The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is a 2013 Disney film that features the iconic television characters, Tonto and the Lone Ranger. Starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, these two work well together to deliver a comical performance of 2 individuals coming together for one common reason. While the film had some great moments, it failed to meet the expectations of an amazing live action film. The comments featured in this blog are my own personal thoughts and do not affiliate with Disney.

***Spoilers Ahead***

The "how" in the story being told is extremely confusing. It is 1933 and a young boy dressed as the Lone Ranger is visiting a circus. He walks into a tent that has wax figures on display depicting the Wild West. One wax figure is Tonto. He comes alive just as the boy approaches him and is very old. It is then when Tonto tells the young boy of his journey with the Lone Ranger. I don't understand the point of this. How did Tonto end up in a museum pretending to be a wax figure? Where is the Lone Ranger? Who is the child and why is it important for Tonto to tell him everything? These questions never get answered by the time the film concludes. Very strange. 

The movie itself is very long - 2 hours and 29 minutes. It was not necessary. The action scenes we saw in the trailer are sadly the final 20 minutes of the movie. At points, the storyline got confusing and introduced characters and subplots that didn't belong. For instance, the beginning of the film revolves around local rangers capturing a wanted murderer and bringing him into town for trial. The woman who is our main female protagonist is very concerned about a particular man's well being while this ordeal takes place. Who? Husband? Father? She also hints that he is evil but then hints that he is good. Which is it? Turns out to be the Lone Ranger's brother who is this woman's husband. Ok that makes sense. But what I don't get is when Armie Hammer returns to town, him and the girl embrace as if they're the ones married. The brother notices how strongly Armie's character feels for his wife and just shakes his head and rides off with the other rangers. So wait....you're ok with this? I'm confused.

The storyline also revolves around the growing conflict between Native Americans and new townspeople. This gives Tonto a higher purpose as opposed to just the Lone Ranger wanting to find the man who killed his brother. The overall build up is slow moving. It takes a while to finally get to the point and understand what the villains are looking for. I will say the ending was fantastic. The final scene was very well done and brought out the authenticity of depicting Wild West action.

I was impressed with how authentic the film was. The actors spoke like 1800 Westerners and the style of acting/scenery was very ol' country. So for that part, I say well done. 

I feel the film lacked a steady flow. Should the film have been shorter, I believe the plot would have flowed better and not force the audience to watch scenes that didn't need to be there. For instance, why did I have to see bunnies attack another dead bunny? Was that really necessary to show me?

I was quite disappointed but in the end, I did enjoy the film. I guess you can say I'm on the fence. So with that, I would recommend you go see it. It's worth seeing on the big screen.

My Rating: B-