Starring: Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, William Fitchtner
Following his studies at law school, John Reid (Hammer) returns to his small hometown of Colby, Texas which is on the verge of being along the emerging trans-national railway. John starts aiding his brother Dan (James Badge Dale), a ranger, in the apprehension of escaped criminal, Butch Cavendish (Fitchtner) but an ambush leaves John the only surviving ranger in the area (having only recently been bestowed the honour) after being revived by a strange Comanche known as Tonto (Depp, Joseph E. Foy) John becomes convinced by Tonto that he is invincible in battle and with his Comanche ally at hand, John Reid becomes The Lone Ranger.
With director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer having pretty much single-handedly revived the believed-to-be-dead pirate swashbuckler movie with the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy (2003 - 2005),the duo now take on a revival of the legendary Lone Ranger. Financially, it doesn't seem to have worked but the film is not the creative failure its disappointing box office performance suggests. The opening and closing twenty minutes of the film are exactly what you want with The Lone Ranger. Rip-roaring straight-ahead action, goodies against baddies and the William Tell Overture blasting away. However, these forty minutes aside in a two-and-a-half hour film, the mood drops considerably. We have a great deal of emphasis on the Ranger's origins, a major expansion (and over-complication) of the villainous plot and also too much focus on the lives of Dan Reid's wife (Ruth Wilson) and son (Bryant Prince). The film ultimately seems like more of an homage to Sergio Leone than The Lone Ranger with various shots (and one plot point) borrowed wholesale from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) and a very Morricone-esque score from Hans Zimmer (featuring some string arrangements that are extremely close to those in Harmonica's leitmotif in Once Upon A Time In The West (1968).
Hammer and Depp make for a good duo, especially Depp who, naturally, makes for a memorable presence, enthusing Tonto not only with an enjoyable degree of comedy but giving him a dignity and dimension that was missing from the admittedly loveable Captain Jack Sparrow, although whenever Helena Bonham-Carter appears you can't help but feel you've stumbled into a Tim Burton film. This incarnation of Ranger and Tonto may not be up there with Butch and Sundance of Blondie and Tuco as a great western duo, but they play their part well.
I grow tired of darker introspections on our classic heroes. The Dark Knight trilogy (2005 - 2012) might have reinvigorated the superhero film, but I feel weary for more straight-forward action adventure films such as Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) or Superman (1978). However, whilst The Lone Ranger is a flawed but film it is very entertaining nonetheless and it's a shame that it's been as financially unfortunate as it has.
Next time, the return of young demigod, Percy Jackson on a search for The Golden Fleece in Percy Jackson & The Sea Of Monsters.
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