JONAH HEX

JONAH HEX (PG-13 for "intense sequences of violence & action, disturbing images, sexual content"):  If it's a Western you're looking for, here it is, folks, 81-minutes of it replete with a western setting in the late 1870s, horses, the favorite topic of revenge a la Clint Eastwood, rampant killings, and even a prostitute with a golden heart.

It's been updated, of course, which means the violence and sex is more expressively graphic, while it expands its horizons to consequences that extend as far as Washington, D.C.

Once a Confederate soldier, now a bounty hunter, Hex (Josh Brolin wearing a badly fried face, a "gift" from fellow Confed (John Makovich), is left  both physically and emotionally scarred, sending him on an obsessive path to wreak ruin & death.  Even supernatural elements occur to combine with Western ethics; not only does Hex kill a man once, but revives him just so he can kill him again - and then, it's on to destroy the capitol of the united nation he so bitterly despises.

As has been the trend of late, in a search for a nice, easy plot that isn't too difficult to follow, screenwriters Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor turn to a DC Comic book for their source - thus the broad strokes in character creation and plot definition.

There's also a bit of light-heartedness and an odd cast of characters that includes Megan Fox as Lilah, the golden-hearted, heavily bosomed prostitute,  with support by Will Arnett as an army lieutenant & Aidan Quinn as President Grant.  Oh, and there's the ubiquitous horse, too, and also a dog very much loved by our antihero. 

This isn't the worst film to arrive on summer screens; it's just average and predictable.  Jimmy Hayward knows how to direct a film with heavy oater overtones, managing to get fairly strong characters out of his cast.  Oater music also here, from Marco Beltrami & Mastodon.  An almost bearable waste of time.  (Grade:  C+)