The Lone Ranger

Plot synopsis:
In San Francisco during the 1930's, a boy, Will, makes his way through a busy carnival near the under-construction Golden Gate Bridge. The boy dressed in a costume similar to that of the Lone Ranger, walks past the carnival barkers and the concession stands to the Wild West Tent. He pays for entry, and inside, sees stuffed buffaloes, cowboy mannequins, and walks up to a wax sculpture of an old Indian. As he gets closer to the wax figure, the Indian's eyes move. The very old and mentally unstable Indian introduces himself as Tonto (Johnny Depp). The boy, Will, is a fan of the Lone Ranger and recognizes the name. The boy wonders how Tonto came to be a mannequin in a traveling circus. Tonto starts to tell him the story.Tonto sits astride a horse on a high bluff looking over the western desert. His masked partner, The Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer), gallops up along-side him. He declares that it's time, and they ride into town on their horses. They take over the town bank, order all of its occupants to put their hands in the air, and they proceed to carry out a heist. Back in 1930's San Francisco, Will can't believe what he's hearing, because the Lone Ranger was a hero, not a bank robber.To explain the circumstances that led to this episode, Tonto goes back a little bit further in time.1869 - Colby, TexasColby, Texas is a rest stop on the transcontinental railroad, where construction is underway at a rapid rate, overseen by rail magnate Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson). A train is approaching Colby. In one car, Tonto sits shackled, next to the notorious outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). Cavendish will be hanged at the next stop, and the federal Marshals are along to make certain the execution takes place. A few cars back, John Reid, the young, college-educated prosecutor, sits in a train car full of protestant missionaries who are singing church hymns. When one of the missionaries asks John if he's a God-fearing man, John responds that he is a law-fearing man. In the prisoner car, Tonto watches Butch peel a wood plank out of the train car's floor, revealing a gun hidden in a compartment beneath the plank. Butch hides the gun, and asks the Marshals if he can get up to urinate. They unchain him and lead him to a chamber pot in the corner of the car. With Butch's back turned while urinating, Tonto gestures to the lawmen that "Butch has a gun". The Marshals take note, but Butch shoots both of them before they can draw their weapons.At the train station, a quintet of Texas Rangers, headed-up by John's brother Dan Reid, waits for Butch. Elsewhere, Dan's wife Rebecca and son Danny are shopping in the town's commercial stalls (there is a correlation to the set up early in the movie of the Carnival midway stalls). A man named Cole happens upon the pair and flirts with Rebecca, who does not return Cole's attentions.Butch's outlaw gang catches up with the train, boards it, and robs its occupants, killing the engineers before locking the train at full speed. John, overhearing gunshots and footsteps above, gets up to investigate. He breaks into the prisoner car where he finds Tonto and Butch about to kill one another. John disarms them both, announces himself as the district attorney, and forces them to surrender. Suddenly the train car's doors slide open, revealing Butch's gang waiting for him. They chain up Tonto and John, free Butch, and take off while the train rumbles out of control past the train station at full steam. Dan and his posse saddle up and chase after the train. Tonto manages to separate his chains from the train car, and when he realizes that he and John are chained together, takes John with him to the front of the train, taking out a pair of Butch's gang members. They get to the steam engine, where they find Dan, and attempt to stop the train. All three realize that the train can't be stopped, and separate the passenger cars from the steam engine. The steam engine derails at the end of the track, nearly killing Tonto and John in the process. Unchained during the wreck, Tonto begins to walk away, only to be stopped by John, who latches himself around Tonto's leg. Dan catches them both, and Tonto is presumed to be a criminal, arrested and taken to the town jail.John and Dan must track down and arrest Butch. Dan wants to find him and kill him, but John insists that Butch must be captured alive and tried in a court of law. Dan kisses Rebecca goodbye, deputizes John, says goodbye to his son. The posse of John and the other Texas Rangers rides off in search of Butch.During the hunt, they all observe an all-white horse standing on a bluff. Dan explains that the Comanche Indians believe the white horse is a spirit animal, able to cross