Jonah Hex

"Jonah Hex" B

There are two words that typically make me excited about movies. If the genre of a movie is a western, it usually makes me want to see it. If the genre of a movie is superheroes, it makes me really want to see it. I had the pleasure of seeing this movie with my wife Corrine. Yes she actually sat through the whole movie with me. I love you babe! Imagine a movie that has the words "western" and "superhero" in it. You get a movie like "Jonah Hex". The movie had a lot of issues with production and took a while to make. They even had a different actor try on the makeup and the costume. But that didn't work because they pulled out and the original director pulled out too. Two years later, out of nowhere, we get the DC comics superhero western. In the role of Jonah Hex is Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, W., American Gangster) and he does a really good job as the scarred bounty hunter. In other roles, we have Megan Fox (Transformers) as a saloon girl prostitute who is also Hex's girlfriend, and John Malkovich (Changeling, In the Line of Fire) as Quentin Turnbull, the villain who murdered Hex's family. The acting is certainly not going to be up for Academy Awards but overall it is a fun action western. In fact, the movie is also one of the shortest movies I have seen in recent memory. It also has one of the coolest opening credits and opening scene too. With a running time of an hour and twenty one minutes, there is not much character development, other than Jonah Hex's family life and Civil War days. In the comic books, Jonah Hex is just a regular bounty hunter anti hero. In this one, he is an anti hero with supernatural powers. I don't recall that in the comic books I have read, but I don't know. The whole movie, Jonah Hex is set on revenge and that makes the movie fast paced. He seems to be riding his horse with his dog pal to all of these different states in a short length of time. It is a good western with a lot of action and Josh Brolin pulls the role off, but the whole time watching it, I couldn't help but think this movie is Ghost Rider and Wild Wild West combined. Not that I am complaining because I like those movies, but it was just funny to me. It is an awesome, short and sweet summer superhero action movie that will probably be overpowered at the box office by Toy Story 3, but I liked it just the same. I have read some of the comic book stories and enjoy Jonah Hex's adventures. It is a classic spaghetti western with superhero elements in it, and that suits me just fine.