Jonah Hex dvd

http://www.28dayslateranalysis.com/2010/08/jonah-hex-with-dvd-artwork-and-special.html

Thursday, August 12, 2010
Jonah Hex with DVD Artwork and Special Features

Jonah Hex DVD Art
The DVD artwork for Jonah Hex can be seen here and the film will be available October 12th for home formats. Included on both formats (DVD, Blu-Ray) are deleted scenes, "The Inside Story of Jonah Hex" (Blu-Ray Only), "The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex" (Blu-Ray Only) and a digital copy of the film (Blu-Ray Only) (Horror-Movies). Although the film was not well received in theatres horror and western fans can critique the film themselves in just two months. The price per unit is also inside.

A full synopsis for Jonah Hex:

"Jonah Hex (Josh 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 (Megan 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 cannot refuse. In exchange for his freedom, from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John 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 (Warner Bros)."

Release Date: October 12th, 2010 (DVD/Blu-Ray).

Director: Jimmy Hayward.

Writers: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.

Cast: Will Arnett, Michael Fassbender, Michael Shannon, David Patrick Kelly, Brandi Coleman, Aidan Quinn, Thomas Lennon, Seth Gabel, and David Jensen.

*DVD $28.98 and the Blu-Ray for $35.99

http://thedvd.in/jonah-hex/

Jonah Hex

by admin on Sep.04, 2010, under Drama
Jonah Hex

Out of the pages of the legendary comics and graphic novels steps Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort who can track 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 one human connection is with Lilah (Megan Fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. But Jonah’s past catches up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can’t refuse: to wipe out the warrants on his head, he must hunt and stop dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). But Turnbull, now gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah’s oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead.Another DC Comics hero gets a workout in Jonah Hex, the movie incarnation of DC’s scar-faced bounty hunter, played here by Josh Brolin. Out to exact revenge on the varmint who wrecked his face and killed his family, Jonah also gets yanked back into the service of his country–against his will, of course. Said varmint, Quentin Turnbull, is played by John Malkovich, although the more spirited villainy is provided by Turnbull’s tattooed Irish assistant (Inglourious Basterds‘s Michael Fassbender plays the part with the kind of energy noticeably absent from the other cast members). In this 80-minute hodgepodge of a movie, Jonah regularly checks in with his lady friend, a prostitute (Megan Fox) whose bordello room has a remarkable amount of glamour lighting, and in his spare time investigates Turnbull’s plot to use a super weapon against Washington, D.C. By giving Jonah a halfway-interesting supernatural talent–he can talk with the dead, by placing his hands on them–the film adds a kicky new wrinkle, but it’s not enough to improve the mangled storytelling or the sleepwalking pace. Brolin’s makeup is impressive, but in scarring his cheek and pulling his mouth back in a grotesque grimace, the prosthetics designers have robbed the actor of any ability to express himself through speech. Kind of a miscalculation there, and typical of this movie’s tendency to shoot itself in the face. –Robert Horton

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51OWyaH1r3L.jpg

Rating: (out of 16 reviews)

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/new-on-dvdblu-ray-jonah-hex/

New on DVD/Blu-ray: Jonah Hex
Jonah Hex (2010) Movie, Reviews — By Nix on October 13, 2010 | Share

Audiences didn’t much cotton to Jonah Hex’s ugly brand of law and his blood feud with Quentin Turnbull when “Jonah Hex” hit theaters earlier this year. Yes, even the abundant, ahem, “charms” of Megan Fox and her saloon wench wardrobe couldn’t bring in the kiddies. Lucky for you, what you missed in theaters, you can now catch up in the comfort of your couch because “Jonah Hex” has ridden onto Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand, and for Download from Warner Home Video.

Out of the pages of the legendary comics and graphic novels steps Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort. Jonah’s past catches up with him when the U.S. military offers to wipe out the warrants on his head if he hunts and stop dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich).

Movie Review:

Movies about a cowboy with a scarred face who goes around plugging bad guys isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. Good luck trying to tell today’s audiences that. Could it have been better? Oh sure, it could have been lots better, but Jimmy Hayward’s live-action “Jonah Hex” is not an altogether bad fantasy Western.

Josh Brolin is surprisingly endearing as the scarred bounty hunter, and Megan Fox is equally appealing (ahem) as saloon prostitute/Hex’s sometimes girlfriend Lilah. And John Malkovich as the heavy is perfect casting. Supporting turns by Will Arnett as one of those bureaucratic soldiers with his head up his ass, Aidan Quinn as President Grant, and Michael Fassbender as Burke, Turnbull’s tattooed henchman round out the breezy cast.

Given its comic book roots, it’s surprising that so many people expected so much from “Jonah Hex”. As his first live-action feature film, director Jimmy Hayward acquits himself quite well. He seems to “get” the inherently illogical nature of the character and the revisionist Western history of the story. Or at least, “Jonah Hex” never comes across as more than what it is, and in that respect the film is surprisingly entertaining.

DVD Review:

My review copy was a standard DVD, and it comes with three deleted scenes, essentially the full extent of the disc’s special features. The scenes total about five minutes of spare footage, including a pretty superfluous one with Megan Fox in a stagecoach being hit on by a drunken loudmouth. The other two are Jonah Hex-centric, with one featuring an alternate take on Hex’s “recruitment” by the U.S. Army.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/official-shack-movie-reviews-blu-ray-dvd/34089-jonah-hex-bluray-review.html

Jonah Hex - Bluray Review

Title: Jonah Hex
Starring: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Michael Fassbender
Directed by: Jimmy Hayward
Written by: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 81 Minutes
Release Date: 10/12/2010

Synopsis: (3.5 out of 5)
Video: (4.5 out of 5)
Audio: (5 out of 5)
Extras: (3 out of 5)
Overall: (4 out of 5)

Synopsis:
Jonah Hex opens with Hex (Brolin) tied to posts as he is made to watch as Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich) gives orders to his soldiers to murder Hex’s family for betraying the confederacy and murdering Turnbull’s brother Jeb. Before leaving, Turnbull brands the side of Hex’s face leaving him for dead and horribly disfigured. As the opening credits begin to run, Hex narrates the next couple of years in which Turnbull has been killed before Hex could extract vengeance upon him. We also learn that Hex can now talk to the dead as a side effect of him almost dying at the hands of Turnbull.

We catch up with Hex, who has now become a bounty hunter, some years later as he brings four wanted men in for payment. After a brief discussion with the town law, who unwisely decides not to pay Hex, we are treated to a barrage of gunfire in which our lone anti-hero is the victor. After retrieving what is owed to him, he exits the town on his horse as the sheriff’s office explodes in the background.

The next scene opens on a train that is transporting a group of soldiers as it is viciously attacked by a band of masked gunmen. After separating the train and making off with its payload, the gunmen blow up the remaining cars killing everyone on board. As the scene comes to a close, one man removes his mask and we find Hex’s old commanding officer Quentin Turnbull behind this act of terrorism. As one act of terrorism is soon followed by more, President Grant (Quinn) must now call in the one man that can stop Turnbull, and the one man that has a score to settle with him as well.

Jonah Hex is based on the DC Comics dating back to the early 70’s and not what I would call a tent pole franchise within the DC Universe. In my opinion, Jonah Hex as a movie felt more like a missed opportunity than anything else. Characters were not fleshed out at all and Warner’s decision to go with a ‘PG-13’ rating rather than an ‘R’ rating really limited what could be done. I did think that the action sequences were pretty well done and the visuals in the film were very good to look at and with an 81 minute runtime, the movie felt fairly fast paced and never appeared to lag. That being said, I think Jonah Hex could have benefitted greatly by being taken into more of a Tombstone meets The Crow type of film rather than the finished product.