over from the living world to the dead one. When John asks where Dan learned about native customs, Dan reveals that he's spent the last several years working with the Comanche Indians, and has an appreciation for their culture, even wearing their jewelry.The posse loses track of Butch's trail at a small canyon, and with no other choice, gallops into it. Ranger Collins disappears and suddenly, the remaining posse is ambushed by Butch's gang. Dan's men are shot down one by one, until John and Dan are left. A bullet kills John's horse, and it collapses, landing on John's leg. Dan tries to save John but is shot multiple times. John frees himself from the horse and runs over to Dan, but is shot in the chest. John falls to the ground and he passes out. Butch and his gang reveal themselves around Dan and John's bodies. Dan, still alive, swears at Butch, who takes a knife, cuts out Dan's heart, and eats it in front of him. John, drifting in and out of consciousness, watches in horror before passing out. Butch orders them all to move out, and they escape back to their hideout.High above the canyon, Tonto, having escaped from his prison cell, sees the result of the massacre. He sneaks down to the canyon floor and gathers the seven bodies. He digs graves for each, including John, and as he goes through their pockets for valuables, John awakens. Tonto knocks John out with a rock to the head, and pretends that John is dead. As Tonto buries the other Rangers' bodies, the white horse trots over and stands over John's grave. Tonto instantly recognizes this as a sign from the great beyond that John is meant to live another day. Tonto tries to convince the horse that Dan is the warrior but concedes and takes John's body. Tonto slings John over the back of the white horse and the two men & horse head out of the canyon. As John sleeps, Tonto melts down the silver Texas Ranger badges to create a silver bullet.Tonto paints John's face, steals his boots, and sets him on a wooden platform high above the valley floor. John awakes and nearly steps off of the platform. He carefully makes his way off the platform, and Tonto explains that the powerful forces beyond them both have chosen John to be a spirit walker -- a man who cannot be killed in battle. He explains that Butch Cavendish is a wendigo -- a man possessed by a demon with an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Tonto had been tracking Butch for a long time, and managed to smuggle himself onto the train, and was about to kill him when John intervened. John insists on tracking Butch down and bringing him to justice alive. Tonto fashions a leather mask out of Dan's vest; its eyeholes created by a pair of bullets. He tells John to wear the mask and become a symbol that Butch's men will fear.The pair ride into town to Red's Brothel, owned and operated by Red Harrington, a former ballerina who lost her right leg to the cannibal Butch Cavendish. Red's new right leg is an ivory prosthetic, with a rifle hidden inside. A local lawman notices that Tonto is in a club which doesn't allow Indians. He runs to get help. Red relates that Butch's men were there recently and paid for their visit with a giant silver nugget. The nugget is worthless but if she could get it to San Francisco, she could probably get a nice return off the ore.Their conversation is cut short by gunfire within the club because the lawman has returned, this time with an angry mob armed with torches and pitchforks, all hell bent upon killing Tonto. Tonto and John escape. John asks why they wanted to kill Tonto and Tonto explains that the white people are angry at the Comanche Indian tribe because the Comanches have been burning and pillaging white settlements over recent weeks. John, realizing that Dan's wife and son live in the outskirts, heads out to save them.At that moment Rebecca and Danny are at their home in the desert, doing chores when a silence settles. Flaming arrows set the house on fire. They peer out and watch as members of Butch's gang, wearing headdresses and face paint to pass themselves off as Comanche Indians, kill Rebecca's servants. John and Tonto arrive to find the homestead engulfed in flame and smoke, with Rebecca and Danny nowhere to be found. They hear a woman's screaming in the barn. Inside they find one of Butch's men, trying to strip and rape Rebecca's maid. John and Tonto realize that Butch is behind all the recent raids. Butch's men escape and set the barn on fire, with Tonto and John inside. The entire barn is consumed by fire and with no obvious means of exit, John and Tonto are ready to die, when they hear hooves clicking on the barn roof. They look up to see the white horse, on the roof with a rope in its mouth. The horse pulls them out of the fire, and leaps from the roof and escapes.Butch's gang now