The Lone Ranger (2013)

"I cannot decide if this blogger is stupid or pretending to be stupid... Tricky." -Tonto

 

Presenting The Not so A-lone Ranger and his sidekick, Tonto!

Directed by Gore Verbinski, this movie is a modern adaptation of the old TV and radio broadcasting of the same name. Set in the Wild West, lawyer John Reid (Armie Hammer) was returning home to Colby on the uncompleted Trans-continental Railroads when a gang of bandits decided to rob the passengers of the train and break free the outlaw, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) who was on his way to Colby to be hang. John Reid, being a pacifist and holding a no-gun-rule, failed to stop the outlaw and his gang from getting away as well as nearly endangering the lives of the train passengers and the live of a Red-Indian named Tonto (Johnny Depp). He is then deputized as a Texas Ranger by his brother, Dan Reid (James Badge Dale) who's a Ranger himself, and they both and a team of six men set off to track Cavendish down and bring him to justice. In the canyon regions, they fell ambushed by the Cavendish gang, killing each and every one of the seven, with one of them betrayed who has led them into the trap. Believing that all of them were dead, Tonto decides to make graves for them and perform his rituals. But when he discovered that John Reid was still alive but unconscious, he believed that he is the "spirit-walker" who will help him in his journey for justice. Now John Reid has to wear a mask and assumes a new alias, know as The Lone Ranger, along with the help of his friend, Tonto, they both have to team up to find and capture Butch Cavendish and his gang to bring them to justice. Also starring Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, Barry Pepper and Helena Bonham Carter.

 Am warning you now,you little worm, them SPOILERS A-HEAD!

After treating us with the world of Pirates, Gore Verbinski and Disney decides to take us now into the Wild Wild West. I must say that I'm happy with the direction they went. There isn't a lot of Wild West flicks around, and the latest the one that really hit in the cinema in recent years was Cowboys vs Aliens. That movie, to me, is more of a sci-fi set in a Western background. But here in Lone Ranger, it's Western from start to finish, not counting in the story-telling and narrative device used which is set in 1922. The scale of the movie is big, and I absolutely loved it. The set pieces, the use of the real trains, the on-location shots and the detailed costumes were fantastic. We've got horse riding sequences, chase scenes and gun shootouts. It was definitely an exciting Wild West experience.

"Hi-Ho, Silver, AWAY!!"

The story was well-written. I love how they use the story telling device narrated by the old Tonto to carry the film story and plot before our  eyes. We the audience, are pretty much seeing and watching from the young boy's eyes and ears as Tonto recalls back his time with the Lone Ranger. That was really impressive and very well done. The story has a good character development for our hero. It's pretty much the origin story of the Lone Ranger, how he turned from a pacifist law man into a gun-slinging Texas Ranger. From a bumbling fool to a man of action. All under the guidance of his friend Tonto and his beliefs. It was no easy journey for him but it had its charm, had its moments and it was a lot of fun to watch, especially their banter between both of them and the dynamics of their relation-.. I meant partnership. And despite the title, we got a lot of Tonto involved too. And he's not there just to cash in on Captain Jac- I mean, Jonny Depp's performance (which I think he performed brilliantly). Tonto's story and development turned from a tragic back story to a victory story.

Tonto not very good in game of Seek n Hide...

ACTION! STUNTS! We get plenty of them. Many of them are way over the top and our heroes sometimes survive due to sheer luck. Some of the things they do too should have killed them already. I still don't understand how Tonto can jump from one moving train to another, landing on his back against a pile of silver rocks. That would not only have broken his back but must have been a severe bruise as well. But it's just a movie. I'm so happy to see some scenes were done through real stunts, although some scenes were done in CGI which you probably can tell. But I really miss the era in Hollywood movie making where they had no choice but to rely on stuntmen to perform dangerous action, all for the enjoyment of the cinema audience. But we got fast moving trains, good ol' revolver shootouts and horse galloping! I really love the wild west experience.

Yea, this ain't no horseplay... or is it?

However, I think it went a little over the top when they unfold and unleashed the protoyped machine guns. I was like "haven't they done this so many times in films?" Not in the modern setting day films where the machine gun is already staple use of weapon but must it always be introduced and reintroduced in film set in a time where there's no machine gun or any form of automatic weapon yet? Some of the movies I can think of that does this are The Last Samurai, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, Jonah Hex, Van Helsing, Hansel and Gretel and Shanghai Knights. Enough with the "Say hello to my newly invented friend. I called her, the MACHINE GUN!" or any form of automatic weapon for that matter. Can't they just stick to its period weapon in the movie.

Say hello to my newly invented friend...

 Although a fun and enjoyable film, I believe the movie had one flaw. It was way too long. 2 1/2 ours. It took a long while before we were told of the sinister plot behind the railroad and the mining of silver. There was some politics involved as well. It was all pretty damned confusing to me. Best to just keep the plot simple. I mean see how Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl work for all of us and how Dead Man Chest and World's End was getting a little too complicated? I was bored to death at the room full of the gentlemen in their 1800's tux and mustaches talking about the railroad project, before somebody got shot and the train got stolen. Even the night scene at the Silver mines when the indians comes out to fight, and John was about to be killed, that I thought was the final act of the film initially. But when I see it continues on, I was like,"couldn't that be done shorter?"

 Shut up already, Parliment and die!

I understand that the film lost a lot of money for the studio, not that Disney can now suffer major financial losses. I think if they kept the film within 2 hours in length and simplify the plot a bit, they wouldn't need to spend so much money in the first place. But even with that, I believe our cinema audience have lost its taste in Western movies, which is really sad. It's this kind of genre that is becoming less and less popular. Also, releasing it so close to the movie Despicable Me 2, you're going to lose audiences and children to this Minion filled movie. I really enjoyed the film very much and I believe Gore Verbinski did a great job in adapting an old classic TV character into the silver screen (Get it, silver)? Even Hans Zimmer nailed the music and soundtrack excellently. Hearing Hans' version of  "William Tell Overture" when our Lone Ranger comes to save the day really got me all excited and rooting for the hero,"Go, Loner!!". I give this a 7 out of 10 silver bullets.

 

Not listening to comments...La La La La...

Comment below, you want to see a sequel to the Lone Ranger? =)

Presenting the Lone Ranger:

Or do you prefer this?