sexual content

Time: 80 Minutes

ast: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, John Gallagher Jr., Tom Wopat, Michael Shannon, Wes Bentley, Julia Jones, Alden Quinn

Rating: ** 1/2 & (out of four stars)
By Michael HuckabyMovie reviews
Updated: 06.24.10

“Jonah Hex” is one of the most utterly unique and bizarre movies released by a major studio in many years. Based on a graphic D.C. Comics series, the storyline makes it a quasi-supernatural morality tale exploring man’s inhumanity to man. While the tone and feel is that of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western combined with Jules Verne gadgetry, the action is in the rural South a decade after the Civil War. Though replete with fascinating scenes, Warner Brothers over-edits director Jimmy Hayward (“Horton Hears a Who”), drastically reducing the runtime and thus leaving gaping plot holes. Lacking in substance, the movie nevertheless has the style and imagery to become a cult classic, and collectors will clamor for the unedited version.

Visually, the movie does a wonderful job taking us back in time. The story begins with an artistic animated prologue introducing Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), a simple Confederate soldier. Set around small towns like Stunk Crick, Georgia, all the props – including the lurking denizens – reek of authenticity.

During the closing days of the war, Jonah refuses an order to burn a hospital and winds up in a death duel with his captain, the son of General Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). After General Ulysses S. Grant (Alden Quinn) wins the war, Jonah returns to his family farm.

A few months later, Quentin and his tattooed Irish henchman Burke (Michael Fassbender) lead a late night raid on the farm. They tie Jonah to a cross in the yard and apply a red-hot branding iron to his right cheek. Before leaving, Quentin locks Jonah’s family in the house, torches it and forces him to watch his wife and young son perish in agony.

With nefarious plans to hatch, Quentin fakes his own death. After establishing a secret fort in the wilderness, he recruits an army of terrorists and leads raids on ordinance depots and commits atrocities. Tipped by a traitorous congressman that a passenger train holds newfangled weapons invented by Eli Whitney, he captures the train and spitefully blows up railcars filled with women and children.

Nursed to health by Crow Indian relatives of his wife, Jonah’s experience imbues him with the ability to awaken corpses and intimidate them – decomposed bodies that are aware of current events. Grotesquely disfigured with a leaking hole in his face, Jonah becomes a notorious bounty hunter. He rides with enormous Gatling guns mounted on each side of his saddle and a loyal mongrel named Dog.

As the 1876 Centennial approaches, Grant is now president and Jonah has developed a relationship of sorts with curvaceous Lilah (Megan Fox), the Stunk Crick saloon’s fiercely independent hooker.

When Grant discovers that Quentin is alive and intends to destroy Washington D.C. with a doomsday weapon, he recruits Jonah to save the country. Lilah joins the hunt and they begin a quest to stop Quentin and his traitorous minions.

Both Malkovich and Fassbender make classy demented villains. Corseted and with computer enhanced charms, Fox’s accent comes across as authentic. Best known for playing George W. Bush in 2008’s “W,” Brolin was an Oscar nominee for his supporting role in “Milk.”

http://myblogoohyah.blogspot.com/2010/06/jonah-hex.html

Jonah Hex
Stars Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Wes Bentley, with Aidan Quinn, and Michael Shannon

I got in to this one for free. Let's start with that. A friend, who conveniently works at the movie theatre, gave me a call one Thursday night and asked if I'd go check out the latest Hollywood bloodbath with him, and I responded with a masculine roar. Cheesy? Perhaps. Jonah Hex seemed interesting for a number of reasons. I admire Josh Brolin, who was outstanding in No Country for Old Men and W., and I have always been a fan of John Malkovich. While I hated the Transformers series, I personally believe Megan Fox to be a good actress, should she ever be cast in the right roles. The rest of the cast I also looked forward to, and so I sat down and in the first five minutes of the film something blew up. Then something else blew up and alot of people got killed.

Here we go, I thought.

Brolin plays the titular of Jonah Hex, a good-ol'-boy who's had a run in with death, and because of it can talk to the dead. A good thing, too, because he's around so many dead people. He's just finished his most recent barrage of bullets and killed several men, so he decides to have a visit to his favorite woman, Megan Fox. (Many adolocent males may have the same 'favorite woman' there). He's awoken the next morning rather rudely by Union men (including Will Arnett, in a rather strange turn from comedy) who wants him to help track down Quentin Turnbull, who has supposedly died in a hotel fire.