believe that the masked man, a lone ranger, is the ghost of Dan Reid. Butch's only surviving man escapes back to Butch's hideout. Rebecca and Danny are there, along with the traitorous Collins, and Butch. Butch, now fearing that Dan's ghost is after him because of Rebecca and Danny, orders Collins to shoot the hostages. Collins takes them out of the camp, and is about to shoot them when he tells them to run and fires his gun into the air three times, but is then is shot dead.Tonto and John, who are looking for Butch's hideout, steal one of Butch's horses and follow it into Indian country, with the understanding that the horse will know its way home. They follow it for hours until the horse stops in its tracks and drops dead. John and Tonto, uncertain as to what killed it -- exhaustion probably -- run to its body and find, buried beneath it, railroad tracks. There can't be a train line running through Indian country; it would violate the treaty that the Comanches have had with the US government. Tonto and John, now without a lead to Butch's hideout, bicker.Suddenly, a feathered arrow comes soaring out of nowhere and lands in John's chest. He screams and passes out. John awakens in a tepee, as Tonto painfully pulls the arrow out of him. The Comanches have shot John. The news of the fake Comanche raids on white settlements has angered both sides. John tries to explain the true order of events to the Comanche elders, according to Tonto's customs, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. They explain to John that Tonto is no longer a true Comanche.As a young child Tonto lived in a Comanche settlement similar to their own. One day, while hunting, Tonto came across a pair of young dehydrated white settlers. Tonto slung the two over the back of his horse and led them to his camp and treated them back to health. When they were able, Tonto showed them the nearby Comanche river which contained abundant amounts of silver. In exchange for showing them the silver, Tonto was given a cheap pocket watch. The men filled their bags with silver nuggets and, not wanting anyone else to know the location of the silver, killed Tonto's tribe, leaving Tonto as the sole survivor. They even killed Tonto's crow. On that day Tonto went crazy. He made it his mission to find the men who killed his people, and constantly wears the crow and pocket watch as a reminder of their betrayal.The Comanches bury John and Tonto in dirt, up to their necks, and leave them to bake in the sun while they go to war. The pair of them are soon attacked by scorpions, but the white horse arrives, eats the scorpions and saves them both.John and Tonto are now convinced that Butch is after the silver deposit Tonto spoke of. Tonto shows John the way and the two eventually find themselves at a silver mine, supervised by Butch and worked by hundreds of Chinese immigrants. Many of the men are afraid to go into the mine, citing spooky native spirits who live inside. Butch kills the fearful Chinese workers and sends in a few of his gang members to investigate their claims.Inside the mine, the men are ambushed, knocked out by John and Tonto, and pushed out in a mine car in response. Butch and his men open fire on the mine car, with enough bullets to kill anyone who might be hiding inside. They discover, hidden in the car, a lit bushel of dynamite. The cart explodes, wounding Butch, and killing his men. John and Tonto step out of the mine, and surround Butch.Butch, at first, believes that John is the ghost of his brother, Dan, but soon realizes that "the Lone Ranger" is just the lawyer from town. He laughs. Tonto asks John to kill Butch, and forget his moral obligations. John refuses and finding no way to calm Tonto down, knocks him out with a shovel. He ties Butch's hands to the back of his horse and leads him, as a prisoner, back to town, to face justice.Rebecca awakens on Latham Cole's train car. It was Cole who saved them both from Butch's gang and shot Collins. Cole ushers her into the dining car, where dinner awaits them both. Rebecca is woozy. She has always been suspicious of Cole's come-ons, and his advances toward Danny. U.S. Army Captain Jay Fuller knocks on the train car door. He and his cavalry unit have been assigned to defeat the Comanche.John arrives, dragging an exhausted Butch behind his horse. Rebecca and Danny, having heard rumors that it might be Dan, wish to run out and meet him. Cole tells one of his men to take the two into the pantry and hold them at gunpoint. Outside Cole takes custody of Butch and gives him a few good kicks and punches for the cheering crowd, tells his men to put Butch in another car. John is welcomed into the dining car, digs into dinner and begins to notice peculiar items around the table: Rebecca's scarf and a child's toy. He realizes that