Don’t get me wrong, Jonah Hex wasn’t a bad movie, it just wasn’t a great one either. I like Josh Brolin and he seemed to capture the spirit of Jonah Hex and John Malkovich did a fine job as usual. Even Megan Fox wasn’t as annoying as I often find her to be. The rest of the cast did about as well as you would expect from a movie like this one. There are no awards to be handed out in fair such as Jonah Hex; it is just an unapologetic western/action movie that succeeds in holding your attention even if it is only for 81 minutes.

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

Video:
Jonah Hex is presented in 1080P MPEG-4 AVC with an aspect ratio of 2:40.1 and looks fantastic. I really think they did an outstanding job on this transfer as should be expected for a movie like this. There is a wide palette of colors that pop off of the screen from one scene to the next that never come across as too vivid or overpowering. Hues are about as perfect as I have ever seen and skin tones are natural and full of life. Details within the landscapes are almost infinite as rock formations and landscape details can be truly mesmerizing to look at. I really enjoyed the sequences where Hex is confronted by Turnbull just before his death in a sort of a dream sequence that really is quite vivid and brilliant looking.

Additionally, the black levels are off the charts as night scenes give way to an endless series of shadows that can almost go on forever. Shadows are extremely well defined with discernable edge enhancments or black crush. Indeed this entire transfer is quite a remarkable presentation and could easily be one of the top ten I have seen this year.

Audio:
What can I say but WOW! Jonah Hex has been given the 5.1 DTS-HD-MA codec and the results are pretty much perfect. I got a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from listening to this audio presentation. Cannons fill the room with a full throttled roar that penetrates your seats and shakes your bones. The bass is deep, intrusive and extremely dynamic as the before mentioned cannonball shots may very well rival ‘Master and Commander’. Explosions and the deep roars of firestorms are equally impressive but not overly done either. I really enjoyed it and can tell that the filmmakers put a lot of effort in making this presentation all it could be.

Additionally, dialogue was crystal clear and extremely well textured. From the beginning narration through the end of the film, voices were a pleasure to hear and never came off drowned out in the midst of all the action. The score was well done and lent itself well to the atmosphere of the movie, but there were no memorable passages either. Overall I thought it was a truly inspired audio presentation that was very well executed.

Extras:

* Deleted Scenes
* The Inside Story of Jonah Hex
* The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex
* Digital Copy and DVD

Overall:

Overall I found Jonah Hex to be an enjoyable movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I did find what I felt to be several missed opportunities within the story however; that is just my opinion as my family found it to have everything they were looking for. In the end I will end up picking this one up myself just to have the A/V presentations as I felt the cannonball scenes will merit several replays. I say if you are looking for a fun little popcorn movie in the vein of ‘The Mummy’ series to show off your system then rent it. Until next time campers, have a good day and in case I don't see ya later, a good afternoon, a good evening, and a good night!

http://entertainment.ie/cinema/reviews/movie-reviews_ulike.asp?cat=film&ID=20408

Jonah Hex
Not as bad as expected, but not great either. - simonconnolly

Viewer Rating:simonconnolly has rated Jonah Hex rated 3

Based on the DC comic book of the same name this film is about Jonah Hex. Once a war hero he has been transformed into a dangerous, volatile bounty hunter obsessed with satisfying his need for revenge after the murder of his wife and kid, a desire which has made him more wanted then the criminals he brings in. Then the man who killed his family, who was thought to have died resurfaces with a evil scheme at the ready. The president then brings Hex back to the military to hunt him down before he unleashes Hell on Earth, in exchange for his freedom.

I never got the feeling this film would be any good so when I went to see it I had low expectations. I mean a week before it was due to be released in the U.S there was still no sign of a trailer and once it was released it bombed miserably. And so it also bombed here and across the rest of the world, taking in just $329, 279 in its entire run, and I've yet to meet anyone else who's seen it. And it probably deserved more because although it's not great, its certainly better than most people been made to think. Sure enough you can't rule out the possibility that the studio let a A.D.D suffering 12 year old pyromaniac co-write a script with a decent action writer who's favourite film is Wild Wild West, but it still is a rather enjoyable film that has it's moments of brilliance.

The film started out well, as in the first 4 minutes or so. Then it was followed with a stupid and pointless animated sequence and then a great Clint Eastwood-esque shootout scene. And unfortunately this is how the film continued, with incredible inconsistency. Just when you feel like you're getting into the film something outrageous or stupid comes along to pull you right back out again. For example about half way through the the film there is an exciting shootout during which Hex is shot, a great moment.

But then the next scene is some Indians curing him, and this is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my life. His eyes start popping out his head, a crow flies out his mouth. I was actually amazed by how quickly it managed to become so preposterous. But in fairness to the director you could possibly blame all of these ridiculous scenes solely on the CGI department, because it is the shameless overuse of special effects that spoil lots of scenes, including the final showdown which was going so well.

John Malcovich gives an uncharacteristically dreadful performance, showing up for the paycheck and ensuring he utters his lines as poorly as he can. Can't say the rest of the cast are much better. Michael Fassbender dons a useless Irish accent and though he seemed to be having fun with the role, I wasn't having much fun watching him. Will Arnett, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Michael Shannon also pop up in a couple small roles and cameos, all of which are pretty poor and all the stars could do better than this. Josh Brolin does quite well but the sloppy make up job on his face takes away from his performance somewhat and can be quite distracting. And surprisingly enough I was actually relatively impressed with Megan Fox's display as for the first time she showed signs that she can act quite well.

So all in all Jonah Hex is not a great film but it is significantly better than the reviews and the box office standing would suggest. At times it all looks great, with the cinematographer putting in some of the films best work when he gets a chance. Can't say the same for the make up department however who made Brolin look like a poor mans Two-Face. The special effects and the support cast are what really let the film down though. This year there have been plenty of great comic book movies and to be honest Jonah Hex cannot compete with them. Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, Scott Pilgrim vs the World and even The Losers were all better than this and at the end of the day this movie will suffice as one of those films you watch when you're in the mood for something mindless and a bit crap.

Review published on the 11 October 2010 01:21

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Jonah-Hex-Blu-ray.shtml

Blu-ray Disc and DVD : Blu-ray Disc Reviews
Jonah Hex Blu-ray Review
By Greg Robinson two and a half stars

The Film

With a great scar comes great responsibility. Just ask Jonah Hex. Josh Brolin stars as the DC Comics western anti-hero, a former Confederate soldier who wanders the south as a bounty hunter, drowning his misery in booze and the comfort of his hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold love, Lilah, played by the impossibly-proportioned Megan Fox. (Rumor has it one potential title for the film was Jonah Hex and the Six Inch Waistline.)

After Hex refuses to burn down a hospital, as ordered by the maniacal General Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), Hex is forced to kill his commanding officer, Turnbull's son, before deserting his post. As punishment, Turnbull makes Hex watch as his own son and wife burn before he finally brands Hex with the mark ("QT") of the man who took everything from him. Left for dead, Hex is revived by a Crow Indian medicine man, but now walks the earth with the unusual ability to converse with the dead. Fans of NBC's criminally-underrated "Pushing Daisies" will certainly recognize this trick, but it's used effectively to move Jonah's supernatural-laced story along.

