Jonah Hex

Movies need badguys for conflict. In the 40's it was the Japanese. In the 60's it was the 'system'. In the 90's it was the Russians. Today, it's the terrorists. Jonah Hex is a mirror to America's fears. However, culturally relevant the movie is though, don't expect it to be deemed significant by the Library of Congress. It's all guns, no sentiment. Not devoid of style, but lacking in depth. Of the comic-book genre if Watchmen were Tora-fugu, Jonah Hex would be ravioli with parsley.

It's the standard comic book fare, with a dash of supernatural. Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) can wake dead people when he touches them. Unfortunately, he can't talk to his murdered family because they were burned to ashes. But corpses can see the comings and goings of the living, which helps Hex in avenging them.

Hex is comparable to The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) in that both were Confederate soldiers, have dogs for sidekicks, are seeking revenge on men who killed their families, and talk out of the sides of their mouths. The only difference is Wales' family was murdered by the Redlegs, while Hex's was murdered by Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich).

Turnbull is the leader of a band of confederate secessionists whom Hex was originally running with until after the civil war, when they started burning down hospitals and such. Hex turns on them. In retaliation Turnbull kills his family and brands "QT" on Hex's face. Josh Brolin must have been in make-up for hours to get that thing on.

So while Hex is licking his wounds, Turnbull has aquired a WMD that vaporizes towns in a flash. Of course he wants to use it to vaporize the Union. Meanwhile, President Grant commissions Hex to play bounty hunter and bring in Turnbull.

Midway through the film, there's a dollop of ideology, as an attempt at depth, in the form of a scene between Hex, who is an anarchist, and his arm's dealer, Smith (Lance Reddick), who is pro-government. Hex fought for the confederates because he didn't like being told what to do. Smith counters that being told what to do is not so bad: a man can grow to be a 100 years under a government and there's always the future. It's a good point. Nobody likes government, but there's no denying that it provides security. Maybe one day when we don't find violence in movies like this so damn entertaining, we'll know we've advanced a few steps closer to that place in the future where we don't need government for security.

Stars: 3/5