The Lone Ranger, 2013
Directed by Gore Verbinski.
Starring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham-Carter.
SYNOPSIS:
An elderly Tonto narrates the origin of the Lone Ranger, where John Reid becomes an outlaw to seek justice for his murdered brother.
The Lone Ranger has been savaged by critics, so much so that it prompted Depp, Hammer, Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer to come out and claim that the reviews are unfair, and that people are looking more at the huge budget rather than the film itself. At the moment the film is on course to be a huge flop, so going in I was very wary and was half expecting a train wreck. I’m glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised.
While it’s by no means a perfect film I came out of the theatre feeling buoyed. It does feel a bit bloated at times, and I think a few sequences could have been trimmed. For example, Helena Bonham-Carter’s character, while having an interesting quirk, could have been cut out without much consequence. I wasn’t a fan of the framing device either, where Tonto tells a young boy the story at a festival in the 1930s. When the movie cuts back to the two of them it’s jarring, and the scenes aren’t amusing so much as they are bizarre. I was hoping that the young boy would turn out to be Britt Reid, the Lone Ranger’s great-nephew from The Green Hornet, and I’m assuming that was the intention, but perhaps there was an issue with rights.
Some of the humour fell flat, and it seemed that Johnny Depp was indulging himself too much. The rest of the cast was fine. I enjoyed Fichtner as the snarling Butch Cavendish, but I loved Armie Hammer as John Reid, and in some ways I think it’s a shame that he didn’t receive equal billing with Johnny Depp. I’ve been a fan of his since The Social Network and I thought the evolution of his character was handled well. At the start he was a naive idealist, but by the end he added an edge to the idealism, and it was a very organic and natural progression.
There has been a tendency in recent years to reinvent classic heroes, and make them grittier and give them a darker tone. This has led to my disappointment with a few films when inspirational figures haven’t been as inspirational as I was expecting *cough* Man of Steel *cough*. I’m glad to say that nobody decided to do that with The Lone Ranger. While it is self-referential at times, it is a straight portrayal and honours the essence of the character. In fact the climax actually feels like a completely different film, and it reminded me of all the pulp serials. From the moment the William Tell Overture swelled I had the biggest grin on my face, and I felt the giddy joy you’re supposed to feel when you watch a hero go into action. For that I’d like to thank Verbinski et al.
So yes, it’s not a perfect film by any means. It starts off strongly then it dips and remains uneven until the explosive climax, but it’s a film that honours its title character and provides a suitably cathartic climax.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert D. Spake – Find me on Facebook and Amazon.
Originally published August 10, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