When Turnbull surfaces later in the film, he's of course seeking to overthrow the newly-formed United States government and it's of course up to Jonah Hex to stop him. You wouldn't really have it any other way, would you?

"Attention Megan Fox's pores, you're wanted on the set." I know Ms. Fox is young and beautiful, and she's often standing next to a deformed and grizzled beast here, but there isn't one frame in Jonah Hex where she doesn't look like a wax figure. Normally, I'd point the finger at digital noise reduction and film grain scrubbing on the part of the studio, but Jonah's gristle and skin texture is fully intact and there are many scenes where a noticeable layer of film grain is quite evident. As such, I'm not sure what to make of Ms. Fox and the remarkable sheen she's sporting here, but it's the only disconcerting blemish (or lack thereof?) on this otherwise excellent 2.40:1 transfer from the folks at Warner Bros. Blacks appear deep while retaining shadow detail, skin tones look natural, and fine image detail is quite impressive at times, particularly during the film's many facial close-ups.

The Sound

The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack for Jonah Hex opens with a bang and Turnbull's "nation killer" packs some serious wallop in the final act, but the middle of the film is surprisingly front-heavy. For much of the film, the rear channels are given little to do, though the subwoofer gets a regular workout thanks to Hex's penchant for unique weaponry and his knack for getting shot. Dialogue is crisp and intelligible throughout.

The Extras

For a 75-minute film, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that Jonah's on-disc extras are somewhat scant. The most notable feature is a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) viewing mode entitled "The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex" - a mouthful yes, but inspired by the character's comic origins - which offers a well-edited stream of behind-the-scenes footage coupled with cast and crew interviews while the film plays in the larger window. Fans will enjoy it, though I do wish Warner had made this content available as a separate featurette and playable full-screen. The problem with it as is lies in the "secondary audio" stream it requires, a feature often disabled on players (such as mine) that are configured to bitstream the output of the high-resolution primary audio channel, in this case DTS-HD Master Audio. Going back to the player's setup menu to temporarily change the setting and having to restart disc playback can be quite a pain.

In addition to the PiP viewing mode, you also get a handful of deleted scenes and a 10-minute look at the character's comic book origins. The latter features a few interesting sit-downs with DC Comics writers and illustrators, but ultimately fails to touch upon the specific story being told in the film and what comic book inspirations, if any, came into play during the film's inception.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately a revenge tale, Jonah Hex gets off to a promising start and its first thirty minutes had me cautiously optimistic. Josh Brolin's growl and scowl make for an impressive screen presence, and the comic book-style, pre-credit origin story is well executed. However, even Hex's admittedly-cool, horse-mounted Gatling guns can't make up for the sheer ridiculousness of Turnbull's "nation killer" weapon, a bored performance from screen legend John Malkovich, and the film's character-compromising 75-minute run time. Still, the film's minimal time investment means you could easily do worse for a Friday night rental.

Product Details

* Actors: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Michael Fassbender, Aidan Quinn
* Director: Jimmy Hayward
* Audio/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French, Spanish)
* Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
* Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
* Region: A
* Number of Discs: 1
* Rating: R
* Studio: Warner Home Video
* Blu-ray Disc Release Date: October 12, 2010
* Run Time: 82 minutes
* List Price: $35.99
* Extras:
o The Weird Western Tale of Jonah Hex (PiP viewing mode)
o Featurette: The Inside Story of Jonah Hex
o Deleted Scenes
o Digital Copy
o BD LIVE

Overall two and a half stars
Video three stars
Audio two and a half stars
Movie two and a half stars
Extras two stars

http://www.therumormonger.com/2010/10/13/this-week-in-dvd-blu-ray-how-to-train-your-dragon-jonah-hex-i-am-love-and-more/

JONAH HEX
There are three things I will say in support of Jonah Hex: it’s mercifully short, Michael Fassbender wears a sweet bowler hat in it, and Megan Fox is very convincing as a sweaty prostitute. The rest of the film, meanwhile, is a dumb, incomprehensible, horribly edited and stripped down tale of an undead guy who mumbles a lot and wants revenge against a man who plans on destroying the nation with Dragon Balls.
Available on Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: DVD – Deleted scenes. Blu-ray – Includes everything on the DVD, as well as The Inside Story of Jonah Hex, and The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/dvd/reviews/article_1591707.php/Jonah-Hex-%E2%80%93-DVD-Review

Jonah Hex – DVD Review
By Jeff Swindoll Oct 15, 2010, 14:57 GMT

It may not be as ugly as its protagonist, but Jonah Hex may not be the bomb of a film you’ve been lead to believe. It misses more than it hits quite a lot and feels like the studio may have tinkered with it, but it can entertain you if you’re not too picky.

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) has a hideous scarred face and a grudge. The man responsible for both is Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), his former Confederate commanding officer during the Civil War.

Turnbull becomes a terrorist who decides to kill civilians to strike fear into the Union forces and Hex had none of it. He betrayed Turnbull to the Union, but he escaped and his son (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was killed.

Turnbull’s revenge was swift and violent. He orders his henchman Burke (Michael Fassbender) to burn down Hex’s house with his wife and child inside, but he leaves Hex alive to suffer the loss - not before he puts his white hot branding iron to his face to have a permanent reminder.

Hex recovers with the help of some Indians whose spiritual interventions bring him back from the brink of death and give him the ability to communicate with the dead. Hex goes on to hunt Turnbull down for revenge, but his prey is killed in a hotel fire.

Hex then goes on to take his ugly mug and damaged soul into a more profitable profession as a bounty hunter - a profession he excels at. The problem is that Turnbull isn’t dead and President Ulysses S. Grant (Aidan Quinn) discovers that he is planning a world shattering conflagration on July 4th, 1876 to make the South rise again.

He calls on Hex, who is found carousing with whore Lilah (Megan Fox), to track down Turnbull and keep the country together.

Jonah Hex was a DC Comics character that appeared in 1972. I have a vague familiarity with Hex and his scarred mug and parboiled eye are not hard to forget. It’s my understanding that the comic was a western revenge tale and the supernatural didn’t really come into play until later versions.

What I have more familiarity with is that Jonah Hex, the movie, was pretty universally panned and was one of the biggest flops of this year. The film had a 50 million dollar budget and made just over 10 million at the box office. The film also seemed to have fingerprints all over it.

The narrative ran about 73 minutes and was bolstered to 81 minutes when you added the closing credits or that was one of the complaints rendered. Running times are subjective to me since some of those fun films from the 40s ran a brief 68 minutes (I’m looking at you Charlie Chan) and they still had enough time to entertain (and you could even have double features that wouldn’t leave the audience exhausted).

I will say this about Hex, the short running time moves breezily along, but it makes you think that something is missing - hence the thought that Warner Brothers edited it down.

I don’t know what the behind-the-scenes gossip of that is, but it sure seems like it has been edited down especially for that lusted after PG-13 rating. Although truth be told, I thought the vitriol spewed at the film seemed a tad unwarranted. Honestly, it still is a half-baked film, but not the groaner you may have thought.


Let’s start with the good: Josh Brolin is pretty good as the Hex. He’s spared the dead eye of the character and has a permanent snarl delivery thanks to the makeup but he makes an impression. You also see that much of that budget went up on the screen with all the sets, effects, and gloss before you. The bad includes a less-than-stellar villain. Malkovich is on autopilot and really doesn’t put much gusto into Turnbull. We know why Hex wants to lay waste to him, but Turnbull is so laconic that we don’t care much about Hex’s righteous vengeance. For being so short, the film is full of superfluous characters.

