THE LONE RANGER is not an answer to the question but it is the catalyst. It is not a bad film, but a film that like many of the films I have seen thus far this year (IRON MAN 3 and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS to name a couple) it just begs to be done better. Forget the great history of the masked man (although if you add the history in it makes my case for deserving better even stronger) and just focus on the fact that aside from maybe ZORRO (no mention of JONAH HEX necessary), THE LONE RANGER is a comic book-like hero set in the lush landscape of the old west. He wears a mask, shoots silver bullets, has a Native American partner, his own theme song, and a white horse smarter than most movie executives apparently. That kind of character just needs to be done well and people will eat it up.
We can start with Johnny Depp and his portrayal of Tonto. If you checked out my MOVIES OF 2013 Blog, then you would see that I have a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to the fact that the Native American people have been screwed six ways to Sunday. At the risk of digressing, the movie does push that fact about the Natives home, but it does so in such a way that we, as viewers, should just accept it as history. The Comanche leader Chief Big Bear (played by Saginaw Grant) even refers to his people as ghosts whose time has passed. Really? So remember the Holocaust and Slavery to rightly avoid those evils, but the elimination of an entire culture chalk it up to “crap happens?” See, I digress. In short it would have been nice to have seen an actual Native American in the role but I realize that Johnny Depp is one of the main reasons that this film even got a greenlight to begin with so I can accept it. Also, he is Johnny Depp, so he will do a good job and he did, but it is the same problem I have with his costar Armie Hammer – the material was just not there for these guys. Too much comedy coming from Tonto and way too much bubbling fool coming from the Ranger.
The sad part is all the pieces seem to be there for a fun superhero romp in the old west but it just never comes together. Individual scenes are even engaging but they themselves never get stitched together making fine Old West tapestry. It’s like the fact that Dan Reid, the brother to the Lone Ranger’s John Reid played by James Badge Dale, is betrayed by someone close to him and it leads to the death of the Rangers by Butch Cavendish and his gang. This character is also broken over this betrayal, but we never are really told why he did the betraying and just have to assume it was for money which seems to be the only reason anyone does anything fictional or otherwise. I want to see a wounded Lone Ranger, not just physically but spiritually as well,with his adherence to the law having failed him, his brother, and his brother’s family along with the other Ranger’s that were murdered and their families as well. I want to see a Tonto who is lost after seeing his people either perish or be pushed aside in the face of “progress” and who finds a place in the world next to this white man in a mask of all people as they help each other extract vengeance that not only their characters need but all who share in their experiences do as well. The comedy should come as a result of the seriousness that is faced not as set-up to a bit. What starts with Johnny Depp stretches out to everyone else — all good casting but no meat to sink their teeth into.
As far as the look of the film, director Gore Verbinski made sure it looked marvelous. It was a beautiful, and dark, landscape just waiting to be discovered. From barren plains, to desolate river canyons, to the edges of new civilizations and all with a crisp train ride through it all. Once again everything was there but nothing lasting. No residual piece of beauty, a scene, or a line that buries itself within the viewer and makes you rethink it hours, or days, later with a small crack of a child’s smile of happiness across your face – except for maybe the final scenes with Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture, THE LONE RANGER’S theme, dragging you through the final steps of this adventure but even this could have used some tweaking, although big points to having shown some guts and using it to begin with. Once again referring back to many films of late that just need to show some teeth, go out there and be a great film, a work of art, and not just a two-hour long trailer or advertisement. THE LONE RANGER deserves better – the Western deserves better – and so to does the movie goer.
James “Ghost” Vecchia