Jonah Hex

It sounds strange to say it, given the generally bloated nature of the movies these days, but Jonah Hex needed to be longer. With a brisk running time of 81 minutes, the film never really slows down enough to give you a chance to truly understand or appreciate the characters and why they are doing what they are doing. The information is telegraphed in short burst of violent imagery and painfully inept exposition crammed between the gigantic action scenes. It’s as if the filmmakers were so anxious that people wouldn’t really appreciate the story – or the generally unlikable nature of the ‘hero’-- that they decided to deliver the highlights in cinematic shorthand and hope nobody noticed. And that’s a shame because even though he may not be as cool with mainstream audiences as other comic book characters, the facially disfigured Hex is one of the more interesting examples of the genre, from his back-story as a confederate soldier in the Civil War to his uncanny ‘gift’ of being able to communicate with the dead.