Lone Ranger : Naissance d'un héros

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.

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.

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.

The early signs were not good, tales of production problems galore and early critical notices wading in to kick the film before it had even had a run at the theatres. The Lone Ranger seemed destined to be a blockbuster stinker. Yet in spite of it noticeably alienating original Lone Ranger purists, and some Western lovers as well, for a rollicking action fun packed time then Gore Verbinski's movie delivers in spades.

It's awash with the serial silliness of adventure films and TV shows of yore, pitching good guys against bad guys with buddy buddy shenanigans pulsing away at the core. The stunts are outrageously enjoyable, the landscape photography as beautiful as it is respectful in homage to past masters of the Western genre, while in Depp's Tonto there's a bona fide hero to root for just as much as he makes you laugh out loud.

This is an origin story, a tale of how John Reid (Armie Hammer) became The Lone Ranger, and of course how the noble steed Silver and Indian side-kick Tonto became integral to his villain fighting ways. Tom Wilkinson and William Fitchner file in for polar opposite villain duties, the former is the weasel business man trying to mould the West in is own image, the latter a repugnant psychopath with a penchant for eating human hearts! Then Helena Bonham Carter wanders in from some Grindhouse movie for a couple of cameos that are resplendent with sexual energy.

It's all very wacky and wild, and rightly so, but this is not at the expense of very good story telling. Some parts of the narrative could have been trimmed, but as the bromance builds between our two heroes, and Silver gets up to all sorts of comedy horse escapades, there's nary a dull moment here. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Verbinski throw all the action staples into the pot. Chases, fights, swinging from ropes, shoot-outs, people dangling from speeding train (pic is bookended by awesome train sequences), grisly deaths and on it goes from start to end.

There's caustic asides to the machinations of organisations of the time, from railroad magnates to the cavalry, while the catchphrases and legends of The Lone Ranger TV series are deftly inserted into the tale. It was interesting to see Depp come out and defend the movie against those damning early critic reviews, it's not something he does, being as he is very much a guy who sees acting as just a job. Bruckheimer, Hammer and Verbinski backed Depp up, stating that some reviews were written before the film had even been released, the big budget and production problems clearly making this a big stinker…

Not so, it's certainly not flawless, and those seriously into anachronisms are likely to have kittens. But if you haven't seen it yet, if you was put off by the venomous early reviews, then give it a chance, you may just be surprised at just how entertaining it is. It also looks and sounds brilliant on Blu-ray, where repeat viewings even show Hammer to be better than first thought as that masked man. 8.5/10

Just got back from seeing it and we were thoroughly entertained. Depp and Hammer were fantastic in their roles and the action was over the top, as expected. Be advised, this film is told from Tonto's point of view based on his recollections of what transpired. This is not an Oscar contender, nor was it ever intended to be, but it is a great popcorn flick. It is violent in certain scenes and may not be suitable for smaller children, but for adults and tweens, it is about right. I did think that the first 10-15 mins or so were a little too slap-sticky for me, but once it gets going, it gets good. To all of the naysayers out there, what did you think you were going to see? It is essentially a western Pirates of the Caribbean, and Depp portrayed his character with the usual humorous persona he always does.