The Lone Ranger movie that was released earlier this year is
a re-imagining of the old Lone Ranger mythos. It garnered quite allot of
attention for casting Johnny Depp as a Native American and received quite a
critical backlash on release. Although I can see why this movie was critically
panned, I still found it to be entertaining while it lasted.
The storyline of the Lone Ranger is a bit of a schizophrenic
mess. The story is effectively Tonto telling of his adventures to a young boy
in a museum, so some of this can come off as an unreliable or biased narrator.
The story begins with The Lone Ranger arriving into town as an attorney and an
inept action hero who doesn't believe in guns. No real reason is established
for his extreme dislike of guns. He is also in the shadows of his heroic ranger
brother which is built up to be a big thing, but is then forgotten about except
as a running gag with Tonto. When he is killed but brought back, it might have
been because of a mystical, intelligent horse, or just because of luck. When he
comes back, he is a “spirit walker” and therefore can’t die in battle, except it
might just be random luck saving his life. Without any sort of consistent
theme, the story struggled to get out of first gear as it kept jumping between what
was central to the plot.
The movie also struggled to find a consistent tone. It often
alternated between trying to be a serious action movie and then have elements
of slapstick comedy. This is no more apparent than in a sequence where you
witness a massacre, and the next scene appears to be a somber reflection by
Tonto until he makes a joke about the horse. This was also a problem with the
characters, as the big events that you would think would lead to character
development (such as the aforementioned massacre) don’t really affect the
characters too much. Even finding out more about their history and the mistakes
in their lives doesn't the characters anymore interesting. Instead, it feels
like it was only put in there because the writers needed to actually give the
characters some development, although it never seems to affect any of their
actions.
Despite this, it was refreshing that the movie didn't make
the mistake of taking itself too seriously for the most part. It did realise
that its main appeal is as slapstick comedy with some out-there action scenes.
In fact, it is only when the movie does try to become dark and broody that it
really starts to drag out. I can see why the critics would savage the movie due
to the mess of a storyline, inconsistent tone and complete lack of character
development, but it did keep me entertained for its running length.
2 out of 5 Wendingo-killing waffles.
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