Before I get into the movie, I want to say that my theater experience might have influenced my overall enjoyment of the movie. We had extremely uncomfortable seats, I was being poked by something plastic the whole time, and my boyfriends squeaked really bad. My friend's seemed okay, and she had a great view since the seat in front of her was missing. Seriously, what happened in that particular screen? The rest of the theater is usually pretty nice.
Also, I'm from Wyoming, as you might know. And the people sitting next to us - were stereotypical Wyomingites (one of them was even wearing a cowboy hat). Trust me, that is not a good thing. They were loud and dumb and all four of them must be madly in love with Johnny Depp because everything his character said and did was hilarious. And no, they weren't teenagers just trying to be obnoxious. They were adults.
Now, the movie. Well, the movie is set up as old Tonto telling the story to a young boy at a carnival who was dressed up as The Lone Ranger. The first bit of action comes early on, as John Reid (Armie Hammer) is sitting on the train, who has just finished his schooling as a lawyer. The train is also carrying the outlaw, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). The train is ambushed by his gang, freeing Cavendish. During the ambush, Reid switches places with Cavendish, ending up in handcuffs next to Tonto (Johnny Depp). The train runs off the rail, Tonto is arrested, and Reid meets up with his long lost lover, Rebecca (who is now married to his brother).
He also meets up with his brother, Texas Ranger Dan Reid (James Badge Dale), who immediately wants to go after Cavendish. John Reid wants to come along - so he gets his own badge. They get betrayed by a member of their group and are ambushed by Cavendish. Everyone dies. John Reid dies too - but not until after he watches Cavendish pull out and eat his brother's heart. Tonto, who magically escaped from his jail cell, finds the massacre and buries all the bodies. Well, except John Reid's. He has been chosen by the spirit horse to be brought back to life.
That's how The Lone Ranger is born. His mask is from the bullet holes in his brother's vest. His partner is a native who hates him. His mission: to avenge his brother's death.
We find that Cavendish is after a huge amount of raw silver that he discovered twenty years ago. Well, the silver that Tonto showed him when he was a boy. After John finds out about Tonto's past, he leaves him and tries to get justice by himself. You can probably guess this doesn't work. But I don't want to give anything else away.
The story has sooo much potential. It had a lot of dark elements that change it from just being a western and turn it into something more supernatural. But they didn't take advantage of that. There were really weird and unnecessary details like cannibalistic rabbits. Then other things weren't really explained that needed to be, like why John Reid and Rebecca didn't stay together. I think what happened is Gore Verbinski put too much focus on the character of Tonto because he was played by Johnny Depp. And in my opinion, Johnny Depp didn't play him that well. Armie Hammer was great. And the chemistry between the two characters was good. Especially with the horse added in. My favorite character was Butch Cavendish though. They really should have went more into his story instead of having Tonto take up 75% of the screen time. Also, I hated Helena Bonham Carter in the movie. There are so many actresses out there that could have played the role of Red Harrington a million times better. Why does she have to be in every movie with Johnny Depp? I've only ever really like her in like three things.
Some things I did like: The western part. I like the old Cowboys and Indians thing. Reminds me of my dad, plus it's just good ol' fashioned action. I liked the son or Rebecca and Dan. He had spunk and heart. I liked the general story of greed, betrayal, and revenge. I went into this movie expecting so much more than what I got out of it. And I am disappointed. I know I am not the only one.
I give it a six out of ten.
He also meets up with his brother, Texas Ranger Dan Reid (James Badge Dale), who immediately wants to go after Cavendish. John Reid wants to come along - so he gets his own badge. They get betrayed by a member of their group and are ambushed by Cavendish. Everyone dies. John Reid dies too - but not until after he watches Cavendish pull out and eat his brother's heart. Tonto, who magically escaped from his jail cell, finds the massacre and buries all the bodies. Well, except John Reid's. He has been chosen by the spirit horse to be brought back to life.
That's how The Lone Ranger is born. His mask is from the bullet holes in his brother's vest. His partner is a native who hates him. His mission: to avenge his brother's death.
We find that Cavendish is after a huge amount of raw silver that he discovered twenty years ago. Well, the silver that Tonto showed him when he was a boy. After John finds out about Tonto's past, he leaves him and tries to get justice by himself. You can probably guess this doesn't work. But I don't want to give anything else away.
The story has sooo much potential. It had a lot of dark elements that change it from just being a western and turn it into something more supernatural. But they didn't take advantage of that. There were really weird and unnecessary details like cannibalistic rabbits. Then other things weren't really explained that needed to be, like why John Reid and Rebecca didn't stay together. I think what happened is Gore Verbinski put too much focus on the character of Tonto because he was played by Johnny Depp. And in my opinion, Johnny Depp didn't play him that well. Armie Hammer was great. And the chemistry between the two characters was good. Especially with the horse added in. My favorite character was Butch Cavendish though. They really should have went more into his story instead of having Tonto take up 75% of the screen time. Also, I hated Helena Bonham Carter in the movie. There are so many actresses out there that could have played the role of Red Harrington a million times better. Why does she have to be in every movie with Johnny Depp? I've only ever really like her in like three things.
Some things I did like: The western part. I like the old Cowboys and Indians thing. Reminds me of my dad, plus it's just good ol' fashioned action. I liked the son or Rebecca and Dan. He had spunk and heart. I liked the general story of greed, betrayal, and revenge. I went into this movie expecting so much more than what I got out of it. And I am disappointed. I know I am not the only one.
I give it a six out of ten.
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