Megan Fox, given big billing and appearances in all the ads, doesn’t have much to do. She appears in the beginning of the movie (looking oddly like CGI was applied to her face to smooth it) and only returns towards the end to serve as bait for Turnbull. Her character could’ve been cut out of the film and we probably wouldn’t notice.

Fassbender’s thug Burke is about the same, though he makes more of an impression than the main villain. Other characters are given short shrift, such as Wes Bentley who appears and disappears so quickly, that we again begin to wonder about massive amounts of editing or studio interference.

I will admit that I hated Will Smith’s Wild Wild West much more, but I was a fan of the show. Hex comic fans may hate this film just as much. I thought it was a flawed, but vaguely entertaining film. I’ve seen much worse.

Jonah Hex is presented in widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The only special features are 5 minutes of inconsequential deleted scenes. Come on now, you know that much more hit the cutting room floor. A director’s cut may have also enhanced the film. I don’t know if we will ever see one given the box office from the film was so dire.

Jonah Hex may not be as bad as you thought, but it’s not good. Still, it’s not as horrible as some direct-to-home video hot messes I’ve seen (Lost Boys: The Thirst, I am looking at you).

Brolin is actually pretty good in the title role, but the whole film seems to have been edited to death. We certainly won’t see Jonah Hex 2 though. Your mileage may vary as far as your enjoyment of it.

Visit the DVD database for more information.

http://the-smoking-pen.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-happened-to-your-face.html

10.14.2010
What Happened To Your Face?
JONAH HEX:
Image from ramascreen.com
Alright. So this isn't Halloween per se. But Hex's face is...pretty terrifying. I mean, he's basically got an extra mouth on his cheek. So it kind of counts. The thing is, I watched the movie all the way though, and then the credits began to roll. And normally, this is the part where I go "Whoohoo! Let's do that one again!" or "Eh. That was a bad decision." Instead, I simply slouched in my couch, and I couldn't make up my mind at all about the movie. I'll say this upfront. It was a good movie. The trailers set up certain promises, and the movie fed into (nearly) every one of them. At the same time, it felt a little like it scraped by with doing the bare minimum.

The premise was fantastic. Old world meets new weapons. Cowboys with machine guns. I'm all for it. The machinery was awesome--crossbows on fire, golden atomic bombs, and the rifle flame thrower. Clearly, someone had a lot of fun coming up with all this s$#!. And it worked, and blended in perfectly with the Western set up. However, the movie felt like it was trying to squeeze too much into too little. Which was silly because...it really shouldn't have had that much to work with. What the movie couldn't quite figure out was we don't CARE about the big massive super weapon. As f#%@#&! badass as it is...the whole point of the weapon is to make Turnbull this extremely powerful and dangerous villain. That's it. When I see the weapon, I want to see it explode some s$#!, I want to see Turnbull look sadistically pleased, and bam. End of story. I don't need to have a minor plot line where Washington officials just keep talking about how dangerous this weapon is. I saw it demolish a whole city--I know what it's capable of.

The fact is, the movie focused too much on the logistics of the plot and didn't give us enough of what we came for: the characters. The thing is, they set us up with some really cool characters. Jonah Hex with his ugly face, his ambiguous morality, and his ability to...talk to the dead? Yeah. That was badass. That needed to introduced sooner. Not to mention, Josh Brolin has a talent for being awesome in just about anything he does. Then there was Turnbull, one of John Malkovich's less impressive roles, but nonetheless, good for what he was. And--more or less the reason I wanted to see the movie in the first place--Turnbull's right hand man, Burke, played by Michael Fassbender. Michael Fassbender and Josh Brolin nailed the feel of the movie--they overacted a little, they were extravagant, eccentric characters. Josh Brolin growled out his lines like he was chewing on bullets and Fassbender snickered his way through the movie like a sadistic leprechaun. They were comic book characters. On the other hand, Turnbull wasn't as impressive as his weapon, and Lilah (Megan Fox), the take-no-prisoners feisty prostitute, was cool, but not cool enough. She had some moments of badassitry, and yet I wanted her to be MORE badass. She was cool on her own; her little skirmish with the John was awesome. But once she's standing side-by-side with Hex, it's hard to remember that she's more than just "the girl". He's so epic, and Megan Fox hides in his shadow once they finally pair up instead of complimenting him with her own style of ruthlessness.

My ultimate problem with the movie was that everything was, essentially, there, they just didn't use it all to it's full extent. I could feel the build up, and then the pay off somehow would lack that epic finish. I loved, for example, the moments when they really went all out. The moments when Hex was talking to the reanimated corpses, for example, or when he was being resurrected and choked out a black crow. Those moments were COOL. They were unexpected and all out. And yet at other points, the movie moved at a shy pace, as though afraid to push it too far. The best example I can think up was when Burke went to college Lilah and had that little moment with her. Now, we know Lilah is fully capable of defending herself, and we know Burke is one sadistic s$#!. This has all been set up for us. And yet, when they finally come together and he's about to kidnap her, all her has to do is give her one punch and she settles into submission. I just wanted to grab the screenwriters and tell them: When in doubt, take it to the next level. Push it too far. I'd rather be shocked at something on screen than bored by it.

All in all, the premise was fun, the movie was ultimately enjoyable, but it just lacked that extra kick that would have really made it an excellent movie.
Posted by M. Hufstader at 11:17 PM

http://mrlowbudgetdvd.blogspot.com/2010/10/jonah-hex-2010.html

Thursday, October 14, 2010
Jonah Hex (2010)

Jonah Hex
I went in with low expectations and I still wasn't thrilled
or at least bit entertained.
Sometimes you gotta see a movie no matter what other reviews say
or how bad a lot people say it is, just so you can confirm it yourself.
For peace of mind.
Right here, it's a revenge story based out of a graphic novel.
That sounds good to me. So what happened?
This had a lot of potential for greatness.
Unfortunately, we have a movie that has no real development.
Everything was rushed.
The only character I liked was the character played
by Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds).

Don't waste your time with this movie.
Hell, the Punisher movies are better than this.
But, then again, I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed both
Punisher (2004 version) and Punisher: War Zone.

http://www.killerfilm.com/film_reviews/read/jonah-hex-blu-ray-review-48702

Jonah Hex – Blu-ray Review
Submitted by Jon Peters on October 14, 2010 – 7:07 amNo Comment

The Film:

Personally, I’m not that familiar with DC Comics western anti-hero Jonah Hex who first appeared in All-Star Western #10 in 1972, but I have no doubt where John Albano’s and Tony DeZuniga’s creation came from. There’s no denying that Jonah Hexas a film in particular, is pure pulp fiction. Young kids were “rotting their brains” with dime novels in the 19th Century, stories filled with the superficiality aimed at nothing more than getting your dime for a quick read’s worth of entertainment. Cheap entertainment was as disposable then as it is still now, it’s just now we collect them. For all good intentions those pejorative writers had, as well as Jimmy Heyward-Jonah Hex‘s director-the film is pure ridiculousness that your teachers warned you about as you were reading comics during class, yet as simple as that is, Jonah Hex is still entertainment aimed our new dime (the ten dollar bill).

