It is years later and Hex has become a bounty hunter, after learning Turnbull died in a fire.  Turnbull is alive and is planning a massacre on the countries first centennial by constructing “the ultimate weapon”.  The government employs Hex to stop him and in return will pardon him for any crimes he has committed.  “The fate of the country may rest on the shoulders of Jonah Hex,” as put by President Grant.

It’s interesting to note that director Jimmy Heyward only other directing credit is “Horton Hears a Who”.  Before that he has worked on many Disney/Pixar projects.  How does someone who has spent their career working on animated films get hired to direct a live western?  Did someone think, “Well, a comic book is LIKE a cartoon,” and conclude Heyward could handle it?  If so they were way off.  He got to work with great talent like Brolin and Malkovich, and couldn’t do too much with him.

It is not all his fault because he did not have the best script to work with.  A great example of the poor screenplay can be found in the character of Lilah (Megan Fox).  She is a prostitute, who, for reasons never understood is in love with Jonah Hex, and he with her.  For the most part her character does nothing to move this story forward, except to look good and to work as leverage against Hex.  It does fall on the shoulders of the director to find these problems in the script and fix them, but since this is Heyward’s sophomore effort, maybe he was a little gun shy in fear he may not get hired.

The movie has plenty of action sequences; but, you are rarely drawn into them.  The only intriguing moments in the film are when Jonah uses his power to bring back the dead to talk to them otherwise the film is barely engaging at all.  It is rated PG-13 for violence and language.