Rebecca and Danny are on the train, and that Cole is their captor and also realizes that Cole and Butch were the brothers from Tonto's tale. They killed Tonto's tribe for their silver, and have returned to pillage the land and get away.Cole draws a gun on John, but John is too fast and holds Cole at gunpoint, walking him into the neighboring car where he finds Butch relaxing. Guns are drawn by John, Cole, and Danny, who had wrestled a gun away from one of Cole's men. Cole tells Danny that John killed his father, but his lie is transparent. Captain Fuller walks into the commotion, and is convinced by Cole that John is the bad guy.John is arrested and taken to another car. Cole takes his train back to the silver mine. There, Butch shows him and Captain Fuller three massive covered train cars overflowing with silver. John is blindfolded and placed in front of a firing squad, at the command of Captain Fuller. A single migrant (Tonto) saunters out of the mine, holding a cage with a dead bird inside. "Gas!" shouts the train conductor. The conductor reverses the train, and pushes a train car between John and firing squad, saving him. He saves John, just as a volley of arrows comes streaking in from the mountain-side. The real Comanches are attacking the miners.Captain Fuller orders the cavalry to shoot the Comanches with a machine gun. During the fight, John and Tonto manage to escape into the mine. Butch chases after them, and throws lit dynamite after them. John and Tonto narrowly avoid being blown up by diving into an underground lake. They wash up on the shore. Cole orders Butch and his men to load his train with the silver cars. The east and west train tracks will soon be united at Promontory Point, and as soon as they are, he'll be able to take the silver to San Francisco, and sell it for a massive fortune.Back in 1930's San Francisco, Tonto tells the boy Will why they robbed the bank: to steal Cole's private stash of TNT and nitroglycerin. They take the stolen explosives, and use them to blow up the bridge a few miles from Promontory Point. They return to Promontory Point where a celebration is being held for the uniting of the two tracks. Cole watches, enviously, as the railroad's President and CEO Habberman gets up on stage and cuts the ribbon. The crowd cheers, the band plays, and Cole invites the railroad board members to have a private meeting on his train.Inside, Cole attempts a takeover of the railroad. He tells all the railroad board members them all that he's about to take a train with $65,000,000 worth of silver to San Francisco, and using that money he'll buy the railroad, which will enable him to control the country. Habberman laughs off Cole's plans, calling them ludicrous, and is shot in the leg.Tonto sneaks onto the other train, commandeers the engine, and puts it in reverse, in the direction of the destroyed bridge. Captain Fuller orders his men to fire upon Tonto with the machine gun, but Tonto is saved by John who appears, on horseback, riding over the tops of buildings. Cole orders Butch and his men to start the second train and to go after Tonto.Cole, Butch, and Fuller chase after Tonto with John riding his horse across the top of the train. Rebecca and Danny are held captive inside the second train. Tonto manages to hit a switch-track, forcing the second train onto a separate route. Multiple cars are uncoupled from their engines, and ultimately Butch and Fuller end up on two separate cars which collide, killing them both. Cole, having moved to the train being piloted by Tonto, prepares to kill him when John, using his melted-down silver bullet, shoots the gun out of Cole's hand. Tonto escapes the train, now being piloted by Cole, who has his rail cars full of silver behind him. Cole, convinced that he has a clean escape to San Francisco, arrives at the destroyed bridge. Cole's train, along with the silver, flies off the tracks, into the water below. Cole is subsequently buried by his silver, and dies. The train, which Tonto and John were riding, along with dozens of innocent bystanders, comes to a stop before plunging off the destroyed bridge.At Promontory Point, Habberman and the crowd applaud John for saving the day and killing Cole. Habberman tries to convince John to give up his outlaw ways, and reveal his true identity to the people. John refuses and takes off on his horse eventually meeting Tonto sitting on a bluff, overlooking the valley beneath them. John tells Tonto that he's decided to name the white horse "Silver". Tonto likes the name but tells John, very seriously, to never repeat the phrase "Hi-Ho! Silver Away!"In 1930's San Francisco, the old Tonto is preparing to go home after a long day's work. He puts on a jacket and a bowler hat, and trades the kid a silver bullet before heading off into the night.