Hex treks (I rhymed) to Washington D.C. and meets President U. S. Grant (Aidan Quinn), who tells him of what has happened; Turnbull has located a weapon crudely named the "Nation Killer", and he intends to turn it loose on the U.S. Why? Because Turnbull is an unreformed Confederate, who seems to want to reignite the Civil War. (Though I saw nothing Civil about it...) We also have Michael Fassbender playing Burke, Turnbull's right hand man. Hex has a bone to pick with both men, and decides to go after them, and also make a little money at the same time.

This was actually pretty good. I was surprised when I heard that Thomas Jane had originally been lobbying for this part. Didn't he say The Punisher wasn't as dramatic and real as films he wanted to go in to? I'm glad they chose Brolin, who's deep, scratchy voice fits Hex's tough demeanor beautifully. Speaking of beautifully, Megan Fox is total eye-candy in this. Her role had absolutely nothing to do with plot developement, but I'm still glad she's there.

I never thought I'd say this, but my main problem was with John Malkovich. In In The Line of Fire, Malkovich played a brilliant assasin bent on killing the President in both a diabolic and ingenious way, and in Ripley's Game, he played the enigmatic genius Tom Ripley. But here, his simple goal is to blow s$#! up. That he does, for sure, but still. John Malkovich just seems smarter than that.

Besides these three, we have Aidan Quinn as President Grant. Quinn's good, and it's good to see him in a big time movie again, but I would've had Kevin Kline take the role as a nod to Wild Wild West. I think that would've been cool. Just sayin'. Wes Bentley is also in the cast, in a pretty small role as a Confederate defector. Michael Fassbender is pretty cool as the reptilean, bowler-hat wearing Burke. Finally, Michael Shannon, who I'd been siked to see since his incredible role in Revolutionary Road, has more of a cameo than an actual role. Kind of a shame.

Jonah Hex was exactly what it promised it would be; a big-budget popcorn action flick. I was satisfied, and so was my friend. If you're a fan of the steampunk action-western genre, I think you'll enjoy it too.

http://lorddixiesblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/jonah-hex-review.html

Thursday, July 1, 2010
Jonah Hex review
Megan Fox, Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender


Another DC comics character came to life on the big screen with Jonah Hex. Hex stars Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex, Megan Fox as his love interest and John Malkovitch as Jonah’s arch nemesis. Jonah Hex has been a film I have been looking forward too every since I first heard it was being made. I remember Jonah fondly from my childhood and am a big fan of the recent mini series written by Joe R. Lansdale. The early reviews were tough on old Jonah but that didn’t deter me from laying my cash down for a ticket opening weekend.

The movie follows the adventures of the title Jonah, a former Confederate soldier as he searches for the man who killed his family and left him brutally scarred. The film was not perfect but overall I enjoyed it. Hopefully the film will do well enough for a sequel. Now for the good and the bad about the film.

Josh Brolin makes the perfect Jonah Hex. After seeing this I could not imagine anyone else playing the role. Maybe Clint Eastwood in his younger years could have pulled it off. After all Eastwood modeled the look of Josey Wales on Jonah. Brolin had just the right amount of machismo for the role. At the same time we could see that sadness, melancholy and outright hatred that Jonah posses for those that wrong him. Josh also has the rough features that suit Jonah so well.

The story had more of a supernatural edge that I was expecting. Early on there were rumors of a zombie army, but the film makers decided to go a more realistic route. Knowing this I was not expecting the amount of supernatural thrown in Jonah Hex. Still they didn’t push it too far, leaving Jonah with the ability to talk to the dead and a demonic “snake man” in one scene. Both of these could be played off as non supernatural with a small stretching of the mental muscle. Jonah would not seem right without at least a touch of the otherworldly.

Megan Fox has gotten a lot of criticism and I know a lot of people who groaned when she got the role of Lila. Honestly she has earned some of her criticisms, but she does a decent job in Jonah Hex. Her accent was strained, but her dialogue is somewhat limited. She is beautiful to look at and handles the more physical parts very well.
It‘s hard to say anything bad about John Malkovitch. That being said he really didn‘t have that much depth of character here to work with. He did ok with the role but Turnbull really didn’t seem developed beyond generic evil villain. His voice and demeanor suited Turnbull perfectly and he was an excellent choice. He just needed more to work with. Likewise Turnbulls grand plan to “destroy the country” seemed not so well thought out and his motivations not that clear.


