Jonah Hex (2010 movie)
Director: Jimmy Hayward
Writers: Mark Neveldine (screenplay), Brian Taylor (screenplay)
Stars: Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, and Michael Fassbender
Movie Blurb (Google):
After his family is murdered by the terrorist Turnbull, a nearly dead Jonah is revived mystically and gains supernatural abilities. Later, the president seeks his help to stop an attack by Turnball.
My Review (no spoilers):
Prior to watching this movie, I was aware of the Jonah Hex comics and TV series, but I hadn’t read or watched it. Jonah Hex’s first appearance in comic form was in 1972. According to Google, this movie lost money at the box office, which makes me wonder how well it was distributed/advertised (it wasn’t shown in my home town).
Story: The story starts in a post-civil war American (wild west) with the movie’s protagonist, Jonah, and his family being attacked by the main villain. The movie quickly established this will be a revenge story (also noted on the movie poster above), pitting Jonah against the villainous Turnbull. The story pace is good and there are plenty of things happening on screen to entertain its target audience. I did have a few moments where I thought what the ???, which is fine as we do expect weirdness in our beloved Weird Western genre after all. I also love characters who are over the top, and this portrayal of Jonah Hex is definitely that. While the acting was good, no one was outstanding. I was pleasantly surprised by the well-known actors appearing in this movie.
Photography and Special Effects: This movie was made in 2010 and at the time of this review it is now 9 years old. For its age, this movie’s appearance is fair with its sets, costumes and special effects of good quality. It doesn’t look or feel like a blockbuster production though, and its USD$47 million budget reflects this – for comparison; Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part 1 was released the same year and it had a USD $250 million budget.
After the opening scene, there is a short animated story sequence showing some of Jonah’s back story. This animation is well crafted and styled and is a great addition to the storytelling. I preferred this animation over the awful ‘red filtered flashback’ scenes which looked cheap and nasty. Why didn’t they just add more cool animations instead?
Overall, I enjoyed this movie and I give it 3.5 out of 5.
My Ratings:
Photography Quality and Special Effects: 3
Quality of the Story: 3
Weird Western Theme: 4
Entertainment: 3.5
Overall: 3.5 Stars!
Rating Scale:
- 5 Stars: Awesome! I couldn’t put it down
- 4 Stars: Fantastic. A real page-turner
- 3 Stars: Enjoyable. A good read
- 2 Stars: Not fun. A struggle to read
- 1 Star: Not recommended (no hate)
DC comics