Like the title hero, the film quickly bares its mark that we will judge it by. It’s a lean 81-if that-minutes on a skeleton of a story. Outside of an extended opening exposition, Crank‘s Neveldine & Taylor’s script is literally just scraps on the bone of the lesser known, but popular comic book. Outside of Hex’s back story, we really know nothing more about him, his relationship with a whore, or his mysterious abilities. The film was subject of reshooting and editing, almost all the way to its release, yet if anything, it doesn’t hurt the film like one would expect. The film glides by with some pulpy action hero antics, with Josh Brolin grunting his way as a Snake Plissken-like character with a heart. John Malkovich is grand and loud as a pissed off old Confederate, and Megan Fox sizzles and proves that “no Michael Bay, no problem”, as she showcases some action chops. Michael Fessbender steals his scenes as well.

Jonah Hex in this form we see at the theater just doesn’t give the actors much to do. It’s broad strokes and that, to me, is the shame of the film. If the film offered more to some of these relationships and subplots, Jonah Hexcould have been a bigger blast. Laced with a rocking score from the alt-metal band Mastodon, the film offers that low-rent B-level entertainment Roger Corman used to give us many years ago. Much like the dime books 150 years ago, we still like rotting our brains for a Hamilton. Jonah Hex isn’t destined to ‘wow’ all, just those who are looking for some late night cheap thrills on the TV. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, son.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: In typical Warner fashion, we’re given a solid HD presentation. Deep blacks and details, some eye-popping colors and clarity, it’s a great transfer. The DTS audio is loud, bass-heavy, active, as all action films are now days, with clear dialogue and the music (from Mastodon) adding to the aggressive mix.

The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex: This is WB’s picture-in-picture option they love doing, with the film playing along a pop-up window of the film making team chatting about the production. There’s no chat about the drama in the post-production of the film, but as a standard issue making-of, it’s decent, if not a little fluffy.

The Inside Story of Jonah Hex: In HD, here’s a brief but good historical look at the character from DC Comics to the film.

Deleted Scenes: Don’t expect anything, despite the rumors of a slew of footage being cut out and reshot, but there’s nothing really interesting or good here. It’s just three scenes, running five minutes. Lame.

Conclusion: Okay, under certain expectations, even in this lean running time, I dug it, but it’s a rental. WB delivers a good Blu-ray, but the lack of footage in deleted scenes is a missed opportunity.

The Film: Rating: ★★½☆☆

The Blu-ray: Rating: ★★★☆☆

http://redcurtainrundown.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/jonah-hex/

Jonah Hex
Published October 14, 2010
Side Bar

I saw Jonah Hex on Blu-ray yesterday. I have to say…I liked this movie. I know it was in and out of the theater very quickly, so I didn’t know what to expect. Strait from a DC comic, Josh Brolin plays Jonah Hex a scared man turned bounty hunter in search of revenge in a post Civil war setting. His only companionship is with a lady of the evening played by Megan Fox. Hex is employed to capture a sinister man named Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) and bring him to justice. After the opening scene, I found myself hooked. This movie wasn’t only beautifully shot, it was entertaining as well. The film has the melding of a good story, animation, cool special effects and great make-up. I loved the old school high-tech weaponry. Even if you are not a fan of the western-esque genre, this movie is well worth the watch. Good action and remarkable visuals. I did appreciate how they toned down the Megan Fox hotness element. They didn’t make her out to be this chick that you’d question “she’s too Hollywood beautiful to be in this setting”. They didn’t pretty her up just because she’s Megan Fox, she played it plan and believable. The Mac Daddy of the film has to be John Malkovich. As a villain, this guy is amazing. If anything, this should bring you to the movie off the bat. Malkovich Rocks. I think this movie was one that flew under the radar. If you are looking for a fun, action packed ride, rent this one. I think you’ll enjoy it. 4 RC’s

http://cocoychronicles.com/2010/10/14/jonah-hex-movie-review/

Jonah Hex Movie Review
on Oct14 2010
by KatarHol5 KatarHol5 | Print the article |

I watched it yesterday. Okay, I’m still trying to connect where Hex got his ability to communicate with dead because as far as I can remember with the comicbooks I read, nothing of sorts have been written. Weird. My only memory of supernatural elements in Jonah Hex’s comics comes with 2 Vertigo books by John Lansdale and Timothy Truman namely Two gun Mojo and Riders of the worms and such.
Josh Brolin makes a good Jonah Hex, not great. Megan Foxx’s character to me is not really needed. John Malkhovic and Michael Fassbender were pretty good as the villians in the film.

Rob Vaux wrote:

The script borrows heavily from The Outlaw Josey Wales, as well as some of the more unseemly parts of Wild Wild West. It might have been serviceable, however, had Hayward not been so emotionally tone deaf. Once he establishes the basic atmosphere, he goes absolutely nowhere with it, repeating the same notes over and over again. Hex is a bad-ass, he wants revenge, pointing a gun at him is a bad idea, blah-blah-blah. A few bits of Q-style cowboy gadgets are intended to liven up the affair (without success), as is Turnbull’s hackneyed effort to bring the United States to its knees. Even with such a brief running time, the action gets old very quickly, as does the film’s annoying habit of trying to appear contemporary (referring to Turnbull as a “terrorist,” for example).

The movie rates B.

http://www.dvdtown.com/review/jonah-hex/blu-ray/8514

Jonah Hex (Blu-ray)
Combo Pack: Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Copy
APPROX. 82 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2010 - MPA RATING: PG-13

Blu-ray review
FIRST PUBLISHED Oct 12, 2010
By John J. Puccio

"If you get yourself into a jam, I imagine you can find me."

The movie bombed. "Jonah Hex," 2010. Movie-theater audiences stayed away in droves. Is it really that bad a film? No. Warner Bros. afforded it a big-budget production. It stars the reliable Josh Brolin and John Malkovich and the attractive Megan Fox. And the filmmakers based the picture on a popular DC Comics character.

So, what went wrong? I can only guess, but let me venture three possibilities. First, it's a Western. When is the last time you remember a Western making any money at the box office? Was it in your lifetime? Second, the main character has a horribly disfigured appearance. After a disastrous encounter with an old enemy, Hex loses half his face. When is the last time you remember a film about a scarred main character making any money? Was it in your lifetime? And third, it's a pretty slow-going affair for a nonstop action film. When was....

Do any of these elements in "Jonah Hex" justify people not going to see it? Maybe. Yet life is unfair. We live with it. In the meantime, Warner Bros. provide another chance for people to watch the movie, this time on Blue-ray or DVD. Or in the case of this Combo Pack, both Blu-ray AND DVD. Although "Jonah Hex" is not a particularly riveting film, it has its moments, and even if you don't like it, it's short enough (82 minutes) that you won't have wasted too much of your time.

Jonah Hex (Brolin) is a former Confederate Army officer who falls on hard times. Through circumstances beyond his control, he kills the son of a Confederate general, Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich), a ruthless old soldier who exacts his revenge by murdering Hex's wife and son and then shoving a red-hot branding iron into Hex's face, leaving him for dead. But never underestimate the power of Native Americans, who come to Hex's rescue and nurse him back to health. Maimed and scarred and better than ever, Hex turns to bounty hunting for a living, with Turnbull his primary target.

Meanwhile, after faking his own death, Turnbull decides to take down the entire U.S. Government with a powerful secret weapon, a plot President Grant hears about almost too late. Grant knows the only man who can remedy the situation is Hex. "Mark my words, gentlemen," the President says, "the very fate of our nation may rest on the shoulders of Jonah Hex."

From this point on, it's a rather simple revenge plot. Hex must find and kill Turnbull before Turnbull destroys the country. The problem is that the plot and characters are remarkably two-dimensional, never getting beyond their comic-book origins, the whole movie showing evidence of having been edited down from something more complex. Here, Hex is a good guy, Turnbull is pure evil, and the pyrotechnics go on forever. That's about it.

