Jonah Hex

I've been telling my customers that I thought Jonah Hex might be all right -- as long as they didn't go Wild, Wild Westish.

What did they go and do? Yep. Steam punk, mixed with a bit of supernatural, like Constantine (another comic character the movies messed with.)

My theory is -- the more faithful a movie is to the original comic material, the better the movie. I read the first 15 issues of Jonah Hex, and it was mostly a revenge western. I don't remember the supernatural elements, nor the steam punk elements. They might have been there, but it wasn't the focus. Nor was it the focus of the older comics, if I'm remembering rightly.

Now I like steam punk, but it doesn't mix that well with Westerns, most of the time.

I had more in mind -- Clint Eastwood. Let's see, let's compare a couple of modern Westerns; Unforgiven, and Wild, Wild West. One is an artistic and commercial success, and one is a huge flop. Which example did Jonah Hex follow?

Megan Fox is gorgeous to look at, though uncomfortably dewy. She needs some voice lessons to put some life into her lines -- she needs acting lessons, though they weren't much needed in this movie.

Oh, and Malkovich? He's reached that point in his career where he can make good money as the spectacularly florid villain. Read them quirky lines, baby! It's like a pension plan for great character actors -- Walken, Oldman, and the late great Dennis Hopper.

I don't know, I think I would've taken the special effects budget, and instead spent it on vast, arid panoramas and straight ahead gunfights and, well, done a Western. With a guy with a disfigured face.

Finally, I can never talk about Jonah Hex without my favorite story. When the original series was canceled back in the 70's (80's?) the writers were so pissed off, that they killed Jonah Hex. They had him stuffed, and put into a carnival.