Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
Gunslinger Jonah Hex is appointed by President Ulysses Grant to track down terrorist Quentin Turnbull, a former Confederate officer determined on unleashing hell on earth. Jonah not only secures freedom by accepting this task, he also gets revenge on the man who slew his wife and child.
Jonah Hex is widely regarded as a misfire on nearly every level. The plot is rushed and incoherent, cramming a complex comic book mythology into a barely 80-minute runtime that leaves characters underdeveloped and motivations muddled. The acting from an otherwise capable cast (Brolin, Fassbender, Malkovich) feels wasted on thin material, with performances that range from perfunctory to hammy. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable for a Western, failing to capture the gritty atmosphere the source material demands. While the supernatural Western mashup concept had some novelty potential, the execution is so generic and derivative that it squanders any distinctiveness. The ending is particularly weak, resolving the conflict hastily and unsatisfyingly, leaving little emotional payoff.