However, the film has its minor virtues. For example, there are any number of amusingly violent scenes in it, starting with an early gunfight where Hex pulls out a pair of Gatling guns and mows down half a town. Director Jimmy Haywood ("Horton Hears a Who!") may not have a big roster of films behind him, but at least he has a sense of humor. Later, a show-off gunfighter remarks about Hex's face, "Hex, what happened to your face?" Hex blows him away and casually remarks, "Cut myself shaving. What happened to yours?" Also, Hex has a "knack" for speaking with the dead, a talent that comes in handy when he's in a crunch.

What's more, there is no denying the movie looks good--from the handsome landscapes to the lovely Megan Fox. Ms. Fox plays Lilah, a lady of the night and true love of Jonah Hex. She wants to run away with him, but he explains that anybody who gets close to him dies. He doesn't want her to get killed, which doesn't stop Turnbull, who uses her to get to Hex. While Ms. Fox doesn't get much screen time and remains mainly window dressing, she does maintain our attention when she is in a scene.

Finally, there is some striking imagery in the film, most of it, no doubt, coming straight from the graphic novels, which the movie makes clear from the beginning with its still-graphics introduction.

"Jonah Hex" provides the kind of comic-book action its fans probably want; it just doesn't do so with much conviction. It's all rather like, well, like a fairly dull comic-book.

Video:
WB engineers afford the film a good video transfer in its native 2.40:1 ratio, brought to high-definition Blu-ray via a single-layer BD25 and a VC-1 codec. As I've mentioned, there is some beautiful scenery and cinematography involved, which come across splendidly in bright, vivid, but not gaudy colors. A light film grain provides a lifelike texture to objects without ever drawing attention to itself, while detail and delineation remain clear and sharp. If there is one matter that is slightly askew, though, it's that facial tones can be a bit too dark and intense.

Audio:
The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is certainly loud and very thumping. Wherever Hex goes, he leaves stuff blowing up and burning in his wake, all of which comes across with appropriately noisy sound effects. Oddly, there isn't as much side or rear-channel activity as you might expect from a comic-book adventure, so mostly the soundtrack is just blaring. Nevertheless, on the more positive side, the midrange is quiet and smooth, making dialogue easy to understand when the music isn't drowning it out.

Extras:
There are several worthwhile extras on the Blu-ray disc. The first and most important is a picture-in-picture feature, "The Weird Western Tales of Jonah Hex," where you can play the movie with the filmmakers taking you behind the scenes in an insert covering the lower-right quarter of the screen. Next is an eleven-minute featurette, "The Inside Story of Jonah Hex," that traces the main character from comic-book to celluloid. And after that are three additional scenes, totaling about five minutes.

Because this is a Combo Pack, it comes with a Blu-ray disc, a DVD, and digital copy (the copy offer expiring October 10, 2011). In addition, the BD contains an astounding eight (count 'em, eight) scene selections; BD-Live access; a slipcover for the keep case; English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish spoken languages; French, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Shots:
I'd like to say this is one of the better comic-book adaptions for the big screen, but the movie is too short, the action too prosaic, and the characters too shallow for me to say that. At best, "Jonah Hex" is a harmless diversion, one that, unfortunately, may not warrant a second look.

"They say a man with vengeance in his heart is supposed to dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself. Well, I guess mine'll just have to wait."
Video
8
Audio
7
Extras
7
Film value
5

http://www.avforums.com/movies/Jonah-Hex-Review-USA-Blu-ray-Reviewed-Oct-2010.html

Jonah Hex Review
Blu-ray review written by Mark Botwright, published 19th October 2010
Supplied for review by Axel Music

We’ve had a fair few comic book adaptations in recent years, but as with any transference of medium they can vary wildly in quality, from the stellar (Christopher Nolan’s Batman films) and the artistically faithful (Sin City) to the downright indefensible (Constantine). So along comes Jonah Hex, another adaptation from the DC stable of lucrative franchises. Less well known than the spandex clad heroes of more colourful graphic novels, Hex errs very much on the darker side of the comics spectrum. That however has not always stopped those adapting the source material from giving their titular characters a fresher, more mainstream appeal, as was the case with Ghost Rider and Constantine. Figures that should, by rights, be enigmatic antiheros somehow go through the Hollywood wash and are rinsed of all their complexity, neuroses and malevolence, re-emerging on the other side as merely troubled good guys. Well we can firmly put Hex into this category, but for once this is not entirely against the original material’s tone.

Originally planned as a one hour television feature, Producer Akiva Goldsman remained involved through its limbo stage and came out the other side with new co-producers attached, a genuine leading man in the shape of Josh Brolin and a fresh script from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the duo responsible for co-writing and co-directing Crank (2006) and Gamer (2009). The character first appeared in the second volume of the American Western comic series All Star Western back in 1972. Such was the success of the character that he continued to appear until he was deemed big enough to warrant his own series of comics, entitled unsurprisingly Jonah Hex which went on to run for a not too shabby 92 issues. Since then the character has gone back and forth, appearing in a new title Hex where he was shifted to a more post apocalyptic 21st century setting, as well as more recent offerings, most notably the excellent 2005- series by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. A few things have changed along the way, but the essence of the character remains the same. He is a disfigured bounty hunter travelling the West, killing all those who cross him but adhering to his own moral code of not harming the innocent. As a mainstream film this last part of his code doesn’t leave much wiggle room for a true anti-hero, but I suppose that was always to be expected, the key is how ruthless they have been willing to portray him and whether they are leaning more towards the visceral violence of more modern takes on the character.

With Hex being a traditional hero/antihero character and being rooted firmly in reality, he lacks not only the flashier superhero powers but also their decidedly flamboyant arch enemies. The one notable figure from the comics that enters the fray here is that of General Quentin Turnbull, played by John Malkovich. The story is set up in an alarmingly hasty manner, cobbled together with all the grace of a “previously on…” pre-opening credits sequence of the average TV cop series. The condensed version tells us that Hex was a soldier for the South during the American Civil War who, for some reason that isn’t explained here (though it is fleshed out in the comics), suddenly disavows himself of his Confederate ways and due to this his men are captured, his best friend lies dead by his hands, and he himself is branded a traitor. It would have been nice for first time director Jimmy Hayward to give us something tangible to hang onto at this point, but he eschews such simplicity as explaining the key plot points in favour of slow motion shots of horses galloping through the dusty plains and an overly manful voice-over with such gems as “Folks can believe what they like, but eventually a man’s gotta decide if he’s gonna do what’s right…..that choice cost me more than I bargained for”. This was never likely to be a work of great subtlety, but it becomes clear immensely quickly that stylisation is the order of the day here, as comic book imagery takes over from the live action to tell the back story of the main character. In short, General Turnbull didn’t take kindly to what he sees as Hex’s betrayal of his Confederate troops that led to Hex killing his best friend, who also happened to be the General’s son Jeb, so decides to teach him a lesson, and a particularly grisly one at that. Turnbull has him tied to a cross whilst his son and wife are left to perish as they are burned down with their house. The coup de grace is Turnbull’s insistence upon leaving Hex alive, but branding him across his cheek with a QT mark in order that he lives in constant anguish, knowing what it signifies every time he has to look at it.

