War and me took to each other real well.
It felt like it had meaning.
The feeling of doing what you thought was right.
But it wasn't.
Folks can believe what they like,
but eventually a man's gotta decide if he's gonna do what's right.
That choice cost me more than I bargained for.
Daddy!
- Daddy! - Son!
Brave boy.
My son Jeb was brave. Loyal too.
And then he was murdered by his best friend in cold blood.
Isn't that right, Hex?
Turnbull, let them go.
Son, you are not fit to wear this uniform.
You're a coward and a traitor.
Fine. I am.
It's got nothing to do with them.
- Of course it does. - No!
You killed the only family I had.
No. General, please, don't do this.
Betrayed your own men and you murdered my son.
I'm begging you, sir. I'm begging you.
You took everything that I love, Jonah Hex.
You know what that feels like?
Don't do this.
It feels like this.
I want you to watch.
No! No!
You're gonna go free.
Free to walk this earth with a mark on your flesh.
And every day, that mark will remind you...
...of the man who took everything you had.
I hung on that cross for days.
By the time the Crow Indians found me and cut me down...
...I was nearly dead.
Those medicine men did what they could to bring me back...
...but somehow they just couldn't get me all the way out.
And crows seemed to stay with me.
Didn't make me immortal.
Just left me with the curse of knowing the other side.
See, talking to dead folks ain't natural.
But sometimes they're the only ones who will point the way.
I searched this land high and low, hunting old Turnbull down.
But then that old bastard played one final trick on me and died in a hotel fire.
The man that took my family was dead.
I had nowhere to go and a heart full of vengeance.
I did what come natural and turned to bounty hunting.
Punishing the guilty wherever there was profit.
This here's my story.
Jonah Hex.
These are the boys you wanted.
The Clayton boys.
That's right.
Appear we have a little problem, Mr. Hex.
There's four Clayton boys. This only three boys.
I don't see my way we could possibly recompense you...
...the agreed upon "reconception".
The rest of him was too fat for my horse.
Well, now, Mr. Hex...
...these boys were no end of trouble to us simple folk.
You showed me proof they was guilty. I brought them in, simple as that.
You surely have done us quite a favor.
Transaction's all it was.
I'll collect my $100 bounty on them and be on my way.
That there, Mr. Hex, was more of a limited-time offer.
But you'll pay it all the same.
Oh, hell, Mr. Hex.
There's an unscrupulous man or two would pay double that for your stinking hide.
Five coffins.
Sure you don't need eight?
Cut him down!
Congratulations.
- Hang it up. - All right. I'm in.
Mom?
What do you suppose those men are doing?
Get down!
Stay calm. We've got them twenty to one.
Prepare to engage!
Look out!
I'll take out the conductor!
Secure the weapon!
Nobody move.
Everybody, get back.
We're slowing down.
You're sure, absolutely sure, it was Turnbull?
Positive, President Grant.
Bastard must've faked his own death.
- Why now? - I can hazard a guess.
There are centennial celebrations being prepared in more than twenty states.
Whatever he's preparing...
...we've probably got ten days to find him.
Beg your pardon...
...but why does the president care if one old Confederate general is alive?
After Gettysburg, Turnbull changed.
He targeted hospitals, schools, churches.
Strike enough fear into people's hearts...
...and eventually they'll tear down the government that failed to protect them.
His Mexican slaves had a nickname for him.
- What was it? - Terorrista.
Terorrista.
Load all that cannon onto our wagon.
Find what's left of our two boys and give them an honorable burial.
Burn the rest.
Tell me what you know, lieutenant.
All we can confirm is that Turnbull took something off that train.
And that he broke into the U.S. Armory in Virginia a week before that.
- Summerland, Virginia? - Yes, sir.
He's building it.
- The plans were never completed. - He's building the weapon.
Sir, as you know, my unit is the very best.
Yes, lieutenant, which is why I need you to locate this man.
Jonah Hex? Mm.
- Hex is a lawless bounty hunter. - The man was a hero once.
- Sir, we've all heard the stories, but... - It was Hex who turned in Turnbull and his men.
And he paid a terrible price for it.
- Sir, Turn... - Mark my words, gentlemen.
The very fate of our nation may rest on the shoulders of Jonah Hex.
He don't look so tough.
Looks tough to me.
Not to me.
Watch this.