Tags: comedy, suspenseful, murder, realism, violence, flashback, good versus evil, humor, revenge, entertaining, storytelling

Review:
I would place this movie alongside Waterworld, The Last Action Hero, and John Carter as unfairly panned films which deserves to succeed in the cinema halls.It is too bad that there appears to be a hate on for this movie simply because it seems that a lot of money was spent in its making.
Yet in spite of it noticeably alienating original Lone Ranger purists, and some Western lovers as well, for a rollicking action fun packed time then Gore Verbinski's movie delivers in spades.
This is an origin story, a tale of how John Reid (Armie Hammer) became The Lone Ranger, and of course how the noble steed Silver and Indian side-kick Tonto became integral to his villain fighting ways.
It was interesting to see Depp come out and defend the movie against those damning early critic reviews, it's not something he does, being as he is very much a guy who sees acting as just a job.
Bruckheimer, Hammer and Verbinski backed Depp up, stating that some reviews were written before the film had even been released, the big budget and production problems clearly making this a big stinker Not so, it's certainly not flawless, and those seriously into anachronisms are likely to have kittens.
A little, but not as bad as most critics would have you believe.The Lone Ranger is a bit long and does ask you to be patient at times, something that seems to be lost in the modern video-game world we live in.The strength of the movie lies squarely with Johnny Depp and his portrayal of Tonto.
I will agree that the movie could have accomplished the same with five to ten less minutes, but that is certainly not an adequate reason, in itself, to skewer the film.And the last few scenes are the non-stop action sequences that most modern audiences love, although they do almost come off as cartoonish at times.As stated, Depp's performance is the single biggest selling point for this movie.
Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham Carter all lend excellent support.Of the movie's title character, I'm not sure that someone else other than Armie Hammer wouldn't have made a better Lone Ranger.
But I don't see that as being a bad thing at all.If you take it for what it is, The Lone Ranger is a reasonably entertaining film, with a very strong performance by Depp.
It wasn't hard to outdo the preachy contrived plot of the 2003 Ranger movie, but this one took a step beyond to become a mainstay.First, it is an adventure film, a Western adventure.
I was thinking it was going to be a serious take on the Lone Ranger (yeah, yeah I know...even with Johnny Depp).
The other actors also did a good supporting job with just enough drama to add to this movie rather than distract.The scenery is awesome and the action scenes are beautifully photographed or green screened, CGI'd or real...whatever.
The story is well told and gives you a good idea of how a man named John Reid becomes the Lone Ranger who is brilliantly played by Armie Hammer.
This is so typical of the Disney Franchise....to take a legendary show, write a mediocre script (that has nothing to do with the actual Lone Ranger), and get a big name like Johnny Depp to star in it.
Don't get me wrong, I think Johnny Depp is a wonderful actor, but the fact that he keeps accepting roles in these mediocre Disney films simply says that he is a complete sell out.
