Friday 14 October 2011

Jonah Hex


Michael Fassbender Season came to a close today however I can’t say that it went out on a particular high as the final film to be viewed was Jonah Hex.

PLOT:  Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a bounty hunter with the supernatural power to converse with the dead.  Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) kills Jonah’s family and fakes his own death.  Jonah is enlisted in the army to help catch Turnbull who has been discovered alive and plotting a villainous plot.  There are many dream sequences which I can’t keep up with.  Megan Fox digs deep in order to play a whore.  END PLOT

The plot of Jonah Hex is very weak which is a shame as given its comic book origins there should have been enough material floating around to at least give us a basic and coherent story. 

Josh Brolin is fine as Jonah Hex and he growls his way through the film without humour or awareness that the final result will not be worth his efforts.

John Malkovich is as bad as ever and becoming more of a caricature with each long overacted performance.

This film was watched solely for Michael Fassbender who was at least having fun as a crazy Irishman causing havoc in the middle of the Old West. For the duration of the enjoyable eight minutes he was on screen I couldn’t help but think that he would be a great choice if Christopher Nolan ever needed to cast The Riddler.

The action was extremely cartoonish which didn’t blend with Brolin’s over serious performance.  The director Jimmy Hayward’s career had been based in animation up until this point so it shows that the transition between animation (albeit at the top level) and live action may not be for everyone.

One thing the film’s favour was that its version of the Old West looked great.  It had a similar look to Cowboys and Aliens but unfortunately the everything else was every bit as crap.

Jonah Hex gets 3/10 - on another day, with a different director, different script and altered cast it had potential.  This is a prime example of a failed attempt at a franchise launch. 

The Bender Wagon has rolled to an upsetting halt until it's next pick up in 2012 - Oscar Season. 

9 comments:

  1. 3/10 sums it up..it was bad, really bad!! I found very little to commend about it when I reviwed it earlier this year. I'm glad I didn't waste money on seeing it in a cinema!
    But you are right with the comic background it surely had plenty of scope there. If anything this movie is an example of how to stuff it up because there is sooooo much potential here it isn't funny.
    Megan Fox digging deep huh??!! Yep she is perfectly cast isn't she?!!! If possible she is even worse in this than her Transformer apperances.

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  2. It was awful and quite frankly a testament to my Fassbender Season that I sat through it lol!

    I will have a look back and read you review

    Thanks for reading!
    K

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  3. Brent - I've had a look and can't find it! Will you send me the link? Ta

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  4. Oops that is funny. I certainly watched it earlier this year and I'm sure I wrote a scathing review. I'm not sure now if ii did or not as it doesn't appear so. You have me wondering now!!

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  5. I was hesitant on watching this movie. Good review.

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  6. Brent: chances are I just missed it!

    D: you were right to be hesitant - it should have been a lot better than it was :-D

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  7. You are dedicated to your season to an insane degree K, I wouldn't touch this film for any reason, good to know you still have your eyesight!

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  8. Daniel I think you would really enjoy it - you should certainly give it a whirl ;-)

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  9. I saw this movie. It's decent. I like the blend of the civil war with what we would call today X-Technology. Or the type of technology that only the military would have. It's fascinating to think of people from that period as being so technologically advanced in mind as we are today, just doing things differently, but with the same outcome.

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