There have been many bad movies based on comic books. Ghost Rider, Fantastic 4, the 1990’s versions of Captain America & The Punisher (I actually enjoyed both of this decade's Punisher films, not saying that they were good, but I am saying that I enjoyed them). Now we are in the year 2010 and I feel like I can safely say that I have just watched this decade’s single worst comic-to-movie adaptation, which is “Jonah Hex” (and yes, I am including the graphic novel-to-movie adaptation of “The Spirit”).
The film starts out with a prologue that shows Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) as a soldier who disobeys the order of his commander, Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) and in the process, kills the son of the commander. Turnbull decides to kill Hex's wife and son as Hex is forced to watch. Hex is scarred then left for dead. An Indian tribe brings him back from the brink of death and in turn gives him the ability to talk to the dead.
Turnbull made the world think that he died in a fire. Hex decides to become a bounty hunter, until one day the US Military come calling and letting him know that Quentin Turnball is still alive and that he has stolen a powerful weapon that can be used to level cities/towns. Hex of course agrees to help the military for his own vengeful reasons.
There are so many problems with this film that it is hard for me to figure out where to begin. The script is completely lazy. There seems to be no effort put into character development. You do not get any reasons that make sense for Quentin Turnball’s motivation. Malkovich looks completely bored in the roll. He seems to be just walking through his scenes. Megan Fox plays Lilah, a hooker that has a soft spot for Jonah Hex. I would not say that Fox was bad in the roll, but it does not seem like she was given much to do. As for Josh Brolin’s performance at Jonah Hex, he was fine, the look was right, the attitude was right, but he was not interesting to watch at all.
The film was directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears A Who!). That’s right, this guys last and only directing job was a computer animated film based on a children’s book. He has plenty of experience as an animator but is completely lost when it comes to directing a live action film.
I went into this movie with low expectations and was still disappointed. I knew about all the problems on the set of the movie and all the reshoots. Even the trailer (which they released just weeks before the release date of the movie) did not look all that interesting. But I still wanted to see Jonah Hex for myself. I can’t seem to pass up a comic book movie adaptation.
By Marc Ferman
By Marc Ferman