Hey, Hex. What happened to your face?
Cut myself shaving.
What happened to yours?
For the broken window.
It's about time for you to move on, Mr. Nash.
Grayden, please.
Door's right there.
Will you at least consider it?
I'll leave her, the store.
Hell, my kids.
Let's go to the city.
I don't play house. Our transaction is done here.
You wanna see me, pay fair like everyone else.
I don't want anybody else's hands on you, Lilah.
- Mr. Nash. - All right.
All right. I'll see you tomorrow.
Look, buzzard...
Jonah Hex.
Lilah.
Get inside.
It's been a while, Hex.
Yeah, that it has.
You worry about me, don't you?
No.
Well, I worry about you.
Look how many times you've been shot.
It's just one more that's gonna do it.
Well, it seems like I've been luckier than most in that respect.
Which one was the first one?
I don't recall a first or last.
Why don't we call this one number one?
This can be number two.
Three.
Four.
It ain't safe here, Jonah.
They'll be coming for you.
Yeah, well, they always do.
I saw them notices.
It's different this time.
You killed them lawmen.
They was wearing badges, but not one of them was no lawman.
You'll hang for it...
...if the Army don't gun you down first.
Well...
...then I'll be moving on.
Maybe southways.
Of course you are.
It's paradise, you know...
...waiting around here on you.
We can go somewhere.
Everyone who gets close to me dies.
There's no future for you and me, Lilah.
Look at you, setting the rules.
You know, you shouldn't be so sure of me, Jonah Hex.
Next time you come around I may not be here.
It's the best I can do, Lilah.
Christ, woman, how many men you seeing a day?
Jonah Hex?
By Presidential Act you are hereby inducted into military service.
A reward will be offered for the administration of your duties.
Your country needs you.
Ain't my country.
You get lost or get dead.
- Hex, you've got to come with us. - No.
You can't outshoot a dozen men.
I might like them odds.
Quentin Turnbull...
You dare say that name to me?
Quentin Turnbull is alive.
Turnbull.
He's alive.
I thought I'd never hear that name again.
Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Hex.
The boy told me to talk to you. Where's Turnbull?
The president seems to think that you're special.
Magic, even. We'll just see about that.
- You don't know, do you? - Oh, we know.
Frankly, what I don't know is why we're even bothering with you.
Let me show you something.
This is the future, Hex.
Intelligence. Information.
With our sophisticated network, men like you will be a thing of the past.
When we get this strung up...
Future's bright.
Now, you listen to me, bounty hunter.
I have quality intelligence that says Turnbull and his band of bastards...
...are headed to Springfield, Georgia.
And how'd you come by this quality...
What'd you call it?
- Intelligence. - Right.
Turnbull's men assaulted one of our trains.
Yet we did manage to overcome this one deadly outlaw.
Told us everything we needed to know.
Unfortunately he died during our interrogation.
I wanna talk to him.
He's dead, Hex.
Yeah, I'll have a word with him all the same.
How you doing there?
- What's happening to me? - Afraid you're dead, friend.
How can you speak to me?
Well, it's kind of a knack I picked up when l near died myself.
I can make it stop.
Just need to get some information first.
You see, what I done to you is unnatural.
I keep you out of the ground too long, you're likely to just burn right on up.
And it seems like the fresher dead you are, the quicker it happens.
Being dead, you can see the comings and goings...
...of anyone you knew when you was alive.
What do you want?
I'm looking for Quentin Turnbull.
Never knew Turnbull.
- Who recruited you? - Make the pain stop.
- Who? - Make the pain stop.
Who?
- Slocum. - What?
Royal Slocum.
- Where? - Runs a fight tent.
Down in South Carolina.
Dirt likes dead, dead likes dirt.
Simple as that.
Hey, wait.
What is that sound?
Oh, them?
Them's likely hellhounds.
Reckon they smell fresh meat.
Waiting for you for when I let you go, no doubt.
No. No.
I wouldn't try to pet them if I was you.
I'm headed southeast.
- Thirty seconds with a dead man and... - Ask him yourself.
Mr. Turnbull, sir.
I'm not sure I can deliver what you're asking.
The reason I'm sure you'll provide what I'm requesting is because it profits you.
And, son, you're no more capable of turning down a profit...
...than a maggot is of turning down a carcass.
