Films not to See #2 The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger starts off like a an epic as an unrecognisable and heavily made up older version of Johnny Depp’s Tonto regales the story of pacifist lawman John Reid (Armie Hammer) and his transformation into the titular Vigilante. But it is this epic length that kills the film, running at an exhausting two and a half hours that drains all promise from the film. Trying to imitate a John Ford western in running time doesn’t work when the characters are so familiar and the story so predictable.  It’s a story that been told many times that a modern reboot didn’t necessitate that long a film, it just  needed some inventive action sequences. While the train chases are thrilling the film in between them isn’t. William Fichner’s Butch Cavendish never feels a strong enough threat despite what he does to John Reid’s brother Dan and Tom Wilkinson’s politician is just an obvious villain from the start that also never feels like that big of an opponent for Reid and Tonto. The second act seems to last for eternity as the central duo go through numerous escapades involving scorpions, the cavalry and Native Americans. It’s clear that the filmmakers sacrificed pacing in a last ditch effort to show the budget on screen. Also the comedy is quite simple even for a disney film but the bloody scene where Cavendish eats a man's heart seems a bit too strong so I'm not too sure who the audience of the film is; are kids nowadays interested in cowboys and horses?

The biggest story of the film being it’s tortured production that saw a mid shoot hiatus to reassess the excessive budget on what is a pretty rote western full of the usual clichés such as bank robberies and bridge explosions that have been done convincingly before.  It is a very visual film with Verbinski doing some interesting transitions and effects sequences but the film as a whole feels far too conventional and suffers for it as we pass the two hour mark. Helena Bonham Carter’s unnecessary appearance and a cruelly underused Barry Pepper as the cavalry chief means the film rests too much on Depp doing his usual idiosyncratic performance and Armie Hammer’s dull lawman whose strict refusal to do any harm to his brother's killers becomes infuriating; how can a lawman survive without a gun is a key question in the film. Was the film worth it's budget and protracted production schedule... no, probably not.

Verdict: Good visuals but standard western tale and a lacklustre Depp performance

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