Now Showing: Hex

Hex
Genre: Western/Action
Director: Chan-wook Park
Writer: Dwight Gallo
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Brad Pitt, Kelsey Asbille, Martin Sensmeier, Clancy Brown, Paddy Considine, Gary Cole, Martin Klebba, Vincent Regan

Plot: 1865. Fort Charlotte. Confederate soldier Jonah Hex (Brad Pitt) sits in a Union Army prison cell with other Confederate soldiers, all slowly dying of starvation. Union officer Captain Browning (Clancy Brown) orders his men to bring Hex to him. Browning begins brutally interrogating Hex, trying to get with to give up the location of where the Confederate soldiers are stationed. Hex continues to refuse to answer Browning's questions. Browning sticks his sword in a fire and then presses it against Hex's face. Hex screams in agony, but still does not divulge any information. Browning, frustrated, orders his men to keep burning Hex until he answers. Browning then leaves the room. The Union soldiers continue to torture Hex until he passes out, one half of his face covered in boils, burns and charred flesh. The soldiers then drag Hex's unconscious body to a solitary confinement cell. Browning tells his men in private that they do not have enough food for them and the prisoners in their charge and asks if any of them have any ideas.

Hex finally wakes up. He begins looking for ways out of his confinement. When the bars won't give, he stomps in anger, breaking one of the cell's floorboards. Hex pulls up the board and finds a small tunnel underneath the cell. Hex follows the tunnel to the other cells and breaks his Confederate comrades, including his friend Eddie Cantwell (Vincent Regan), out and has them follow him in the tunnel. Once they make it out of the tunnel and into the day light, they find Browning and his men waiting for them. Browning and his men open fire on Hex and the rest of the unarmed Confederate prisoners, riddling their bodies with bullets. Hex and some of the others attempt to run away into the nearby woods, but are hit with bullets in their backs. Hex, despite being hit by several bullets, keeps moving, escaping Browning and his men.

One year later. Jonah Hex is drinking whiskey in a saloon in Wyoming territory. A loud mouth bandit Lucas MacGill (Paddy Considine) enters the saloon, bragging about escaping the law in Nebraska, ordering drinks for everyone in the bar. Hex turns the drink down, saying he doesn't want a drink purchased with unearned finances. MacGill tells Hex to calm down, that he's just trying to courteous towards the new friends he intends to make in town. Hex gets up and leaves. MacGill throws some money at the barkeep and heads upstairs to find a prostitute. Hex hears the sound of crashing glass from upstairs and heads up a back entrance to the saloon and kicks in a door. There he finds MacGill beating on a young Native prostitute, Talulah Blackhawk (Kelsey Asbille). Hex shoots MacGill in the back of the head. Talulah thanks him and tells Hex that she heard there is a sizable bounty on MacGill's head back in Nebraska and that he should take the body with him and collect the money. Hex drags MacGill's body out of the building, ties him to the back of his horse and starts riding east.

After collecting the bountry for MacGill in Nebraska, Hex meets famed gunfighter and performer Buffalo Bruce (Gary Cole). Buffalo Bruce tells him that he and his Wild West Show are on their way west from Gotham. Buffalo Bruce, impressed by Hex's "unique" appearance, offers him a position as part of his traveling Wild West Show. Hex, thinking that the traveling show would be a decent way to continue bounty hunting from town to town agrees to join the show. Hex meets one of the workers for the show, a Native named called Spotted Balls (Martin Sensmeier), and they quickly bond over their shared interest in quietly drinking. While he befriended Spotted Balls, Hex took an immediate dislike to one of the fellow performers, the trick-shooting midget Long Tom (Martin Klebba), who is cruel to the animals and treats the Natives and blacks working for the show with disdain. In the show, Hex portrays a villain who is bested by Buffalo Bruce in the show's excuse for a narrative.