Don't worry. You're free to continue your double-dealing in the Capitol backrooms...
...over fine cigars and 200-year-old malt.
But you'll continue to do what I ask of you.
Mr. Turnbull...
...I've given you the routes for every top-secret shipment...
...location of the plans...
...but this, sir, I really...
The hour is approaching.
Make no mistake, this country will not see its second century.
And when America is in flames...
...you will be glad that you chose wisely.
You will tell me where the trigger devices for that weapon are hidden.
Pretty orange balls.
Don't seem like much.
Aye, but they'll turn the world to dust all the same.
Marvelous.
Take them, boys. But be careful.
Wouldn't want to drop them.
Grab that fella.
- Casualties? - The soldiers are all dead.
-What is this? -Oh, we found this one...
...with shoulder boards on his coat.
Please. Let the innocents go.
There are no innocents.
You're gonna need to check that iron, mister.
All right!
This is what y'all been waiting for, you degenerate bastards!
In this corner, the Barbarian.
And in this corner, from halfway across the world:
The Snake-Man.
- Feed him the rattlesnake venom. - That one! That's the one!
- Nice pastime you got here, colonel. - Hex.
Come on, come on, come on.
- Yeah! - Go on.
Get it done already.
You don't mean to kill me.
I haven't made up my mind. Let's see how this little visit goes.
I'm looking for Turnbull.
Shit, Turnbull's dead. You know that good as anyone.
The government said he didn't burn in no fire.
You're chasing ghosts. You should let this go.
You put your best friend in the grave.
You betrayed your regiment.
For what? Honor?
There's no honor in war. War is killing, simple as that.
This country could've been ours.
Those days are long passed.
What if I told you it's not too late?
That we could still bring this unholy union of states to its knees.
Don't you want a second chance?
All right.
I've decided I am gonna kill you.
I kind of thought that might be your sentiments on the matter.
Boys.
Toss him in.
Slocum...
...where's Turnbull?
Why don't you ask your dead friend Jeb?
- I reckon you can catch up with him in hell. - You know, colonel....
What a mighty good idea.
- Get him in there! - Get in there, you mutt!
- Get him in the cage! - You boys want a fair fight?
They're just jealous of your good looks, boy.
Suit yourself.
Can't say l blame you.
Son of a...
God, you are such an asshole.
Good to see you again too, Jeb.
If I let you up, you promise you won't punch me again?
Well, seems like a losing proposition if I don't.
I want your word, Jeb.
- What makes you think that's any good? - It was always good enough for me.
Go on, then.
All right.
I need your help, Jeb.
- You're kidding me, right? This is a joke. - No.
- You killed me, Jonah. - You drew on me, Jeb.
Yeah, well, that was a mistake.
Well, obviously.
- You disobeyed a direct order. - To burn down a hospital.
Your father was gonna murder them people just to make a point.
I couldn't stand for that. I'm surprised that you could.
He was our commanding officer. He was my father.
I didn't have a choice.
Neither did I.
I'm sorry about it.
Killing you, I mean.
I never did expect things would turn out that way.
He took my family in your name, Jeb.
He made me watch them die.
I gotta find him, Jeb.
I been watching you...
...and I been watching him.
It's getting real hard to tell the difference between you two.
- Your father is a monster, you hear me? - And you ain't?
From where I sit...
...you're just two men bent on murdering folks to make your own pain go away.
Living life like that, that sounds a hell of a lot like being damned.
You know what he's capable of.
Oh, Jonah.
- He's at Fort Resurrection. - Yeah?
He's holed up there.
I guess you two can probably have it out once and for all.
I gotta be honest with you, I don't even know who I'm pulling for.
Either way, you'll have company soon.
Yeah, I suppose that's true.
Hell. I'm starting to burn.
I best be getting back underground.
Now, you listen to me.
They talk about you down here. You do yourself a favor.
You stay ahead of death as long as you can, you hear?
Because they got plans for you.
Take care, Jeb.
See you soon.
He's never coming back for you.
You don't know that.
Who do you think told the government he was in here?
You're gonna have to get out of my room.
You know, I bought you off of old Jack Straw fair and legal.
I'm gonna do what I please.
I own you now.
Fool me once, dear.
Single-shot pistol, asshole.
And I ain't much for being owned.
Thank you, sir.
How do you do?
You get uglier every time I see you.