One of the things that scared me going into the film was the use of gadgets in the trailer. Jonah was always six gun and fists kind of anti hero, not a James West secret agent type guy. Happily the gadgets did not play as big a part as I had feared. They still seemed out of place and I think the film would have worked just as well without them.

The character of Smith seemed thrown in just as a way to distance Jonah from slavery ( and provide gadgets.) As it is Smith stands almost as a token black with no real story or purpose. Leaving Jonah in his Confederate coat and hat was one thing I liked about the film. Throwing aside any fears of political correctness and possibly tackling the truth that not all men who fought for the South believed in slavery. This brings me to another point, Jonah’s origin.

In the comic origin ( at least one of them, comics are nefarious for having multiple origins,) Jonah surrenders to the Union, and ala Josey Wales, his men are slaughtered. Inn the film it makes it seem that Jonah is complicit in the slaughter and paints all his men as evil. The story doesn’t go too deeply into this but a scene with Jonah looking on as his men are lined up sticks in my mind.

One of the great things about westerns is the west. The soaring mountains and wide open spaces are a cinematographer’s dream. Jonah Hex had little of this. Other than a few scenes the whole film could possibly have been filmed on a sound stage. There are a couple of spooky graveyards and a few scenes of Jonah Riding across the range but too much is filmed indoors and at night. I would have loved to have seen Jonah in a gun battle in the middle of the wilderness instead of so much sneaking around.

While I am not a Megan Fox hater, and she did do a decent job in Jonah Hex, I did find myself thinking she was simply too attractive for the role. I can’t remember Jonah ever being that picky about the ladies. With his prominent facial scarring, I don’t think he could have been that picky. Still seeing Megan Fox all sweaty in that tight corset did make me happier than seeing Rosanne Barr in it. I’m willing to call Megan a positive on that account alone.

The hallucinatory fight between Jonah and Turnbull seemed forced. I really didn’t see the need for it beyond just giving Brolin and Malkovitch more time on screen together. I had much rather have seen this a s a real fight near the end of the film, or even a fight before the end. Probably my biggest knock against the film is that I would have liked more action. Give me another fight scene with Michael Fassbender or Malkovitch. I wanted more gunplay.

Still even though this might seem negative, I loved Jonah Hex. Why? Because over all it is just so cool and seeing Jonah Hex on the big screen is a dream come true. The wrong actor could have spoiled this but Josh Brolin nailed it. So even though there are a lot of things that could have been better, I have to give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Posted by Lord Dixie at 6:55 AM

http://www.bognor.co.uk/entertainments/FILM-REVIEW-Jonah-Hex-15.6510300.jp


FILM REVIEW: Jonah Hex (15)

Published Date: 02 September 2010
Another week, another comic book adaptation. With Hollywood feeling the economic gloom along with the rest of us, proven hits such as graphic novels seem to promise ripe pickings for success-hungry producers.
But they all need a USP. Unlike the recent run of geeky, futuristic caped crusaders, Jonah Hex is an anti-hero: A scarred bounty hunter in the Wild West.

A former Confederate soldier in the Civil War, his family was killed by Colonel Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) and his face branded with hot metal.

He still bears the emotional and physical scars and rides around the country using his supernatural powers of talking to dead people to help him catch villains - which sates his thirst for revenge.

When Turnbull starts plotting to overthrow the union, Hex (Josh Brolin) is the only man who can stop him.

As a rock riff fades to old country guitar, Hex begins the film with a voiceover: "War and me took to each other really well, felt like it had meaning... Doing what you felt was right, but it wasn't."

It's ironic these words are voiced by the actor who also played George Bush in W.

In flashback, we see Turnbull string Hex up on a cross outside his burning family home, before branding him. A comic strip montage brings us up to the present: Hex riding into town dragging three dead men behind him.

Cue a slick Western shoot-out, as Hex kills the double-crossing Sheriff and his men, before riding off with a swish of his worn military cloak.

Turnbull, presumed dead but very much alive, begins his dastardly plan by hijacking a train carrying Union soldiers and stealing a 'superweapon' - which he'll use to wipe out Washington.

When President Grant (Aidan Quinn) learns of the "terrorista", he declares: "The fate of our nation rests on Jonah Hex's shoulders".

Hex, meanwhile, is partaking of some rye, which mostly drains through the hole in his disfigured face, before paying a visit to his lady friend Lilah (Megan Fox) - a New Orleans prostitute who counts his bullet holes as foreplay.

