The Lone Ranger (2013) Movie Review

THE LONE RANGER (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

You know I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, and then I saw it...

Based on the old T.V show with the same name, The Lone Ranger begins with native american Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounting his events about John Reid (Armie Hammer), a civilized man of law whom was killed by unknown bandits. After being presumed deceased, John soon finds himself once again amongst the land of the living. Tonto soon explains to John that the people that murdered him also murdered his brother. Now out for vengeance against these bandits and all criminals alike, Tonto soon transforms John into The Lone Ranger, a man of truth and justice out to bring to the wild and wicked west. Though trouble has come for these two as the psychotic bandit Butch Cavendish (William Fitchtner) soon arrives on the scene and is not to pleased about the return of John. For the most part, I had no real big issues in terms of the overall plot. I felt the different scenarios that Tonto and John were put in developed the movie even further, whether that way was good or bad will be completely up to you but at least for me, it was in a more positive direction. 

Now for some reason, this film is getting bashed and hated by critics. The reason for this is one simple factor, which is that this movie goes for a shocking 2 hours and 30 minutes. Normally I have no problem with this length for a movie, as long the movie actually deserves the length. The Lone Ranger, at least for me, didn't quite deserve the 150 mins of screen time. This is because it didn't have enough story depth to it, causing pointless scenes to be included or certain scenes to drag on for too long. Now the director of The Lone Ranger is Gore Verbinski, who is most notable for directing the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and Rango, meaning that he and Johnny Depp have had many years of experience between them and here it defiantly shows. Many elements from the Pirates movies do tend to show in The Lone Ranger. Although this is in no way a bad thing, it does show a tiny lack of creativity, but you know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

As for the acting in the movie, I am very mixed with it. For the most part I liked Armie Hammer's performance as he wasn't over the top nor was he too shy and selfish. Speaking of over the top, let's discuss Johnny Depp's second dive into a western. And to be completely honest, I felt that his performance just gets redundant movie after movie. Don't get me wrong I like Johnny Depp as an actor and as a person, but it just seems he keeps on playing one role in alot of his more goofier performances  Captain Jack Sparrow. Whenever I see him on screen, all I can think about is Pirates of the Caribbean. And if a movie's main priority is to keep me engaged for the full running time, then The Lone Ranger isn't doing a 100% performance, but rather at best a 70%. Now as for the person that stole the whole show for me, it had to be William Fitchtner as to me, he was just such a threatening and spine tingling antagonist. Though this was mainly due to the fact that he was a cannibal, as in he ate any of his victim's hearts. I don't know but for me, I felt the acting was all around good, though some aspects of it defiantly could have been improved.

Overall, The Lone Ranger wasn't quite the franchise kick starter Disney had in mind but by no means was it a awful and unwatchable movie as in some parts, I actually found myself laughing and enjoying it. This really showed in the last 15 mins as the entire action sequence is accompanied by the Lone Ranger original theme, which just made the action that must enjoyable to watch. To sum it all up, the movies has its ups. The movie has its downs. But all in all, I found myself enjoying The Lone Ranger and as long as you can get through the ludicrously long length, I'm sure you can find yourself having a good time with this one. 

RATING: 6.9/10