The Lone Ranger

Let me be honest, I never wanted to see this movie, I heard bad reviews, didn't see many adverts for it and was very critical as to how it was advertised with Tonto's face all over it. I grew up with the t.v series, for me it was a prime time Saturday afternoon show and I loved it. I had no objections to a film adaptation, reboot or remake, but I was so convinced this was going to be about Tonto and I just wasn't interested to the point that I had to be dragged to see this. Now I can truthfully say I am so glad I was.

I don't know if this film is a victim of bad marketing, or isn't a crowd pleaser because of the conflicting tone in the film. Maybe it missed the mark with too many people or was, as is claimed, criticised too quickly, before it was even viewed in fact, but I can advise you now to at least give it a chance. It won't please everyone, no movie can, and I think it is destined to go the way of a cult film rather than a blockbuster, which is a pity because it's one of the few flicks out that I would genuinely like to see a sequel for.

There's also the possibility that it's advertised at kids who haven't even heard of The Lone Ranger, rather than selling it as something new and shiny it's advertised as something old repolished, and that isn't grabbing for people who don't know the original.

An origins film, it stays faithful enough to the original series, following the plot as to how several rangers ended up with only one survivor thanks to betrayal and an ambush by Butch Cavendish and his gang. The survivor is John Reid, a lawyer for justice and against violence and vengeance, the victims include his brother, the sheriff Dan Reid, a tough and heroic man. John is rescued by Tonto, a Native American Indian he has already had a previous encounter with, and a spirit horse. Tonto wants vengeance on Butch and his gang and he thinks Dan should have lived instead of John, but John is determined to bring people to justice.

The plot is a lot deeper and more tangled than you would think of a Disney film. For a Disney film it's certainly dark but then so was PotC. We see John forced to question everything and everyone he ever believed in, we have Tonto's whimsical, pitiful and mad persona explained in a dark history and we watch as this unlikely duo reluctantly bond over their common enemy and guilt.

This film has plenty of action, tragedy and comedy, but the problem is that these elements don't always mesh well together, sometimes you are thrown from one to the other rather than smoothly transitioned and it's hard to tell what tone the film wants to set and what message it's trying to send across. It is a light hearted cowboy styled actioned film at heart but at the same time it's trying to be something deeper and different, getting into the gritty history of the hardship, brutality and treachery faced by the Native American Indians, the fickle and harsh life of the West itself and the backstabbing nature of its opportunistic players. The villains here aren't always clearcut, nor are the heroes. John has many moments of doubt and stupidity (some played simply for comedic effect) and Tonto is even more vague as a heroic lead, he's haunted by a past so horrible it makes you question his nature, is his quest for vengeance good or selfish?

Overall, I truly loved this film, it had enough depth, realism and twists to keep me interested, humour to keep me entertained and an engaging cast to have me fall in love despite a somewhat dull overall plot. The main plot is bog standard to the point of being a stereotype, it is vengeance versus justice at its core with a mysterious hero pitted against the greedy railroad barons who are determined to satisfy their desires for land and silver no matter the bloody cost.

The cons for me were that characters like Red and Butch's sidekicks did not get enough expansion, leading love interest Rebecca Reid did not appeal at all and the Lone Ranger himself did not get enough chance to shine, but as this was an origins story the latter can be forgiven. Also, the framework of an aging Tonto regailing the tale to a young boy dressed as The Lone Ranger was distracting to the point of being irritating, just as soon as things are getting exciting you're yanked out of the action and back to some boring, almost empty sideshow. Also, though the purpose of the old Tonto telling the story was to make it seem more mysterious and magical and make you accept the plot holes and question the characters and stories, it was just jarring and made it harder to accept the story as anything other than a story being read aloud. Thankfully these moments were few enough and not at extremely important times in the plot.

The pros were firstly Butch Cavendish, a wonderful, bloodthirsty and cannibalistic villain portrayed amazingly by William Fichtner, he managed to steal the show in every scene he featured, and an equally good performance by Tom Wilkinson as the less black and white villain Latham Cole. There is of course Armie Hammer, his Lone Ranger was a bumbler I'll admit but he was great at those comic scenes and I thought he bounced off Johnny Depp's Tonto well. I'll even admit despite my initial misgivings Johnny Depp's Tonto was entertaining and his backstory a worthwhile addition to the story.

I think if the movie wasn't trying so hard to rein in the kids (pardon the pun) and had just let loose and gone the darker way it wanted this movie could have been great. Keep the comedic elements of course but balance them up better against the more tragic and disturbing side of things and this film really could have worked. Not to say that it didn't, I certainly enjoyed enough to the point of wanting to watch it again, but it could have worked better. This film was delayed for several reasons and it sadly shows, it has such potential which is why I hope it will get a chance at a sequel, with more Red and Butch! It seemed like it wanted to let go and show the real brutality against not just the Indians but against the duped white folk too who were also betrayed by Latham Cole and victimised by Butch Cavendish and his gang, but was hindered by coming under the Disney umbrella, and of course being a remake of a gentle, daytime show rather than a grim Clint Eastwood flick.