Jonah Hex

A maverick with no morals, an unappealing prostitute, and a senile villain. From a very promising action western, this turned into unwatchable boredom and possibly the shortest film I've ever seen, where the illogical actions of the characters or flashy transitions even in slow passages are the least of its problems. Crows as a deus ex machina or atomic bullets in the wild west are a completely different caliber. (08/10/2010)

Interesting case. A clearly wobbly and brutally uneven film that could have been very good, but the fear of bombing made them bet mostly on effect and the film still bombed at the box office. Poor Brolin, who was almost born for the role (and he hates the result himself), he stumbles around in a shallow and hollow story that can barely cover its runtime, and you can clearly see that many things were left out. Perhaps, nothing else could have been expected from the creators of Speed, but the potential was there, and I’m not even speaking about the star-studded cast, where only Brolin stands out (Malkovich is an awful caricature and Megan shows her pretty face very few times). Jonah Hex deserves a proper limited series and not this frantic monstrosity. (16/01/2021)

After three years, I gave Jonah Hex a second chance... And suddenly, somehow, it was better. It’s still not good or maybe it’s less stupid, but it’s also somehow more fun or something. Josh Brolin is perfect for the role and the atmosphere is really good in places, as is Malkovich's villain and his amusing (underused) sidekick Fassbender, but there is a lot of dullness. The most incomprehensible thing, however, is that the villains shoot ordinary cannonballs that do no harm at the city from a giant superweapon first, and only at the end do they use the special one that blows everything away in a second. Nevermind. Thank you for Beltrami's music and the waking the dead scenes, which are probably the best Jonah Hex has to offer. It’s average, but with a more entertaining script it could have been a good western with a Hellboy atmosphere. Just like the book. (06/12/2010)

As long as Brolin spouts his dry catchphrases, you’ll be thinking this is going to be one of those films that try to be genius with their goofiness. However, the undernourished script by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor starts to pile up after half an hour, and a desperate Hayward has to repeat some scenes three times to even reach the minimum yardage. The expected result from the trailer (unfortunately?) came true. (06/10/2010)

Jonah Hex is exactly the kind of film that confirms long-held stereotypes about comics being entertainment for early teenagers and desperate people who have mentally regressed to being 15-year-old adolescents in adulthood. It is simply and truly foolish, shallow, and dull to the point that not even the casting of several known and acclaimed actors can save it. The prologue saturated with the scent of gunpowder and uncompromising war may entice, but then an unstoppable downward spiral follows, and to our misfortune, it is not foolish enough to be entertaining on the other hand. Overall impression: 25%. (25/03/2011)