The 'spaghetti westerns' of the 60's were punk deconstructions of the genre.
If these Italian westerns, often filmed in Spain, were in essence 'anti-Westerns', then Johah Hex is the comics anti-hero they produced. The Man With No Name films (1964-'66) eschewed the slick for the naturalistic, moral ambiguity, and spacious verité. By embracing the raw they became both realistic and avant-garde. DC Comics' response in 1971, Jonah Hex, is an unvarnished miscreant, literally burned by life, who has some slim tether of ethics under his ruined flesh.
The best proper template for a Jonah Hex film would be The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: all Leone angles, grouse and grit, and Morricone chant and clang. In fact, follow-ups like High Plains Drifter and The Outlaw Josie Wales are the best unofficial Jonah Hex movies you could desire. Sadly, despite these obvious examples, this committee-crushed film instead seems to take its cues from the Wild Wild West (1999) one-room school of clueless. When the animated opening credits, which tell a perversely rushed version of his origin, are better than the film following, you know they've lost the reins. Maybe on the next try a Tarantino will ride it into a better sunset.
