Some films squander their potential so much that when they're finally released into cinemas they're torn apart by critics and ignored at the box office. These films might not necessarily be outright awful...but given the resources and talent involved there was much greater expectation for a higher quality movie. Before the film's release there is usually talk of firings, script re-writes on set, re-shoots and studio interference. Some of those movies that spring to mind are Alexander, Hudson Hawk, Howard The Duck, Cutthroat Island, LXG, Pluto Nash, etc. These films are big budget, fairly unsual in their premises (mostly) and frequently some of the biggest flops of all time.
Well Jonah Hex is another. It has a solid production pedigree being directed by Kung Fu Panda's Jimmy Taylor, written by Crank's Neveldine & Taylor and scored by metal band Mastodon. On the acting front it's even more impressive with Josh Brolin in the lead role, smouldering Megan Fox as his female lead, Malkovich as the big bad, a charming Fassbender as his henchman, and solid turns from Will Arnett and Aiden Quinn. It looks good (on a $50 million budget), the effects do a decent enough job and the story zips along with incident in a comprehensible manner (think The Crow meets Wild Wild West starring an undead Clint.) And the critics savaged it with one star reviews and audiences stayed away in droves (just $10 million in worldwide receipts.)
But Jonah Hex is fast, fun, supernatural, action-adventure western. And that's a fact! Hayward does a solid job (it's in no way Roger Christian / Battlefield Eath bad), the script might be shallow and dumb (but would you expect any different from the Crank boys) and the cast largely great (apart from Wes Bentley who can be relied upon to be shit, always.) The sizzling Megan Fox, although shoehorned into the story, shows she may indeed have the acting chops to succeed in the acting business (perhaps maturing from eyecandy into serious actress the way the similarly gorgeous Jennifer Connolly did years ago....or maybe not.)
Don't get me wrong, this is no masterpiece. But it's definetely a Friday night beer and popcorn movie that you won't be bitching about afterwards. Critics! Just who do they think they are...
No comments:
Post a Comment