Lord, don't do that. You'll break every mirror we got in stock. Come on.
Now, these work good.
You got anything new, Smith?
Thought you'd never ask.
Wow.
I take it that means you approve.
Big plans for the Fourth?
Just another day of the week is all it is.
Jonah, you and I both know the only reason you fought for the South...
...is you ain't like being told what to do by the government.
You ain't never believed in secessionism.
And you ain't never believed in slavery neither.
So, what's the point in hating the Union so much?
All of them on both sides is just a bunch of hypocrites as far as I'm concerned.
America gonna be thousand years, Jonah.
A new nation.
And what's good in it?
- The future, that's what. - No.
Me and my boys, we gonna go on up there to Washington...
...and stand in a crowd of free men...
...men your color skin and mine, and listen to the president.
The country can keep to its own business and I'll keep to mine.
I'll take them both.
Magnificent, isn't it?
It's bigger than a breadbox, that's for sure.
Do you know who Eli Whitney was?
I'm a very undereducated man, Mr. Turnbull.
Are we talking about Whitney Senior or Junior?
Senior.
After he invented the cotton gin and started the Industrial Revolution...
...he went to work for the U.S. military, special projects.
He pioneered the use of component parts...
...and firearms, new combustibles for munitions...
...and more or less, he single-handedly invented modern warfare.
So as an exercise...
...they ask him to design a super-weapon, a nation killer.
And this is what he envisaged, but they never made it...
...because once they realized its potential...
...they decided that they could not fathom willfully visiting...
...that kind of devastation on their fellow man.
But I can.
And one week from now, we will have succeeded where they failed.
On the fourth of July...
...the United States of America...
...will know hell.
Cheers.
Kill him.
Thanks, Smith.
Open the gates for General Turnbull!
Sorry, Jeb.
Hex.
Jonah-bloody-Hex.
I'd know that half-cooked pie-hole anywhere.
Looks like we got ourselves some target practice, lads.
Spread out.
Hey.
Hold your fire! You'll blow us all to hell!
I'm gonna hand Turnbull your balls in a snuffbox.
Look at you. Beautiful.
Come on, up you get. Come on, flower.
Up.
That's it. Good man.
Is that all you got?
Really? Jonah Hex.
Jesus Christ, look at the state of you.
You ain't going anywhere, boy.
Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll be back.
Hex?
Jonah Hex?
Oh, Hex!
I'm coming for you!
Hex! Where are you, you bloody hooligan?
Yeah.
Don't fuss.
Go on, step over.
Take me home. Get.
Explain this to me again, Burke.
There is no explanation. I gave the bastard two barrels straight in the chest.
By all rights, he should be as dead as Billy here.
Well, Hex doesn't know how to die. He'll have to be educated.
I have no problem educating the man.
So Jonah Hex is still alive.
And somehow, that son of a whore knows I am too.
Find me something he loves and bring it to me.
Well, then.
I'll lure him to us and we'll lay his pretty face to rot in some trench somewhere.
Stuck as a white pig.
That would be desirable.
Gentlemen, this location's compromised.
Load the cream of it onto the train...
...dynamite the rest.
I'll get the bastard. Either way.
Some say when you're just about to die...
...you play out your unfinished business.
Even in death, vengeance is the one thing you can't let go.
Hex.
Guess there's not much left to say between us.
Fire.
See, one day with weapons like this, you'll be able to flatten continents.
But we gonna have to content ourselves with starting small.
Ready, sir.
Wait for it.
- Where? - Just outside of Wayne County, Georgia.
- Casualties? - Three hundred and twenty-four souls.
Military targets?
None, sir. All civilian.
Boys, get away from that.
- Look at that. - What is it?
What's your assessment of the situation?
There are over twenty major centennial events.
The World's fair in Philadelphia.
The parade in New York. Your speech here.
Detonate the ordnance.
We've increased military presence, but due to his willingness...
...to strike civilian targets, it is impossible to predict where he's going to attack.
I don't know how we're gonna stop him, sir.
Lovely.
If I stepped in, Then she stepped out again,
Learning to dance for Lanigan's ball,
Six long years I spent in Dublin, Six long years doin' nothin' at all,
Six long years I spent in Dublin, Learning to dance for Lanigan's ball.
Hello there, little lamb.
Have you lost your flock?
I'm done working for the night.