When they arrive in Wyoming territory for a show, Hex and Spotted Balls head straight to the local saloon. They have several drinks, and when they leave they pass by the sheriff's office to look at the wanted board. Hex deems the reward for most of the posters to not be worth the effort until he spots one for an Eddie Cantwell. Hex tells Spotted Balls that he knew a man named Eddie Cantwell during the War and wonders if it could be the same man. Hex takes the poster and asks the sheriff about it. The sheriff says that Cantwell robbed a few banks in the area. Remembering Cantwell's weakness for prostitutes, Hex heads to the nearest brothel. When Hex gets there he meets Talulah Blackhawk again, although this time she is very pregnant. She tells him she's merely tending bar these days until her baby is born. He asks her if Cantwell has been around. She asks who is wanting to know. Hex tells her he's an old friend from the war and heard he might be in town. Talulah leads Hex to a back room where Cantwell is playing cards. Cantwell is surprised to see Hex there and invites him to sit down for some cards. Hex reminds Cantwell that he's not much of a gambler. Cantwell then offers to buy him a drink at the bar instead. Hex agrees. Talulah pours them both some whiskey. Cantwell asks Hex what he's up to these days, and Hex tells him that he's been making some money working as a bounty hunter. Cantwell's face goes cold. Hex advises Cantwell to keep his hands away from his gun belt, but Cantwell reaches anyways, forcing Hex to gun him down right there at the bar. Suddenly, Talulah begins going into labor and begs Hex to take her to the town's doctor.

Outside of town, Buffalo Bruce's Wild West show is underway. Buffalo Bruce is getting nervous since the show has already started but he hasn't seen any sign of the show's villain, Jonah Hex. Buffalo Bruce throws a tantrum that his show has to be cut short due to Hex's absence. Buffalo Bruce, in a rage, begins beating Spotted Balls to a pulp. Buffalo Bruce then sends Long Tom and some men into town. He tells Long Tom to find Hex and make him pay for ruining the show. Long Tom and the men ride into town. They head to the brothel first to ask if they've seen a man with half a face around town anywhere. They tell him to head to the doctor's office.

At the town doctor, Talulah gives birth to the baby with Hex at her side. She asks Hex for one more favor, if he can take them back to her tribe's village. She explains that she can't have her baby grow up with a whore for a mother, so as much as she hates life in her tribe's village, it will be better for the baby. Hex is hesitant, that is until Talulah offers to pay him. When they leave the office, Hex is confronted by Long Tom, who demands to know why Hex missed the show. Hex explains that Talulah went into labor and needed his help. Long Tom tells his men to kill Hex and the baby, since both appear to be responsible for Hex missing the show, Hex for missing the show, and the baby for being born at the wrong time with the wrong skin color. Hex ushers Talulah and the baby back inside the office and asks the doctor if there's a back door out of there. The doctor, who is hiding under a table, points towards the back. Hex drags Talulah and the baby out of the office, telling her that her money better be good. They sneak behind the buildings on main street to where Hex tied up his horse and get on it. Long Tom spots them on their way out of town and yells for his men to fire on them. They all miss. Long Tom has one of the men help him onto his horse and chases after, commenting that he always has to do all the work around here.

Hex's retreat is cut off when he gets to a canyon blocking his escape route. He hops off his horse and pulls out his rifle. He has Talulah and the baby take cover behind a rock. Hex takes aim on Long Tom. Hex waits for the perfect shot, even as Long Tom fires several shots his way. Once he has the shot he likes, he takes it, hitting Long Tom square in the chest, sending him flying off of his horse. Hex gathers Talulah and the baby and starts riding off towards her tribe's village. They make it to the village, where Talulah is embraced by her tribe, even if they aren't happy that she arrived with a baby. Talulah asks Hex what his name is again, and he tells her it's Jonah Hex. She tells him that she'll name her baby after him.

Jonah Hex walks up on a house in the middle of a field. There he finds Captain Browning in a wheelchair, having had both legs amputated. Browning is not surprised to see Hex. He says that he expected Hex would come looking for him eventually, but that the Indians already did more damage to him than Hex ever could do. Browning wheels over to a table and offers Hex some whiskey. Never one to turn down a drink, Hex accepts. Once Hex finishes his drink he shoots Browning in both arms. He tells Browning that he seems fine without his legs, so lets see how he does without any arms as well. Hex then walks away and into a town where he pulls a wanted poster for the Charlotte Gang down off the wanted wall.