Fox is in characteristic feisty sidekick territory here, but apart from the final slow-motion shoot-out on Turnbull's boat, she sees very little action - and is really only there for her corset-clad sex appeal.

Michael Fassbender is deliciously manic as Turnbull's tattooed Irish right-hand man Burke, and Brolin embodies the death-defying Hex to perfection.

****

http://mandasmovements.blogspot.com/2010/10/movie-review-jonah-hex-2010.html

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Movie Review: Jonah Hex (2010)
★★★★★★★ Some faults, but good
Jonah Hex (2010)
Official Site

Starring: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon, Michael Fassbender
Directing: Jimmy Hayward
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, disturbing images and sexual content)

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a stoic, battle-hardened gunslinger who can track down anyone…and anything. Having survived death, Jonah’s violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the “other side.” A man fated to wander alone, his sole human connection is with Lilah (Megan Fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. Jonah’s past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can’t refuse: in exchange for freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the sinister terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), the man who killed Hex’s family and mutilated his face with a branding iron. Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah’s oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead.

I was really looking forward to this and while it wasn't exactly bad, I was hoping for a lot more. Being based on a DC Comic I thought it would have some great special effects with a plot twist or two and decent actors. It failed on the first two counts and almost passed on the third. Like I said it wasn't exactly bad. The storyline was fairly entertaining and there's nothing like watching someone deal out vengence and becoming worse than the person who caused it all in the first place. I didn't find myself bored or wanting to walk away. The fact that things kept moving forward kept me interested. Also it was a short movie so not much time to hate it outright.

Back to one of the points I mentioned before, the special effects were lame. With a capital L. Seriously, when the village is being blown up by Turnball's "secret" weapon it looks like the graphics from a video game. Those weapons weren't really explained well either. They looked like Dragon Balls. Nothing much surprised me about what was happening. From the word go you can pretty much figure out how it's all going to end. As for the actors, the men were pretty good. Jonah's face makeup was equally gross and fascinating. I liked Turnball's right hand man, Burke. His tatts were cool though he seemed a bit too well spoke for a bad guy. Megan Fox was horrible. She had no emotion, created no empathy from me and just seemed fake when she's all over Jonah.

I liked the whole idea behind Jonah, that he's stuck between the living and dead by being brought back from the brink of death by the Indians and can now talk to the dead. His reaction time to enemies seemed a bit otherworldly which didn't hold true when he fought Turnball who was obviously older than him but could still get him on the ground. Basically, it's an entertaining movie if you don't look below the surface and just need a way to pass the time. Rent it or borrow. Whatever the cheapest way of seeing it is so you won't feel cheated if it's not your cup of tea. I'm a sucker for the supernatural thus me still liking this with all it's faults.

http://www.chargerbulletin.com/2010/10/06/famed-antihero-comes-to-the-big-screen/

Famed Antihero Comes to the Big Screen
by Isaak Kifle | October 6, 2010

During the last week of September, funny how time flies, SCOPE’s movie of the week was Jonah Hex. There were some technical difficulties during the Tuesday, September 28 airing that caused a 30 minute delay and a change of rooms, but as a result, the audience got a nice treat: a larger movie screen.

Originally a character in a 1972 DC comic, Jonah Hex first stared in his own self-titled comic in 1977. However, unlike far more well-known DC characters such as Superman, Hex is not your typical shining beacon of purity, instead serving as an early comic book example of an antihero. Rather than the beautiful (and often unrealistically perfect) faces you’d expect, Hex is horribly scarred on one side of his face; the reason is shown in the beginning of the movie, though this, as well as the plot as a whole, differs from the comics. But perhaps what distinguishes him the most from the stereotypical hero is that Jonah Hex isn’t out to help people or obtain glory and honor; he’s out for vengeance.

In the movie, Hex, played by Josh Brolin, is a bounty hunter seeking revenge for the murders of his wife and son. The culprits are Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), a vicious outlaw, and his right-hand man Burke (Michael Fassbender). President Ulysses Grant (Aidan Quinn) and Lieutenant Grass (Will Arnett) inform Hex that Turnbull had survived a fire that Hex had believed killed him years ago, setting Hex off on his journey. Lastly, he is aided by Lilah (Megan Fox), who serves as the film’s female lead.