- What the hell's wrong with you? - Just for a little fun, like.
Nobody has to get hurt.
Little flower, huh?
Come on.
You're coming with me, girl.
This one's about a war hero.
This one's about a war hero, like you were.
This man ain't near as handsome as me.
And where's the brave little son, Travis?
As literary form, these things is useless.
Now, I can feel your brain rotting right below my hand right as we speak.
Help! Jonah!
You took everything I love, Jonah Hex.
Do you know what that feels like?
It feels like this.
I want you to watch.
Help! Jonah!
No! No! No!
Turnbull!
Send a message to Grass, lieutenant, U.S. Army.
Located Turnbull. Stop.
Sailing out of Independence Harbor. Stop.
Destination unknown. Stop.
Turnbull has constructed nation-killer weapon. Stop.
Going in alone.
Send everything you got or thousands will die. Stop.
Whoa.
Keep him fed and watered. Don't you tie him up.
If I don't come back for a spell, he'll know it.
He'll head out on his own way.
He got a name?
Yeah.
Horse.
You.
Yeah, I...
I don't know what to say to you.
The hell you think you're going, mister?
What happened to your fa...?
I'm about all out of wiseass answers, friend.
Well, Mr. Turnbull, it appears the bells are finally ready to toll on Washington.
And I hear them, Mr. Lusk, as I've heard them for six long years.
We appreciate the services that you have rendered to us.
I can only hope you succeed.
I'll most certainly hang if you don't...
...an outcome I sincerely hope to avoid.
Consider it avoided.
- Fire it up. - Let's go!
Fire up the engine!
Get ready to put her in the water!
Looks good. Come on, let's go. Check the engine room.
You know you look like a right freak, don't you?
Tell me, what's it like to go through life with a face like that?
Let me show you.
This is for...
...my wife.
This is for my son!
Turnbull! Turnbull! Turnbull!
Gentlemen...
...tonight we put this ship in the water.
Yeah!
And as we navigate the shoreline of this precious and ruined land...
...let us not forget that we sail...
...on an ocean of tears.
And when we reach the Potomac...
...our enemy will learn that we have arrived to do that thing...
...which we most assuredly were convened to do.
- Yeah! - To make war!
Yeah!
- The Capitol will burn! - Yeah!
The battle is joined!
Turnbull! Turnbull! Turnbull!
Hex.
You know, Hex, they say you have no heart.
I think your problem may be just the contrary, son.
You are soft.
You're incapable of sacrifice.
You wanna surrender or you wanna watch another one die?
That's a good boy.
Once a coward, always a coward.
Jeb says hi.
No. I want him to watch.
Three minutes till we're in range, sir.
Our country was new...
Four thousand yards to target.
- You still got that Derringer in your bustle? - No, he took it.
- What about that knife in your garter? - Took it.
- What about that...? - Took it all, Jonah.
Well, searched you pretty darn good, didn't they?
- Wouldn't you? - Yeah.
All right, here's what we're gonna do.
You shout for the guard, get him over here...
...and use your feminine wiles and whatnot.
When he gets close...
- What the hell? - Tallula Black's mama didn't raise no fool.
- Tallula? - Lilah's a nickname.
Tallula.
Two thousand yards to target, sir.
Yankee cutter, downriver.
You are now all in the custody of the military...
...of the United States of America.
You will all be charged with treason.
Quentin Turnbull...
...you can show your face first.
Arm the weapon.
Fire at will.
Lieutenant.
Detonate.
Full steam ahead.
Can you shoot?
Can you?
Get to that gunner. I got you covered.
Target is in range!
Fire fifty rounds!
Detonate the ordnance!
You're gonna go free.
Free to walk this earth with a mark on your flesh.
And every day, that mark will remind you...
...of the man who took everything you had.
Help! Jonah!
No! No!
I want you to watch.
Watch this.
Happy Fourth of July.
Your reward.
And full pardon.
And I'd also like you to consider this.
America needs a sheriff.
I don't think countries have sheriffs, exactly.
Sir.
Though if you get yourself into a jam...
...I imagine you can find me.
He offer you a job?
- Yep. - You take it?
No. I'm not big on having a boss.
Sorry about it, Jeb.
They say a man with vengeance in his heart is supposed to dig two graves:
One for his enemy and one for himself.
Well, I guess mine will just have to wait.