MOVIE: Lone Ranger

Lone Ranger: a film raising the question of whether Johnny Depp can salvage a sophomoric script.  Sometimes you know  from a movie’s opening scenes that you are in for a long viewing session.  Most of the film occurs in Texas 1869.  It opens in 1933 with a young boy ambling through a traveling Wild West fairground wearing a Lone Ranger costume.  He stops before a glass-screened exhibit of an Indian teepee with an elderly Indian labeled “The Noble Savage in his Native Habitat”.  Then the Indian starts talking.  Soon we are fed a hokey bank robbery scene that is later replayed, unfortunately.  The movie improves, thank you Johnny Depp, and there are some unintended funny scenes, however, this 149 minute movie falls short of what could have been a fun film.  What were Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Pictures thinking?  Disney was criticized last year for John Carter but Carter was a much better film.  I remain a Johnny Depp fan and those of you who are in this category will find enough decent scenes to be pleased you saw the movie.  But Depp’s Tonto is almost the only interesting character.  Armie Hammer is a weak Lone Ranger who is not helped by a terrible script attributed to three individuals:  Justin Haythe, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio.  Hammer’s character, John Reid, is just plain silly.  He has a cute introductory scene that could have been written by Bill Mahr (anti-religious joke) but that’s it.  The Lone Ranger grew up in Texas but is anti-gun?  The bad guys, especially Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), are one dimensional stick figures.  Tom Wilkinson, a very good actor, is wasted in a stereotypic role of an evil railroad honcho that is not even salvageable by having been a civil war veteran.  Chief Big Bear (Saginaw Grant) and a feisty madam played by Helene Bonham Carter were among the only other interesting characters.  The Chinese railroad workers and the Indians could have come straight from a pre-Vietnam Hollywood movie.  Depp’s Tonto stands in striking contrast from the rest of the film.  Gore Verbinski is the director and I hope he doesn’t attempt any other Westerns.  There are, however, some beautiful non-Texas western scenery shots.  The cinematographer is Bojan Bazelli and the pretty stuff is Monument Valley.  I miss seeing Westerns; I grew up with them and some of my favorite films and old television shows are Westerns (“Lone Ranger” is not on my list).  I was looking forward to seeing the Lone Ranger but unless you are a diehard Depp fan, which I am, there is no reason to see this movie.   

Trivia information: original “Lone Ranger” radio series commenced broadcasting in 1933.