Blu-Ray Review: "Jonah Hex"

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a Civil War veteran turned bounty hunter with a link to the afterlife that allows him to speak with the dead. When the safety of the newly reunited United States is threatened by a former Confederate general (John Malkovich) who happens to be the same man who killed Hex's family, President Grant (Aidan Quinn) calls on Hex to stop the attack and exact some revenge for good measure. A lot of stuff blows up.

First and foremost, "Jonah Hex" is by no means what I would call a good movie. There are too many plot holes, wasted moments, and editing screw ups to ever confuse this with good. The pitifully short 81 minute run time jumps from place to place with no foundation to hold it together. Screenwriters Neveldine and Taylor (that's what they go by, sadly) reportedly feuded with director Jimmy Hayward and ended up distancing from the finished product before it even hit theaters. And then there's the much maligned Megan Fox who's complete lack of acting ability could single-handedly sink just about any movie. I almost feel bad for Ms. Fox. Because of her extreme level of attractiveness she will never be asked to learn her craft in order to get roles and yet at the same time will always be cast in the same one dimension roles. She's got absolutely nowhere to go in this business and I think "Hex" is the starting point for her rapid decline.

With all that said, however, this movie is not nearly as bad as the scathing reviews it received would make it out to be. "Hex" has been painted as the worst movie of the year and may very well win the infamous Razzie Award for Worst Picture at year's end. Maybe it's because my expectations were completely nonexistent going in but I darn near enjoyed about half of this thing. That enjoyment is due in large part to the work of Josh Brolin who seems to bring his A game no matter what's going on around him. This movie reeks of "give up," as if everyone realized midway through production that this thing was headed South in a hurry and mailed in their performances. But not Brolin. He seems hell bent on making Jonah Hex a viable franchise super hero and makes the most out of every limited opportunity his surrounding cast and crew give him to work with. As a result of Brolin's work (with a little help from Michael Fassbender who does an admirable job in his short screen time as a maniacal sidekick-baddie) you get about 35 minutes of a decent-enough comic book movie distributed through and overshadowed by the crap the rest of the film has to offer.

Grade: C+