So with a brutal opening, fans will likely be hoping that there is a suitably dark atmosphere around the rest of the film. No sooner is the scene established then we are whisked away to be shown what a mean customer Hex has become, as he drags the bodies of three men behind his horse into a flea-bitten backwater to collect his bounty. Once the pleasantries of the talking are out of the way, the bullets fly and all that is left is Hex and some more corpses to bury, one of which is a Sheriff. This helps establish him as a man capable of anything, undaunted by title or mantle but merely focused on cutting down those who cross him and sticking to his code. This brief but bombastic altercation also helps put the film firmly into an otherworldly, decidedly steam-punk, realm that becomes strangely reminiscent of Wild Wild West. He uses not six-shooters to cut down his enemies but two horse mounted gatling guns that were somehow erstwhile concealed. Realism may be out the window, but that has never stopped a decent Western before. The true weirdness though is not yet revealed, for after Hex’s terrible injuries he was at death’s door, whereupon he was rescued by a tribe of Crow Native Americans. Due to his wounds he was too far gone, and although he now walks amongst the living he has seen enough of the other side to now be able to communicate with the dead. A neat twist that should give the film a supernatural flavour, but unfortunately it is used in the most basic manner possible.

With Hex roaming the West now a wanted man for his slaying of a lawman, his lust for vengeance has been denied him as we learn Turnbull died in a hotel fire some years before…or did he? Short answer, no he didn’t and if you think I’m blunt in saying so, believe me the film takes as little care in pointing viewers in that direction. The renegade General has taken the forming of the United States badly and has spent his time busily attacking civilian targets, earning him the nickname “el terrorista”. Don’t worry though, if you were thinking this meant things would turn into another thinly veiled diatribe about modern day terrorism, think again, or perhaps don’t bother thinking about it at all, as the scriptwriters clearly haven’t. Malkovich does his best as a despotic madman hellbent on destroying the peace of a country he has come to despise via a super weapon which he is in the process of assembling, but it is a role he could have performed in his sleep. Brolin is admirable in his fight against the B-movie status of proceedings, being vaguely reminiscent of Bruce Campbell at times in his ability to be at once in on the joke and outside it. Perhaps it should be applauded that one of the most photogenic actors around should want to take a part where he is shown to be disfigured. The make-up lacks the punch of some more grisly artistic versions of the character’s visage as seen in the comics as there is no way they could make an entire cheek disappear (told via flashback he cut away the brand left by Turnbull with a heated axe) and sadly the one enlarged eyeball isn’t even attempted. The line of melted flesh that runs down the side of his mouth leads to an almost Brando-esque parody of mumbling at times and never gives the desired shock value of the original material, though is a sound effort at uglifying Brolin and staying true to the material.

Michael Fassbender (Hunger) is arguably the most eye catching figure, playing a cheerful tattooed killer in Turnbull’s gang, he seems to make his role larger than it actually is with his bonhomie approach to dispatching the innocent with a smile. Megan Fox appears in a pretty throwaway role as a sassy hooker and ally of Hex, being neither blessed with a decent story of her own nor given anything genuinely interesting to do. This is formulaic to the Nth degree and unfortunately even the action sequences, which by rights should have saved such pulp fare as this, are let down by a distinct lack of imagination. When about to shoot your arch enemy halfway through the film, say something and give him half a second to escape or for someone to sneak up on you. Put in a female character that gets taken hostage. When locked up, don’t fall back on clever twists, just have a character suddenly inform you of their extraordinary lock picking skills. When a villain has the upper hand, don’t show them unemotionally despatching the hero, make them toy with him in order to give him half a dozen chances to escape or get the upper hand. The final get out of gaol card is when Hex is seemingly mortally wounded, he is once again brought back to life by Crows through a process of general chanting, a few herbs put on wounds and bizarrely vomiting up a Crow. Even the fact of Hex fighting for the South is explained in a painfully obvious “he’s not racist though” side conversation. At no point does the script or Hayward’s direction take a stand against the obvious route or an inventive turn. There are a few decent explosions and the aforementioned horse mounted gun scene is fairly ripping fun but other than that this is derivative and uninspiring. What should have been a darkly iconic comic book adaptation has been made into a poorly scripted and pedestrian mainstream movie that shows the kind of lack of craft and “that’ll do” approach that comics aficionados are likely all too familiar with. It may not be as unfaithful to the source material as such adaptations as Constantine, but there is little more credit one can throw its way.

Movie score : 3

http://chud.com/articles/articles/25975/1/DVD-REVIEW-JONAH-HEX-BLU-RAY/Page1.html

DVD REVIEW: JONAH HEX (BLU RAY)

* By Nick Nunziata
* Published Today

STUDIO: Warner Bros.
MSRP: $35.98
RATED: PG-13
RUNNING TIME: 81 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Pitch

After he disobeys orders and sees his family executed, a scarred vigilante with a gift for speaking with the dead exacts revenge in the wild and woolly West.

The Humans

Director: Jimmy Hayward (sorta).

Writers: Neveldine & Taylor. William Farmer (story by). Based on the DC Comics character.

Cinematographer: Mitchell Amundsen

Cast: Josh Brolin. John Malkovich. Megan Fox. Michael Fassbender. Will Arnett. Michael Shannon (sorta). Jeffrey Dead Morgan.

The first publicity still from The Outlaw Stacy Keach.

The Lowdown

Jonah Hex isn't some abomination that needs to be cast away into some dark corner of filmdom where the truly junky big screen disasters lurk. It's a misfire to be sure, and clocking in at just a tad over 80 minutes with credits it's obviously the victim of many people with opinions trying to make it into something it wasn't but it's not an abomination.

It isn't all that good either. It's a shame too, because Josh Brolin is a good Jonah Hex and he takes his combination of authentic Western persona and ability to be tongue in cheek [in this case, tongue hanging almost out of cheek] and tries desperately to make the character more than just an ugly face with guttural line deliveries.

"I believe I've entered the wrong comic book movie!"

The film begins with Jonah Hex being penalized for betraying his military outfit for not participating in the atrocities being perpetrated by his superior Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) and his cronies (including Michael Fassbender's Burke). It's where his heinous scarring is born by superheated branding iron, but it's watching his family burned alive before his eyes that sends Hex deep into the darkness. The conceit is that he lives between the living and the dead and is able to communicate with the deceased as he exacts his special breed of justice as he travels the West. It makes for a decent if not familiar backdrop for a film that is essentially a revenge piece. Where the problems lie are in the tone and balance struck in former Pixar man Jimmy Hayward's gorgeous but vacant film.

"Seems like just a year or so ago I was working with Tarantino on a film people wanted to see..."

It's a PG-13 movie with lots of people getting shot and some creepy moments involving revived corpses but it has no bite. It has a lead actor who embodies the physicality of the role but who is also capable of plumbing the depths of making Jonah Hex a truly great tortured antihero. It has production value in spades.

In short, it would have been a perfect companion piece for Constantine. That film was wisely rated R and it made enough money to satisfy most involved parties. In retrospect, Jonah Hex would have at least been better with more balls and it couldn't make much less than it did as a PG-13.

"I'm squashed!" "Me too!"

But it's toothless and bland and mostly what we get to see is Josh Brolin being a grumpy frontier smartass rather than an icon. Regardless of your familiarity with the character and the brand, Jonah Hex is an iconic character who lives somewhere between the Spaghetti Western Eastwood characters and some of the more weird characters to come out of comics in the late 70's and early 80's. The supernatural element wasn't always in play, but since the film incorporates it there should have been a much more weird and dark vibe throughout the film. Worse yet, one of the film's climactic battles is an awkward fight scene between Hex and Turbull in this dreamy spirit world. It's a terrible idea and made much worse by Malkovich, and actor who is mostly a stunt casting option these days and one who is a laughable opponent in a fight scene. I like Malkovich, but he has worn out his welcome tenfold in the past decade with bad choices, bad performances, and money grubbing roles. He's an ill fit here, especially when Michael Fassbender is mightily trying to add weirdness and menace to the film with his tattooed villain character who's relegated to sidekick duty.

