FLOP CULTURE
Subject to infamous reshoots, Warner Bros’ adaptation of the DC comic book needed a clearer push at the outset…
Why Jonah was Hex-ed.
Why it was a good idea (on paper)
An Oscar-nominated lead, scenerychewing supports, writers with head-banging action form, a badass character… Scripted by Crank’s
Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor, Hex promised a rugged western, action, revenge and anti-hero hybrid, served bone-cold from the ’70s comic fringes with Josh Brolin in the Eastwood-ish bounty hunter’s saddle. Cult renown beckoned. What went wrong?
“Our script for that movie was a hard-R,” says Taylor. “It was really intense and gnarly.” The studio kept their script but replaced them as directors with Jimmy Hayward, previously credited with Horton
Hears A Who! This rum clash of voices proves one thing: start with a weak foundation and you’ll end in ruins, rewrites and reshoots. Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) oversaw the latter. The result was a costly hodgepodge, complete with random snake-men, creaking wise-cracks, excessive weaponry, supernatural gubbins and blink-and-miss cameos. Party game: spot Michael Shannon. While the (shr)edits
looked like the work of Hex’s goofy Gatling guns, the multiple origins montages suggest a failure to solve one core problem: where to start. Redeeming feature
When even John Malkovich’s thick-sliced ham looks tired, you know a film is hexed. Mastodon’s spaghetti-doom-metal score has swagger, mind, and Michael Fassbender gives good leer. What happened next?
“JH: box office karma,” tweeted Neveldine/Taylor as Hex tanked. Hayward returned to animation with Free Birds, Brolin gravitated to other comic-book titles and co-star Megan Fox turned critic: “No one should ever see that movie.” Should it be remade?
Ranging from Deadwood-ish turf to more outré re-imaginings, the comics brim with potential. Legends
Of Tomorrow’s Jonah suggests as much, while Brolin’s idea of a low-budget-ish Hex could extend to a mini-series, like a post-Civil War
Mandalorian. Either way, Hex will surely ride again. KH