Jonah Hex mixes supernatural elements with a 1800s western theme. While lacking super-strength, flight, or other popular superpowers, Hex possesses the ability to communicate with the dead, which is the result of a near death experience he had. However, such a skill is more appropriate for gathering information than fighting. Rather, Hex relies on his fighting skills and proficiency with guns to take down his opponents. This encompasses everything from pistols to explosives, gatling guns and even, in one scene, a crossbow with exploding arrows. What is perhaps even more interesting is the “doomsday device” Quentin Turnbull comes across, though you will have to see the movie to discover what it is.

The plot of Jonah Hex mostly follows standard devices. However, the strength of this movie lies in its action scenes, which are gritty, fast-paced and hard-hitting. Whether you’re a long-time fan of Hex from the comics, itching for a good action flick, or simply want to see thugs shot with exploding arrows, Jonah Hex will leave you on the edge of your seat. Great movie pick SCOPE!

http://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/2010/11/jonah-hex-movie-wasnt-as-bad-as-folks.html

Friday, November 26, 2010
'Jonah Hex' movie wasn't as bad as folks made out
I finally got around to watching the movie, “Jonah Hex,” the other day, and I knew going in that it was generally considered a critical and commercial failure. That being said, I didn’t think the movie was as bad as everyone made out.

Released on June 28 (the same weekend as the blockbuster, “Toy Story 3”), “Jonah Hex” posted gross revenues of $10.9 million. That might sound like a lot of money, but it cost over $47 million to make, that is, the movie lost about $36 million.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, this Warner Bros. movie is about Jonah Hex, a disfigured Confederate veteran turned bounty hunter. Hex eventually finds himself on the wrong side of the law, but the U.S. government offers him a deal if he can help them bring in a terrorist who’s bent on toppling the federal government with a super weapon.

This movie was directed by Jimmy Hayward and reminded me a lot of 2003’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” “Jonah Hex” starred Josh Brolin in the title role and also included John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett and Michael Shannon.

Many of you may not know that the “Jonah Hex” movie is based on the DC Comics character of the same name, and this was the main reason I wanted to see the movie. I can remember reading the Jonah Hex comics as a kid and was eager to see them adapt the character for the big screen.

The Jonah Hex comics character was created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. He first appeared in “All-Star Western” No. 10, which was published in Feb.-March 1972 by DC Comics.

In both the comics and the movie, Hex is portrayed as a rough and tough bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side. Despite his demeanor and bad reputation, he lives by a code of honor that requires him to protect and help the innocent and those who can’t protect themselves.

In the comics, Hex has no supernatural or superhuman abilities. He’s kind of like Batman in that he relies mostly on his resourcefulness and physical abilities. However, the motion picture version of Hex has the ability to temporarily resurrect and talk with the dead. He develops this ability after a group of Native American’s use mystical powers to bring him back from a near-death experience.

In the end, I personally enjoyed this movie. It wasn’t as bad as everyone seemed to make out, and I’d have no problem watching it again.

Have any of you out there seen this movie? If so, what did you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

Posted by Lee Peacock at 7:41 PM

http://smallscreennz.blogspot.com/2010/12/jonah-hex.html

Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Jonah Hex
Releases: 8th December 2010
Rating: M - Suitable for Mature Audiences 16 years and over
Duration: 78 minutes
Genre: Action
Starring: John Malkovich, Josh Brolin, Michael Shannon, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett
Director: Jimmy Hayward

The Premise>> Jonah Hex (Brolin) is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a tough and stoic gunslinger who can track down anyone... and anything. Having survived death, Jonah's violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the "other side." His only human connection is with Leila (Fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. But Jonah's past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can't refuse: in exchange for his freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich). But Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah's oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead.

The Review>> Despite costing an estimated US$47 million to make, this film bombed big time at the box office. Apparently doing under US$11 million worldwide in cinemas. Now with this information up front it is kind of hard to watch a DVD and have anything other than low expectations for it. So I put it in the PS3 and off we went to the world of old Jonah Hex.

The storyline was a little weak but the action was pretty good. The dialogue was somewhat hammy but the costumes were great. John Malkovich's southern states accent was weird and hard to take but his performance was solid as the bad guy. Where as despite being awesome to watch, Megan Fox's performance was flat and rather lifeless.

But you know what... Overall I actually enjoyed the bulk of it as a mindless thriller action with a little bit of a dark side.

The Verdict>> An interesting enough film despite the general reviews.
Thoughts?
at 10:24 AM Posted by Contributors