The “Jonah Hex” project is another comic book film adaptation that just wouldn’t die. We were hoping someone like Josh Brolin — who earned himself his first Academy Award nomination this year — would stay away from B-Movie trash, especially considering his career just got on track after years of floundering, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Also dragged into this mess in a move that could actually salvage the project is John Malkovich who has just been cast as the villain in the D.C. Comic books adaptation, about a disfigured sci-fi cowboy in an apocalyptic world who munches on cigars and dispenses with badguys tersely.
According to Variety Malkovich will play Turnbull, a wealthy Southern plantation owner whose son is killed by Union soldiers during the Civil War. He blames Hex, a former confederate soldier-turned-hardened bounty hunter and gunslinger.” Those who know what that means: consider yourself super nerd. Jonah Hex was such a low-rent D.C. property and no one ever read this when we were kids.
The script was written by the “Crank” dudes, so it’s probably going to be super-caffeinated and hyper kinetic even thought the original comic-book was nothing like that. But Jimmy Hayward (“Horton Hears A Who!”) replaced the Crank duo in the directors chair so maybe not all is lost. All signs point to the fact that this film is going to be incredibly campy and the inclusion of Malkovich with over-the-top brimstone and fire, could at least potentially be fun. Note that idea however, seems to run contrary to the original dark mood of the comic book and it appears they’re using the property as a launching pad to do whatever the fuck they want. We officially just wrote way more than was ever needed here.
Oh, c’mon, I’d much rather have the madmen behind “Crank” than the director of Horton Fucking Hears A Who.