After scoring a success with The Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Johnny Depp reunites for a new take on the legendary western radio serial and TV series, The Lone Ranger. But this time, boy, they really shot themselves in the foot big time for this.
Taking place in 1869 Texas, four years after the Civil War, lawyer John Reid (Armie Hammer) joins his brother Dan as one of the seven Texas Rangers. But, Dan and the other five rangers get killed and ambushed by outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), who later kidnaps Dan's wife and their son. John becomes the sole survivor of the ambush and teams up with Indian Tonto (Depp) to save his sister-in-law and stop a plan that involves silver and an expansion of a railroad.
I haven't seen the TV show, but as a movie, it cripples on its own two feet like a dead horse in the film. It develops not much of a thrill and it's devoid of laughs (Even a dead horse isn't funny to me). Even, the action sequences, including the final showdown, feels routine. Plus, the script by Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe is genetic and has an 'assembled by committee' feel. Watching it on the screen is like seeing a first-draft script being trapped into a movie. Were the studio heads and crew were hurrying to put this on? They should have told the writers to change the script in its entirely.
The cinematography by Bojan Bazelli is stunning with fine visual images of the Old West and the score by Hans Zimmer is splendid, but you'll have to wait until two hours for the William Tell overture (AKA the Lone Ranger's theme) to come in.
Unlike his role as Jack Sparrow in the Pirate films, there's nothing great or spectacular about Depp's portrayal as Tonto. It's just a send-in-the-big-bucks role for him. Plus, Hammer is completely wrong as the Lone Ranger. A better actor like Josh Brolin could have worked with the right range and style to make this masked avenger come to life, but Hammer doesn't have it. As a result of this, I didn't find any chemistry between Depp and Hammer. The villains, played by Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper are strictly one-dimensional, and as a wooden legged head of a brothel, Helena Bonham Carter is wasted is a small role that could have worked better with Judy Davis or Kathy Bates in it.
Maybe, this movie could have been better with a more smart script and Brolin and Jackie Chan as Tonto with a perfect chemistry between them. But this Ranger is a disposable product in Hollywood assembled filmmaking.
Rating: *1/2
Parent Advisory: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, and some suggestive material. Plus, there's a scene in the film where Butch takes out a man's heart and eats it, off-screen. See Monsters University or rent the much more superior Lonesome Dove western TV miniseries, instead.
Taking place in 1869 Texas, four years after the Civil War, lawyer John Reid (Armie Hammer) joins his brother Dan as one of the seven Texas Rangers. But, Dan and the other five rangers get killed and ambushed by outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), who later kidnaps Dan's wife and their son. John becomes the sole survivor of the ambush and teams up with Indian Tonto (Depp) to save his sister-in-law and stop a plan that involves silver and an expansion of a railroad.
I haven't seen the TV show, but as a movie, it cripples on its own two feet like a dead horse in the film. It develops not much of a thrill and it's devoid of laughs (Even a dead horse isn't funny to me). Even, the action sequences, including the final showdown, feels routine. Plus, the script by Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe is genetic and has an 'assembled by committee' feel. Watching it on the screen is like seeing a first-draft script being trapped into a movie. Were the studio heads and crew were hurrying to put this on? They should have told the writers to change the script in its entirely.
The cinematography by Bojan Bazelli is stunning with fine visual images of the Old West and the score by Hans Zimmer is splendid, but you'll have to wait until two hours for the William Tell overture (AKA the Lone Ranger's theme) to come in.
Unlike his role as Jack Sparrow in the Pirate films, there's nothing great or spectacular about Depp's portrayal as Tonto. It's just a send-in-the-big-bucks role for him. Plus, Hammer is completely wrong as the Lone Ranger. A better actor like Josh Brolin could have worked with the right range and style to make this masked avenger come to life, but Hammer doesn't have it. As a result of this, I didn't find any chemistry between Depp and Hammer. The villains, played by Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper are strictly one-dimensional, and as a wooden legged head of a brothel, Helena Bonham Carter is wasted is a small role that could have worked better with Judy Davis or Kathy Bates in it.
Maybe, this movie could have been better with a more smart script and Brolin and Jackie Chan as Tonto with a perfect chemistry between them. But this Ranger is a disposable product in Hollywood assembled filmmaking.
Rating: *1/2
Parent Advisory: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, and some suggestive material. Plus, there's a scene in the film where Butch takes out a man's heart and eats it, off-screen. See Monsters University or rent the much more superior Lonesome Dove western TV miniseries, instead.
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