Another error in this PG-13 flick is by downplaying the fact that the female lead of the film is a prostitute who looks like she walked straight off a magazine cover and as we meet her she's just finished getting screwed by an older man who's willing to leave his family for her. She lives a slightly colorful life without factoring in the mushfaced supernatural gunslinger who's her true love. Had the character been played by Amy Ryan it may have worked, but it's Megan Fox. I don't know if the memo has reached your desk yet, but she's not Meryl Streep. Having someone like Brolin (who people seem to forget has appeared in no less that four great campy movies before becoming a Hollywood darling) to pair off with should inspire someone at a pivotal career crossroads like Fox, but alas. She's dreadful, and though the film teases her to be a tough gal she winds up being a damsel in distress in the film's latter moments.

"Relax. In five years no one's going to even remember this movie happened."

The film works when it's obviously having fun. The opening scene where Hex pretty much kills a town is loaded with easy generic Western toughness but it does the job. The scenes where Hex speaks to the dead are very well done, including one with Jeffery Dean Morgan as Turnbull's Hex-killed son. Seeing Morgan and Brolin together makes one wonder of the film that could have been, as these two actors know exactly how to excel with material like this. Plus it's fun to see Will Arnett sort of playing a serious role as a skittish military commander who employs Hex to help them best Turnbull's cadre of assholes.

Ultimately the movie just burps from scene to scene without much real connective tissue, making its way towards a boring and overdone finale as Turnbull attempts a terrorist attack on the president (Aidan Quinn as Ulysses S. Grant!), completing the task of turning Jonah Hex into a missed opportunity on nearly every level. Written by Neveldine/Taylor, you'd expect the movie to at least be aggressive and nutty, but it isn't and rumors of turmoil on the set and the replacement of the director in post production are fine for gossip but all that matters is what turns up onscreen.

Mastodon contributed to the score, which awesome no matter how you slice it.

At the end of the day, Jonah Hex is bland and jumbled but not offensive and certainly not some big injustice to the source material. It's just not a good movie and it reeks of too many cooks in the kitchen. Hollywood's commandeering of the comic book industry needs a few films like this to happen and remind us all that sometimes a grave should be left undisturbed.

The Package

The film looks amazing on blu-ray and I find that companies that include a digital copy are doing a great service towards the viability of that medium, so in that I am thrilled to see any film embrace that. Obviously some studios are warmer to the idea than others but I think a 'if you can't beat them, join them' mentality definitely applies here.

The special features are minimal, though the three or four little deleted scenes absolutely should have been kept in the film because any meat they could have tacked onto the skeleton would have been good, and the French Quarter scene embraces the vibe and Vertigo Comics feel they obviously were trying to mine. Fans of Michael Shannon would enjoy his deleted scene as a lecherous stagecoach jackass.

The featurettes devoted to the character and the film's birth are neutered by the actual film but it's an interesting watch. That said, Akiva Goldsman irks me but maybe that's nature righting things.

The features are handled somewhat quickly and serve the movie, but are hardly enough to explain why it's such a bag of smashes or make us hope that there's a better unreleased cut of the movie that'll descend and justify the endeavor.

5.0 out of 10

http://geeksofdoom.com/2010/11/01/dvd-review-jonah-hex/

DVD Review: Jonah Hex

Posted by Henchman21 | November 1st, 2010 at 6:58 pm |

Jonah Hex DVDJonah Hex
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Jimmy Hayward
Staring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Will Arnett
Warner Brothers Home Video
Release date: October 12, 2010

Jonah Hex is a film that deserves to be much better than it ends up being. The film is based on the western comic from DC, created in the 1970s by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, revived in 80s and 90’s in more hybrid styles (notably post-apocalyptic western and horror western), and returned to his straight western roots in 2005 by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. It’s the Gray and Palmiotti series that serves as the main inspiration for the movie, although there is plenty of the horror and supernatural aspects from the 90s thrown in. The film probably would have been better served by just focusing on the traditional western elements. If you’ve seen the movie, but haven’t read the comic, I highly suggest giving it a shot. Certainly don’t hold the movie against the comic.

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a former confederate soldier and current bounty hunter. He is the very definition of bad ass. He makes the Man with No Name look like a fresh on the trail farm-boy. He kills without mercy, and he’s not afraid to do what ever it takes to get paid. He’s set on the track of the man who killed his family, General Turnbull (John Malkovich). The General has some plan to ruin the country’s centennial celebration, which conveniently ties into Hex’s desire for revenge. So Hex starts tracking him down. And that’s pretty much the whole plot. It’s not what you would call a complicated story.

One thing they got right about this film is the characterization of Hex. Josh Brolin does a great job of capturing the brutality and heartlessness of Jonah Hex, and in a better plot, he would be very interesting to watch. Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, and soon to be Magneto in X-Men: First Class) also turns in a decent role as a creepy henchman (my favorite kind of henchman). Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is pretty much sleep walking their way through the film. Malkovich is wasted here, as he can usually be counted on to bring a bit of fun and insanity to a role like this, but you can tell that he just doesn’t care. Megan Fox is Megan Fox which means that while she may be hot, she can’t be trusted to bring a third dimension to her character. And who knows how they talked Will Arnett into this role. He must have lost a bet.

The film does have some serious problems though and the biggest problem with the movie is its tone. The film wants to be a serious Western, like the excellent comic series being published today. However, it also wants to be a slightly goofy comic book movie, so they tack on a supernatural element, which granted, was a part of the character’s history in the 80s and 90s, but feels out of place here. And he’s got to have a horse fitted with machine guns, and guns that shoot explosives. Then it also has to appeal to its comic roots by giving the villain a zany scheme involving some 19th century super weapon. I hate zany schemes (see also; Ra’s Al Ghul’s water evaporator in Batman Begins; see also, any of Lex Luthor’s plans). They never add anything to the plot, they never say anything about the characters, and they’re just always overly complicated. The film can never decide what kind of movie it wants to be, and so it becomes boring and lifeless.

On the plus side, the film is fairly short, and as I always say, if you’re going to suck, at least do it quickly. I mean seriously, this is a short movie, like an hour and fifteen minutes short. You could call the film lean, but really there’s lean, and then there’s just lazy. The film jumps from moment to moment, and doesn’t build any of the characters into anything you care about. It’s tough to tell if making the movie longer would have added anything, in fact, the opposite is probably true, so I shouldn’t complain that much, but it just boggles the mind that someone would look at this script and say “yes, this is the movie we want to make.” It just doesn’t seem that hard to improve the script, so it just stinks of lazy filmmaking.

Also on the plus side, MASTADON!!! The music playing during the end credits was awesome! And with that, you can tell that I’m reaching for straws on good things to say about this movie. Is it the worst comic book movie ever? No, it’s just terribly unambitious and rushed. It is the very definition of a rental (mostly because when it’s on TV there’s going to be a crap-ton of commercials. There’s so much time to fill). It’s only a step above most straight-to-video movies. There’s really just not much to recommend to on this one, even the extras on the disc are nothing more than a few deleted scenes, so this is getting a most lackluster 1 out of 5. Better luck next time.