The Lone Ranger

I don't know why The Lone Ranger got such bad reviews. It's a fun Disney movie with action, comedy, villains, likeable characters, and great cinematography.
 

The Lone Ranger got some pretty bad reviews, but it still looked like it might be fun. I don't really know anything about the TV series, so I went into it with a completely blank slate on that front; no expectations, and nothing for the movie to live/match up to. I was skeptical about Johnny Depp playing a Native American, and I was right to be; it wasn't so much like watching "Tonto" as it was just watching "Johnny Depp in makeup," but that's okay. I enjoyed his performance anyway.

I really liked what Armie Hammer did with the character of The Lone Ranger. He was pretty endearing. I liked how he always wanted to do the right thing, but he was naïve and kind of bumbling. He just seemed like a good guy, totally out of his element.

It kind of came across as a kids' movie, but then there was a lot of drinking and prostitutes and eating people going on, so it was weird in that respect. It was Disney, after all. I don't think Helena's character Red really needed to be in it. She didn't do much. And Helena's starting to look old. 

William Fichtner gave the performance of his life as Cavendish, or maybe the character design people just did an awesome job. He was barely recognizable; I didn't even know it was him until halfway through the movie. That lip problem he had going on was really disturbing. All the rangers were so dirty, too. That was weird.

I like that Reid's brother turned out to be a good guy. I wasn't sure what he had been doing with the Indians, but it turned out he was trying to help them, so that was good. I wonder why Rebecca married him instead of John. It was a 2.5-hour movie, they could've taken something out and taken a minute to explain about that.

Frank was really likeable. I'm glad nothing bad happened to him. I had no idea he was Harry Treadaway, though, but it's funny that I liked Frank so much, since I really liked Harry's character in Cockneys vs. Zombies, and I had no idea he was even in this. I loved his line "he wants to violate me with a duck foot." It was so bizarre.

I don't know if the director, the DP, or the cinematographer was responsible, but the camerawork/storyboarding was amazing. I loved the angles they came at things from. Even from the very beginning when they were working on the railroad and we got right down and saw the dust shaking on the rails, it was great.

The fantastical stuff bothered me a little at the beginning. It felt like a live-action cartoon. They either took it easier or I got used to it later, though. And then after the movie ended, I realized something that totally explains it: Tonto was telling a story, so all the crazy stuff was just his version of it, or him exaggerating/elaborating/telling a tall tale. I did enjoy the aspect of him telling a story. I liked being able to come out of it every now and then and have the kid ask a question. It was so sad when his bird died in the flashback and then he was standing there with the bird, though.

I liked the way they opened with the bank robbery, and then they were able to use the storytelling vehicle to bring it back around and explain what they were doing, when the kid asked where they got the nitro and Tonto said "I already told you." It was so funny that he said that, because I guess technically he did tell us, but we had no idea that's what he was doing. It's interesting that that's where he would start the story, too.

I don't know how I feel about them bringing Custer into it. I don't think I like it. It didn't feel 100% natural that Custer just went along with the railroad guy's plan after he found out the truth about the Indians not attacking, either, although I guess it's perfectly logical that it would happen. I had no idea Cavendish and Cole were the ones who found the silver. It was great how they let us in on it by showing the watch in Cole's pudgy hands.

Some of the action scenes went on a little too long. They picked a great time to pull out the theme music, but I didn't really get what was going on at the end with the two trains. I felt really bad for the band when their platform fell apart. It was kind of funny the next time we saw them and they were all bandaged up, but even then I still felt bad for them. The scene near the end when Tonto was the ladder was really reminiscent of Jack Sparrow, especially when it tilted down and he stepped off onto the other train.

I didn't mind that it went on for two and a half hours. I was having fun with it. I liked that they said Kimosabe means "wrong brother." That was a good explanation. Some of the language was a little too modern, like when they would ask "what's with the mask." It pulled me out of it a little. I didn't like when John asked if Tonto knew what "tonto" meant in Spanish, but I did like that when he said "hi-yo Silver, away!" Tonto said "never do that again."

I liked that John didn't actually die. The trailer made it seem like he did, but you could tell when he got shot it wasn't going to be fatal. I loved the way he screamed when he got hit with the arrow. I wonder if it hit him in the same spot.

Not all of the CG was good. They spent enough money on this, you would think they could've gotten it all to look good. There was one particular exploding window that looked amazing, though.

I like Westerns in general. It was weird that Tonto was just hobbling off into the desert at the end and we didn't see what happened to him. Maybe he found a nice Indian reservation to live on. They set it up perfectly at the end of his story to lead into whatever adventures they would've had on the TV show, or do a sequel. I would watch that.