Hi, ho Silver. Away! (Never say that again!!)
This re-imagining of the classic Americana tale tells the story of John Reid (Armie Hammer), who is coming home after serving as a member of a city government. His train is attacked by Butch Cavendish and his men, and John meets the lonely indian Tonto (Johnny Depp). When arriving in his hometown, John is awarded the badge of a Texas Ranger. He and his brother, along with other rangers are ambushed by Cavendish and his men, and Cavendish takes John's brother's life. Tonto rescues John, who wants vengeance on his brother's death. In the process, John becomes The Lone Ranger.
The cinematography in this movie is gorgeous. The view of the Wild West and western towns immerse you in their world. Its' very interesting and beautiful to watch. I also found the acting to be fairly good, with Armie Hammer doing a good job as the titular character and Johnny Depp being as humorous and weird as ever as Tonto. He does bring much needed heart to the character as well, shedding some light on his troubled past and his occasionally well-driven advice.
I found the way the story was put together was pretty clever. We start out at a random scene, then we go to one of the main scenes, and then a question asked is explained by the first scene. That's almost genius. Its' really interesting how the explanation comes at the end of the scene. An interesting twist at the end makes it even more interesting. The action scenes were very exciting, particularly the ones at the beginning and end. Hans Zimmer sells it with the music score.
As far as bad things are concerned, the movie was way too long. Some scenes are too long and drawn-out, and sometimes it takes too long to get to a great scene. The movie is 2 1/2 hours long, couldn't it have been at least 30 minutes shorter?
I also found the movie to be downright disturbing at times. The scene where a character's heart is cut out and eaten is scary, and there are a few other disturbing images here and there. I'm very disappointed that Disney, a family-friendly movie studio, would make this movie very violent and disturbing in places. I would have easily put the Touchstone label on this film.
I saw The Lone Ranger at the $1.50 cinema, and my low expectations were met. And its' certainly not the bad movie critics have lauded it. This is because of some gorgeous cinematography, some solid humor and clever story angles. But Ranger is far from a great movie as well. Its' too long and violent for me to even consider watching again.
I have used the word "interesting" a lot in this review, so if I had to sum up this film in one word, that's the word I would go with.
But the word sometimes gets lost in a mixed array of good and bad things.
Should Your Family See It? Leave the kids at home for this one. The Lone Ranger is more problematic than just about any of the other movies Disney has made. I already outlined the disturbing moments. There is also a high body count, some blood, and quite a few explosions. Some sly innuendo and immodesty. Language is mild, but quite frequent, as I counted more than two-dozen foul words in the form of "what the h---?" (18 times), "d---" (7 times), "oh my g--" (9 times) and one use of "p---". In the end, this gets a Level 2 on the Family-Friendliness Scale. Teenagers and up might enjoy this, but for younger than that, I would rather recommend Epic, Turbo, or Monsters University.
