The Lone Ranger Movie Review

I debated for a long time about whether or not to invest the almost two and a half hours to watch The Lone Ranger movie from Disney and directed by Gore Verbinski. Finally I decided to get it from Netflix and give it a go. Now will begin a review where I tell you why it isn't as bad a movie as everyone made it out to be.

The Lone Ranger tells the story of a lawyer, John Reid (Armie Hammer), who upon returning to Colby, TX goes out with his brother, a Texas Ranger, to re-apprehend a notorious outlaw. Along the way all the rangers are killed leaving the lawyer (who was deputized) the only one alive. He is kept alive by a mysterious indian he met on the train, Tanto (played by Johnny Depp), and together they set out to stop the bad guy - each for their own reasons. The background plots of the movie include the building of the transcontinental railroad and the tensions between "the white man" and the Comanches. The entire movie is told in a flashback from 1933 at a carnival as an old Tanto tells a young boy, who is dressed like the Lone Ranger, the story.

I think that the movie suffered from a couple flaws, completely unrelated to the story that contributed to it being considered a flop. One, too much money was spent on a film that, while a remake of a beloved television property, was not in an established movie franchise. And two, the film was made after several films in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which means it is considered a re-tread of those films rather than considered on its own merits.

Can't say much about flaw one, but I can comment a bit on flaw two. If Pirates didn't exist when this movie came out, we wouldn't be looking at Depp's portrayal of Tanto and thinking a face-painted Captain Jack Sparrow. Instead we would be thinking it was a quirky and layered portrayal of arguably the real hero in the Lone Ranger tales. Without Pirates, we would also look at The Lone Ranger as a fun and slightly campy romp through the old West mixing modern-ish references and dialogue seamlessly with the 1860s time period. They also do a good job of mixing in iconic Lone Ranger bits in a fun way. The only other thing I think the movie is challenged by is not having as recognizable star power in the making from the female lead. In Pirates, Keira Knightley was a strong character and poised to be a Hollywood star (she had been acting for a while before that) and here, Ruth Wilson is not given quite as much to work with as Rebecca Reid, John's sister-in-law, though she does ably wield her rifle.

If you like trains, explosions, over-the-top stunts and westerns, you should give The Lone Ranger a shot. Don't let the hype dissuade you. I have stopped watching many, many movies and watched this all the way through and wasn't disappointed (was my bar set low to start with? maybe). Overall, The Lone Ranger gets 3 Mick Happies. Hi-Ho, Silver,…well you get the idea.