The latest summer blockbuster to be advertised more than political campaigns, but I can't hold that against it.
"The Lone Ranger" is a fast-paced, action-packed, fun-filled, hyphen-described, western action adventure. I was surprised by how competent the movie was in its ability to be a western. A lot of movies are westerns in setting alone, but I saw many classic western elements including a posse of rangers on a long desert ride, plenty of trains, seedy bars, prostitutes, corrupt leaders, and lots of gun slinging. I found myself immersed by the classic spaghetti western style and ready for a fun ride.
The movie also paid its tributes to the classic Lone Ranger with an extended use of the classic Lone Ranger theme song. As soon as the song begins, you can just feel the energy of the film rise to a fever pitch as the action scenes go on and on to the climax of the movie. "Die Hard" may have been the first to use classical music to highlight action sequences, but when that classic them came to its conclusion I found myself absolutely floored. Also, a quick homage to the classic Lone Ranger catchphrase was very much appreciated.
The story does a lot to explain who and what the Lone Ranger is. Even though we live in an unfortunate era in which every single movie has to be an origin story, in this case I can let it slide because the Lone Ranger is such a classic and mysterious figure. I actually want to know what his story is, rather than be told for the tenth time where Spiderman came from. I know where Spiderman came from, bro. Quit telling me.
Despite everything I like about the style, one major storytelling choice almost turned me off. The movie begins in 1933 at a carnival where a young boy discovers a tent depicting scenes of the Wild West. He views a display of an "Indian savage in its natural habitat." The mannequin comes to life and is revealed to be the one-and-only Tonto.
I have compared storytelling styles to "The Princess Bride" before, but this takes it to a whole new level. Tonto begins telling his story to the young boy, describing a scene in which he and the titular Ranger rob a bank. The boy immediately interrupts to say "Whaaaaaat?! Lone Ranger didn't rob no banks!" In "The Princess Bride," the boy interrupts to speak the mind of the audience, saying "This is a lame kissing story!" In that case, good old Grandpa assures us that this is going to be an awesome movie and the audience no longer cares how dramatic the story telling is, we're on board. In the case of "The Lone Ranger," everybody saw the bank robbery and assumed it was going to be explained later (it is), so the kid interrupting does just that-interrupts. I was trying to watch a movie and, instead of being the voice of the audience, the kid becomes the voice I want to shut the hell up.
Also, in "The Princess Bride," the kid once again interrupts a dark point in the movie at which it is believed that the princess married the evil king. When the kid interrupts, he is once again speaking the voice of the audience because we don't know if she actually married him and we later find out that it was just a dream. At a dark point in this movie, it is believed that the Lone Ranger is dead and the kid interrupts to say "Whaaaaaaat?! Lone Ranger ain't dead!" Yeah, kid, we all know that he's not dead because this scene takes place twenty minutes into the movie. Look at the title. We know we have to watch two more hours of him doing things.
Despite this hiccough in the storytelling, the plot is actually very well structured and engaging. "The Hero's Journey," or "monomyth," is a story structure that has been used literally thousands of times, but it is still effective when well-executed, like in The Matrix, Star Wars, and The Odyssey. It includes the call to adventure, supernatural aid, death and rebirth, transformation, and return, all of which is prominently shown in "The Lone Ranger."
We see John Reid as a prudish lawman in contrast to his brother Dan, a heroic Texas Ranger. Dan is on a train that is also transporting the cannibal Indian-killer Butch Cavendish in addition to Tonto. Tonto wishes to kill Cavendish for his crimes, but the train is hi-jacked by Cavendish's men. Tonto and John are forced to fight together, but both Tonto and Cavendish escape. John joins his brother as a deputized Ranger as they go into the desert in search of Cavendish. When Dan and the rest of the Rangers are killed by Cavendish's men in an ambush, John is saved by Tonto and forced to become the Lone Ranger to avenge his brother and save Texas from a political conspiracy.
The story is well-paced and fantastically zany, with that classic Jerry Bruckheimer style which is scientifically designed to push the boundaries of your understanding of reality. However, unlike some sequences in Pirates of the Caribbean, I felt that "The Lone Ranger" rarely pushed the envelope too far, despite some events being entirely dictated by luck or some supernatural force. The action sequences were epic and engaging without going too far.
However, one scene in this movie, near the end, almost killed the critic in me. Tonto is on a train which is driving down the rails near another train. The other train has a pile of rocks in cargo. Tonto needs to get to the other train. So what else could he do but jump one hundred feet off of a bridge and land, feet first, on the pile of rocks in the cargo? These scenes are not bad because they disengage the audience from the movie. In most cases they don't. However, this scene was an absolute failure of directing and screenwriting. They literally could not think of any other way for Tonto to get to that goddamn train. The fall would have killed him three times over if he was falling into a lake, much less onto the back of a goddamn cargo train. For shame, Hollywood. You had a fresh, well-paced action adventure and you couldn't resist throwing in some stupid bullshit.
Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp trade lines in every scene, showing their acting prowess in a variety of situations. Johnny Depp is best in roles that portray characters that are mostly crazy, but with enough charm to be universally loved. Despite Tonto's one-word descriptions of most scenarios, Depp still gives a great performance. I will not comment on whether or not the portrayal is racist or offensive or an affront to human dignity, because I really don't know. Tonto did succumb to several hurtful Native American stereotypes, but the story is extremely sympathetic and surprisingly accurate about the plight of minorities during this time. White men slaughter Indians, Indians attack settlements, and Chinese are little more than cannon fodder to get shot at railroads to get the country built for the benefit of people that are not Chinese.
"The Lone Ranger" earns my ranking of Watch It for storytelling, excellent pacing and action scenes, and great acting, including a few memorable scenes with Helena Bonham Carter. Oh, I didn't mention Carter is in this? You saw the commercials that said Johnny Depp is in this, are you surprised? Those two need to get surgery to get their damn hips separated.
Until next time, what are your thoughts on the movie? I love to hear the opinions!
-kmaker
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