Starring: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson
Director: Gore Verbinski
In a few words...: A rip-roaring western adventure from the creative team behind Pirates of the Caribbean
Rating: 7.5/10
Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD
What do you get when you combine Jerry Bruckheimer's sense of grandeur, the direction of Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and the unique talents of Johnny Depp? A whole lot of fun. The Lone Ranger, Disney's latest blockbuster effort, delivers fun, excitement, humour, escapism and, most importantly of all, good-old fashioned Hollywood bluster and spectacle like we haven't seen since The Mummy franchise petered out after the Mummy Returns sequel.
It's a classic all-American adventure released, fittingly on Independence Day in America, and it confirms Bruckheimer - not that we really ever doubted this - as one of the great producers of his time. The man is a Hit Factory, and he knows his way around an action film. Even his bad films, like anything in the Pirates series except the first installment, gross millions. This is a good one. It should net a tidy profit. After a string of failures, it's exactly what the Disney shareholders needed.
Bruckheimer and Verbinski have successfully Hammer, as the John Reid, AKA the Lone Ranger, into a bonafide action star, and allow Depp, as his Indian sidekick, Tonto, AKA the guy with a dead bird on his head, to be that delightful sort of quirky that we love and now expect. Sure, Tonto's schtick reminds you instantly of Captain Jack Sparrow, but that's okay, because Captain Jack was a memorable character. Here, Depp as Tonto is a little more restrained, like Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates installment. Still funny, and able to steal a scene, but he doesn't take over the film, to the detriment of everything else. Because he doesn't have to.
Although Depp is cast as the sidekick, there's no doubt - and Hammer has admitted as much during the press tour to promote the venture - that the film would never have gotten off the ground had it not been for his interest in making the film. Thank God then, for Johnny Depp, because this was a rip-roaring adventure, deserved of it's reboot effort.
I found it interesting to read a lot of people didn't like this film. One reviewer gave it just the one star. That's pretty rough. In fact, people generally haven't liked it, and I'm not sure why, because I enjoyed immensely. Why, exactly, you ask? Because it was basically what I expected: a lot of good action (including some jaw-dropping set pieces), the stock-in-trade Johnny Depp humour and a fun movie, going into which you know to suspend all belief. I like that it didn't take itself seriously. It's set around real history, the Transcontinental Railroad that is being built across America. Yet it's not a documentary, and nor was it ever supposed to be!
Maybe the background (Reid's brother was actually the family's real butt-kicking warrior, and it's his demise that convinces his younger sibling to become the fabled Lone Ranger) story could have been dealt with quicker - but origin stories are all the rage nowdays, as we've seen with a spate of recent Batman, Superman and Spider-Man reboots - with Hammer putting on his mask quicker. Maybe the film could've been just a little shorter. 2 1/2 hours seems long, but there wasn't a point in the film where I didn't think, 'Gee, this is dragging on'. Minor complaints, really. Not worthy of a one-star review, that's for sure. Not even close.
All of that aside, Gore Verbinski has crafted a pretty fun film, a perfect (northern) summer blockbuster - harmless fun. The Wild West scenery is jaw-dropping, and there's some great characters on the periphery, like Helena Bonham-Carter's one-legged brothel madam (whose false leg contains, of all things, a shotgun) for some comic relief. You can't help but remember them. The deadpan, comic touches are great. Check out the band playing at the railroad's opening - but the second time you see them. A lot goes on in the background, subtly-placed humour.
Like all old-fashioned movies, the line between good and bad is a definite one. No shifting allegiances in this one; you're either good or bad in the end. If you're bad, the Lone Ranger's after you. And that puts a barely-recognisable but certainly devillish William Fichtner as Butch Cavendish, squarely in the firing line. There's some interesting paralells between two sets of brothers, and your stock-standard betrayal - or, was that actually two? - but we expect that and wait for it to happen!
Yes, the scenes are outlandish, and laugh-out-loud insane at times, but they're all crowd pleasers. That's the way it's supposed to be. This is a blockbuster. It's the only way Jerry Bruckheimer rolls. This man knows what you want. At the end, you've laughed, you've clapped, you've cheered for Tonto and the Lone Ranger and as the credits roll, you go, "Wow, that was something!" It won't win a Best Picture Oscar next year, but the audience I saw the film with seemed to really enjoy it.
A fun, relaxing night at the movies.Hope there's a sequel!
Although Depp is cast as the sidekick, there's no doubt - and Hammer has admitted as much during the press tour to promote the venture - that the film would never have gotten off the ground had it not been for his interest in making the film. Thank God then, for Johnny Depp, because this was a rip-roaring adventure, deserved of it's reboot effort.
I found it interesting to read a lot of people didn't like this film. One reviewer gave it just the one star. That's pretty rough. In fact, people generally haven't liked it, and I'm not sure why, because I enjoyed immensely. Why, exactly, you ask? Because it was basically what I expected: a lot of good action (including some jaw-dropping set pieces), the stock-in-trade Johnny Depp humour and a fun movie, going into which you know to suspend all belief. I like that it didn't take itself seriously. It's set around real history, the Transcontinental Railroad that is being built across America. Yet it's not a documentary, and nor was it ever supposed to be!
Maybe the background (Reid's brother was actually the family's real butt-kicking warrior, and it's his demise that convinces his younger sibling to become the fabled Lone Ranger) story could have been dealt with quicker - but origin stories are all the rage nowdays, as we've seen with a spate of recent Batman, Superman and Spider-Man reboots - with Hammer putting on his mask quicker. Maybe the film could've been just a little shorter. 2 1/2 hours seems long, but there wasn't a point in the film where I didn't think, 'Gee, this is dragging on'. Minor complaints, really. Not worthy of a one-star review, that's for sure. Not even close.
All of that aside, Gore Verbinski has crafted a pretty fun film, a perfect (northern) summer blockbuster - harmless fun. The Wild West scenery is jaw-dropping, and there's some great characters on the periphery, like Helena Bonham-Carter's one-legged brothel madam (whose false leg contains, of all things, a shotgun) for some comic relief. You can't help but remember them. The deadpan, comic touches are great. Check out the band playing at the railroad's opening - but the second time you see them. A lot goes on in the background, subtly-placed humour.
Like all old-fashioned movies, the line between good and bad is a definite one. No shifting allegiances in this one; you're either good or bad in the end. If you're bad, the Lone Ranger's after you. And that puts a barely-recognisable but certainly devillish William Fichtner as Butch Cavendish, squarely in the firing line. There's some interesting paralells between two sets of brothers, and your stock-standard betrayal - or, was that actually two? - but we expect that and wait for it to happen!
Yes, the scenes are outlandish, and laugh-out-loud insane at times, but they're all crowd pleasers. That's the way it's supposed to be. This is a blockbuster. It's the only way Jerry Bruckheimer rolls. This man knows what you want. At the end, you've laughed, you've clapped, you've cheered for Tonto and the Lone Ranger and as the credits roll, you go, "Wow, that was something!" It won't win a Best Picture Oscar next year, but the audience I saw the film with seemed to really enjoy it.
A fun, relaxing night at the movies.Hope there's a sequel!
Well said. It was definitely a step back to the 'good ol' style action films of yester year. I'm sure the review folk who slammed it were expecting a dark, intense, convoluted plot that moved right away from the story's light hearted origins. Too bad : )
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