The idea of “justice” gets thrown around quite often. What
exactly is justice? That is exactly what John Reid (Armie Hammer) must ask
himself when he gets thrown into the role of a western hero and assumes the
persona of the Lone Ranger.
The movie begins with a young boy walking through a carnival
in 1933 San Francisco. He is dressed as his idol—the Lone Ranger. He enters an
exhibit (“Life on the Frontier” or something to that extent) and comes across a
wax figure of a Native American. This wax figure is not really a wax figure at
all; it’s Tonto (Johnny Depp), an elderly man with a story to tell. He sees the
boy’s costume and begins to regale him with the tale of how the Lone Ranger
became the Lone Ranger. We are taken back to 1869; the towns are small, the
frontier is large, and the American Dream is larger still. We’re introduced to
John Reid, a peaceful lawyer traveling to see his brother Dan (James Badge
Dale) back home in Texas. On the train, the ride is disrupted by the
cannibalistic outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) and his gang. John
attempts to take the nonviolent route by ordering them under arrest, but
Cavendish overpowers him and locks him up with none other than our friend
Tonto. John and Tonto are forced to work together in an attempt to stop the
criminals; the outlaws, however, derail the train and escape. Back in town,
John is reunited with Rebecca (Ruth Wilson), his childhood sweetheart—and now
Dan’s wife. Dan and the other rangers prepare to leave town again to pursue
Cavendish, and John tags along. Soon, the men are led into a trap and John is
the lone survivor. Tonto saves him with the help of the mystical “spirit horse”
and the three embark on a journey for justice.
Many critics strongly disliked the film; I’m inclined to
disagree. I really enjoyed the film and ended up seeing it three times in
theaters. I felt that the film sent a very interesting message, and I liked
that Disney took some risks with it.
Before I get into the deeper parts of the film, let’s talk
about the actors. Apart from the two protagonists (Hammer and Depp), the
antagonist (Fichtner), and one minor character (Helena Bonham Carter), the cast
was relatively unknown to me. I enjoy watching actors I haven’t seen before
because I don’t have set expectations for them. I did, however, have higher
standards for the four bigger names; I’m pleased to say that they met those
standards. Hammer and Depp had great chemistry as John and Tonto, respectively,
and I’d like to see them in more films together. They pulled off the love-hate
friendship very well and had an interesting dynamic onscreen (which may have
been partially due to the fact that they’re both quite pleasing to look at).
Fichtner shined in the role of the villain; I feel that, if the film had done
better, Disney could have easily marketed him as one of its most evil villains.
Most of his scenes were delightfully cringe-worthy; I think that every good
villain should make the audience cringe. Helena Bonham Carter was as wacky as
ever in her role as Red Herrington, the prostitute with a secret up her
sleeve—or should I say skirt, since that secret happens to be an ivory leg
that’s really a gun?
I also want to talk about the cinematography in this film.
Actually, “gush” would be a more appropriate term. The cinematography in this movie
is amazing. Disney’s live-action
films never cease to amaze me with their scenery, and The Lone Ranger is no exception. I’ve never been a huge fan of
desert landscapes, but the scenes in this movie made me want to don a
ten-gallon hat and some boots and ride into the sunset. One of my favorite
shots in the film is the first time John sees the spirit horse. The horse is
high up on a bluff, and the camera angle is able to capture the sky and the
canyon around him, showing off the contrasting hues…it’s stunning. I won’t talk
about my absolute most favorite shot for fear of spoilers (it’s at the very end
of the movie), but I will tell you that it’s simply gorgeous.
Earlier, I mentioned liking the risks that Disney took with
this film. I believe that Disney’s riskier films are some of its greatest and
most underrated films (such as 1996’s The
Hunchback of Notre Dame). This film’s biggest risk has got to be its
blatant mention of cannibalism. Although we never outright see Cavendish eating
another human, we see a reflection of his silhouette as he eats a man’s heart,
and later he licks the blood off of a razor after it cuts his cheek. The Lone Ranger is not the first Disney
film to feature prostitutes, but it does give them a larger role than, say, Pirates of the Caribbean (another Jerry
Bruckheimer film in which Johnny Depp has an interesting relationship with working
girls). Red and her girls at the brothel aren’t sweet and sugar-coated…at least
not for Disney.
I also mentioned the film’s message. It showed that not all
white men were as innocent as history shows them to be, nor were all Native
Americans as savage as some believe them to be. In fact, the film’s antagonists
are all white; most of the Native Americans in the film aren’t the
protagonists, but they aren’t the bad guys either. The film shows “progress”
(Manifest Destiny, western expansion…take your pick) in an extremely negative
light; again, those fighting for “progress” are all white men. I think it’s
important to show that, in a lot of cases, the white race was the bad guy,
considering the fact that many history books today try to cover that up.
Finally, I want to talk about the music in the film. I’m a
sucker for movie soundtracks, especially Hans Zimmer’s scores. Parts of this
score are reminiscent of the Pirates of
the Caribbean soundtracks, but with a more “western” twist. Then, we have
the finale score…oh, the finale score. The
Lone Ranger wouldn’t be complete without four things: the black mask, the
white hat, the white horse, and the William Tell Overture. Zimmer puts his own
exciting twist on the piece by incorporating romance, action, and suspense into
it. There are also brief moments that have the same feel of the Pirates score, which makes a mega-fan
like me very happy. Even if you’re not a movie score fan, I urge you to give
this film’s soundtrack a chance—it’s worth it.
The one problem I had with the movie was its
geographical/historical inaccuracy. I’m a bit of a history geek, so I was a
little bothered by the fact that the film claimed that Promontory Point (or
Promontory Summit, as it’s referred to in the film), the meeting place of the
Pacific and Central Railroads, was located in Texas; it is, in fact, located in
Utah. I’ve tried giving the film the benefit of the doubt for this mistake many
times, but I still can’t come up with an excuse as to why the film would make
this mistake. However, considering that this is the only issue I have with the
film, I’m willing to forget about it.
The Lone Ranger may be cheesy and far-fetched
at points, but it was able to make me forget about my woes for two and a half
hours, and I think that that’s the best thing a movie can do for someone. I
chose to ignore the other critics’ opinions and see the film, and I recommend
doing the same to anyone who will listen.
Score: 10/10
Recommend: Yes, but only if you're willing to accept its goofiness
