Movie Review: Jonah Hex

Went to see Jonah Hex on Thursday with my wife. Overall I thought it was a fun movie. I know the critics panned it terribly, and Megan Fox's "acting" took the brunt of the criticism. Thankfully her speaking rolls were pretty limited. Besides, she plays a southern prostitute with a thing for scarred veterans, for that she did a good job. Josh Brolin did a great job, if this does well we might see a revival of Clint Eastwood style westerns. I haven't read any of the Jonah Hex books, but this movie did peak my interest.

It's odd that this fell in DC's Vertigo line, yet this movie was PG-13. It seems like an R-rated version would have been better for the dark character. 

Summer movies tend to be mindless affairs. This is no exception. The plot is the same as Wild Wild West and countless other pulp comics/fiction. Confederate general tries to destroy Washington with a super weapon, foiled by hero, hero is offered position as "national" sheriff. Not really a spoiler since its the predictable nature of this type of film.

The costumes, sets and cinematography were impressive. Visually this movie was inspiring and I might start some new terrain projects based on some of the sets. There was plenty of steampunk influence, crazy inventions, Eli Whitney as America's first arms developer was a nice touch.

The animation sequence in the opening was interesting but the style was to clean and Flash-like. It didn't fit with the style of the rest of the film. It was a good (cheap) way to tell the back story but should have been done in a rougher style animation to fit with the gritty feel of the rest of the film.

I'd recommend this as a matinee or twilight showing to watch. It's so short paying full price for a ticket seems like a bit of a rip-off.