zaterdag 2 januari 2016

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 1: The Lone Ranger

Director: Gore Verbinski
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 149 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, James Badge Dale, Barry Pepper, Helena Bonham Carter

Description: Native American warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice.

Review: Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer wanted to do another epic film, after the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Something that would speak to both young and old. The popular radio show “The Lone Ranger” caught their attention. Later the show was turned into a television series, but a movie adaptation hadn’t been made yet. Bruckheimer and Depp hoped that with some of the Pirates magic and a big budget they would succeed. Well, they didn’t.
The old Indian Tonto tells the story of John Reid and how they met. When Reid’s brother is killed by bad guy Butch Cavendish, Reid wants revenge. He doesn’t want to kill Cavendish, because that’s not like Reid, but he wants justice. Tonto advices him to wear a Zorro like mask and together with his white cowboy hat his costume is complete and he starts working as the Lone Ranger.
Gore Verbinski made a somewhat confusing film. On one hand it looks like a kids film. The scenes with Tonto are humorous and sometimes like a silent film. Depp manages to create a quirky character, like he did with Jack Sparrow. But sometimes Verbinski choses to leave out the comedy completely and the film turns into this serious western.
Sadly they choose “The Lone Ranger” to be so serious at times and the film is very long too. The action sequences do look great from time to time, like the train scene in the first half hour. The film should be either an adventurous film with humor or a serious western. Now, the film doesn’t really find its direction.

Rating: 2/ 5

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