Lone Ranger

OK, I went to see Lone Ranger on July 4th due to the un-ending rain that was hitting Northern Georgia at the time. I normally don't go to see movies and pay full price (we have a dollar theater not far from here), because usually movies produced today don't warrant paying $8 - $12 or more for a ticket. Anyway, my wife gave me a choice of either the new Sandra Bullock movie or The Lone Ranger, and I told her that many movies don't translate well to a smaller television screen - my way of getting out of seeing another stupid Bullock pic. I must say that the $21 spent on a few tickets the day after opening, was well spent. Depp stole the show. His portrayal of Tonto was very well done. I don't believe it was "over the top", as many might say, he played it well, and I feel that the part was written for him. William Fichtner who plays Butch Cavendish, does an excellent job, and the make-up throughout the film was extraordinary. The action was well balanced, and the CGI Effects complimented the action well. Overall, I would say the hard earned money I forked over for tickets was well spent, and I firmly believe that this will be a top money grosser for the 2013 Summer season. Do yourself a favor and see The Lone Ranger on the big screen - don't wait for the DVD version to see it first. Buy the DVD for the behind the scenes footage - that would be most interesting indeed.

I was surprised to learn that many people deem the 2013 Lone Ranger as 'unsalvageable', and there are a few decent reasons why. The plot is quite convoluted and the gritty tone is a bit off putting, but it's a film that always manages to entertain me.

Armie Hammer does a decent job as the titular character, and he has good chemistry with Johnny Depp's Tonto. Depp might've been an odd choice for the character, and you could argue it's a Jack Sparrow reskin, but he makes Tonto strange and humorous to watch.

One of the film's greatest strengths are the action and the humour. In particular, I really love the climax, which gets my vote for potentially the best train chase in cinema history. Zimmer's score is also great, and very dramatic. The film did go massively over budget, but I think that was a good thing because of just how much of it can be found on screen.

You could cite this as a misguided Pirates of the Caribbean clone, and in some ways there are similarities. But the influences aren't too noticeable, and the film is still a lot of fun. It is something of a shame it never got any sequels, but it stands on its own just fine.

I was a little disappointed about the critics' review of the movie, since I adore Johnny Depp and had been waiting for the movie to release for months. I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was lovely. It had action (as promised), a good plot and pretty generous doses of humor for a movie of this genre. Depp stole the show with his portrayal of Tonto, but the other actors were great as well. The obvious comparison of this movie is with the Pirates of the Caribbean series because of Verbinski and Depp. There were parts of the movie, especially those where Tonto's actions generated laughs from the theater, which reminded me of the latter. Both have Depp in eccentric roles which provide ample comic relief. But since the themes are completely different, I feel that a comparison is not exactly fair. All in all, it is a good, lighthearted, entertaining way to spend two and a half hours, and I am considering hitting the theater for it again soon.

You know the plot; you also know who is in this movie so lets get to it. Gore Verbinski has delivered a film that moves leisurely along peppered with rousing action sequences, comedy, villainy and pathos. It is solid entertainment. I would place this movie alongside Waterworld, The Last Action Hero, and John Carter as unfairly panned films which deserves to succeed in the cinema halls.

It is too bad that there appears to be a hate on for this movie simply because it seems that a lot of money was spent in its making. But look at it this way, when you hire real stunt persons, construct and destroy real trains and stage many stunts for real, it is not going to be cheap. I would rather support this type of movie-making any day instead of the tired CGI based effects laden yawners. Every penny of the budget is on screen in a beautiful shot and staged movie. I found it to be an enjoyable 159 minutes of entertainment.

Is The Lone Ranger a great movie? Not really, but it is relatively entertaining.

Is the movie slow in the middle? A little, but not as bad as most critics would have you believe.

The Lone Ranger is a bit long and does ask you to be patient at times, something that seems to be lost in the modern video-game world we live in.

The strength of the movie lies squarely with Johnny Depp and his portrayal of Tonto. I seriously doubt that any other actor could have pulled it off. Depp deadpans through several one-liners, which gives us much of the movie's humor. In Depp's capable hands, the character of Tonto is both admirable and witty, with a charm all his own.

The first part of the movie definitely gets us started with a bang. It does jump around quite a bit in the first few scenes, which seemed a little disjointed at times, but things are tied together well enough as the movie progresses.

The middle of the movie is slower, but we are provided with many of the answers as to the back history of the characters, especially with Tonto and the villains. I will agree that the movie could have accomplished the same with five to ten less minutes, but that is certainly not an adequate reason, in itself, to skewer the film.

And the last few scenes are the non-stop action sequences that most modern audiences love, although they do almost come off as cartoonish at times.

As stated, Depp's performance is the single biggest selling point for this movie. I thought William Fichtner was very good as Butch Cavendish, the film's main villain. Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham Carter all lend excellent support.

Of the movie's title character, I'm not sure that someone else other than Armie Hammer wouldn't have made a better Lone Ranger. That being said, the interactions and dialog between him and Depp's Tonto are enjoyable and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. In many ways, this is a buddy movie, albeit with a bit of a twist.

Perhaps, one of the main reasons critics dislike the movie is its title. For all intents and purposes, this is really a Tonto movie. It is more his story and told from his point of view. It probably should have properly been called Tonto. But I don't see that as being a bad thing at all.

If you take it for what it is, The Lone Ranger is a reasonably entertaining film, with a very strong performance by Depp. And that was enough for me to give it a 7 out of 10.