The Lone Ranger

Cast of Characters:
Tonto - Johnny Depp
John Reid/The Lone Ranger - Armie Hammer
Latham Cole - Tom Wilkinson
Butch Cavendish - William Fichtner
Captain Jay Fuller - Barry Pepper
Dan Reid - James Badge Dale
Red Harrington - Helena Bonham Carter

Director - Gore Verbinski
Screenplay - Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, and some suggestive material

      Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer team up as the iconic Tonto and Lone Ranger respectively in Academy Award winning director Gore Verbinski's The Long Ranger.

      The film begins at a San Francisco county fair in 1933, where a young boy named Will is attending a Wild West exhibition. Will comes across a seemingly ordinary mannequin that is revealed to be Tonto, an elderly Comanche spirit warrior. The spirit warrior then proceeds to tell the boy of his experiences with a man by the name of John Reid.

      We then go back to 1869. John Reid (Armie Hammer) is returning home to Colby, Texas aboard a railway, managed by railroad tycoon Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson), to visit his older brother and Texas Ranger, Dan Reid (James Badge Dale). Unbeknownst to John, the train is also carrying Tonto (Johnny Depp) and outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), who is being transported for his hanging after being arrested by Dan. Cavendish's gang, however, hijacks the train, which shortly derails soon after, resulting in Butch escaping and Tonto's arrest by John and Dan. Dan then recruits John as a Texas Ranger and the two are enlisted to negotiate with the Comanche tribe alongside a group of five other Rangers. A few days into their journey, the group is ambushed in a canyon by Cavendish's men who kill the Rangers, including Dan, who has his heart cut out and eaten by Butch himself. John is injured in the attack and passes out, only to be found by Tonto days later. When Reid awakens, he is told of his "immortality" by Tonto and that one of the Rangers betrayed Dan and is working alongside Butch. Tonto gives Reid a mask to conceal his identity, since everyone back home thinks he's dead anyway, and from there the Lone Ranger is born.

      Both Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp were a huge part of why The Pirates of the Caribbean films were so successful. Upon hearing the duo were teaming up again for The Lone Ranger, I was naturally looking forward to this, despite still thinking, "Okay, Johnny Depp buried under an ocean's worth of makeup. Yeah, I get it." There's a lot to like about this film. Verbinski's visual style is clearly present. The set pieces and costumes are gorgeous, and the performances are solid. Johnny Depp, with all his eccentricity, gives us what we expect of him. Armie Hammer, still isn't quite there as a leading man yet, but he holds his own against Depp. Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter are always dependable screen presences, and it's great to see William Fichtner onscreen again. All that considered, there's also a lot not to like here, and suspect number one is the writing. For starters, the retelling of the Lone Ranger story as a flashback is really unnecessary. I can understand why writers Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio would possibly wanna go that route. My thinking is they were trying to recapture what worked so greatly in The Princess Bride with Peter Falk's grandpa retelling the main story as a fairytale story to his grandson. Here it just seems like a distraction to the viewer and it really slows down the main story's momentum. The biggest offender, though, is the film's second act which is poorly paced and bogged down in tediousness. The first act showed a lot of promise. Then the second act came and nearly derailed the film, only to be slightly redeemed by the final act which features a terrifically shot and cleverly choreographed fight sequence on a runaway train. Despite its mild redemption, there's absolutely no reason I can think of this script did not deserve a run through the rewrite mill.

      It's really a bummer that I can't recommend a film that has a trifecta of actor Johnny Depp, director Gore Verbinski and composer Hans Zimmer as much as I'd like to. The film does have its share of inspired moments, but it really lacks the magic that I saw in The Pirates movies. The most I can say for this is wait for it on DVD. Judging from the ending, it looks like this may be turned into a film franchise. I'm hoping for a second one the writers can work out the kinks that are evident here. In the end, though, it'll all depend on the box office performance of this film. I give The Lone Ranger a C+ (★★½).

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