Reasons to vote thumbs up for this film: (1) You are in the age group that knows nothing about the LR icon, story and/or cinema-TV history (2) You like a mindless drivel script the kind of script that has the lone ranger pulled by a rope along the ground with his bare head dragged through horse s- - t.
(3) You are related to the movie (4) You have a skewed cinema value system (5) You enjoy seeing the LR slam Tonto in the head with a heavy metal shovel and then ride off and leave him (to die???)and this after Tonto saved his life (I did say senseless) (6) Script writers have the LR tell us he believes the saloon prostitutes are all 'dancers' (7) You are forced to watch scene after scene with a kid and come-to- life museum exhibit Tonto that has nothing to do with the story except to interrupt it (8) See the LR make a mocking joke about his brothers death as he says in joking fashion " I guess I'm the wrong brother".
A Disney movie, high production, and actors weight like Johnny Depp?
The unique character of this film that seems to have brain is the Horse, and if the most intelligent character in a western story is an animal, this mean there are problems.The plot is a spectacular mess, jumping from action scenes, to violent and heavy scenes, for children's jokes, for really trash moments.
But the film was plagued with production problems, a bloated budget and poor critical response and it ended up being one of the biggest flops of 2013.In 1869 in Texas the idealistic young lawyer John Reid (Arnie Hammer) returns to his home town of Colby to bring in the rule of law.
The rangers are betrayed and John has to team up with a strange, unhinged Native American, Tonto (Johnny Depp) who also wants revenge.
But The Lone Ranger suffers from a number of problems: these range from the strange decision to frame the story as an elderly Tonto narrators it to a young boy in 1933, when the telling the story would have been stronger if it was told straight and the tonal shift being very comic with John and Tonto arguing and falling into slapstick whilst Fichtner is coming from another film where he is dark, menacing and literally a cannibal.There was potential for a good romp but director Gore Verbinski does fall into the same traps of the Pirates films, as Tonto and John Reid are basically Jack Sparrow and Will Turner with their buddy routine, the long running time and the shifting tone.
The shtick between John and Tonto just reminded me how much better it was done in the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films, not helped with Hans Zimmer providing a similar score for both franchises.The Lone Ranger does have a excellent supporting cast, Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, Helena Bonham Carter and Barry Pepper.
As you would expect from a Gore Verbinski/Jerry Brockheimer production the action and special effects is of a high standard and the third act is what you would want from a Lone Ranger film.
I think that if you liked a film like "The Green Hornet", this poorly written and acted mess is your kind of entertainment.Like many I'm sure, I was hoping for a straight, no nonsense take on the Lone Ranger, giving this long repressed character the resurgence he needed.
Depp actually had a good voice for Tonto but nothing could save his vaudeville style portrayal of an American Indian.The actor that attempted an embodiment of the Lone Ranger himself is hardly worth mentioning.
It's hard these days when there is so much ability to produce fine films about characters as classic as the Lone Ranger, only to be given shear garbage.
It's a shame because after the 1981 film (which bombed) and this one (one of Disney's biggest money-pits), plus the overall decline of westerns I doubt if The Lone Ranger will ever be remade.
When I first saw the trailer of this movie,it really looked good having good action scenes and some comedy.But there was nothing new to show in the movie which wasn't shown in trailers.There were so many illogical scenes in the movie which doesn't make any sense.Johnny Depp's character was similar to his most lovable character of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of The Caribbean,but somehow not up to the marks.Movie could have been much better if director would have focused more on screenplay and action scenes.Don't watch this movie with higher expectations.Even you can skip this.Maybe Johnny Depp fans may enjoy this movie.Overall I give it 4/10..
The Lone Ranger, who's fight for justice throughout the old west was brought to legendary status by Clayton Moore back in the 50s, is now being portrayed on the big screen as an inept fool, better suited to play a remake of Barney on Mayberry.
Just like Gore and Disney to reuse and mash together a collective of stunts and actors we've all seen before.Johnny Depp's rendition of Tonto felt like he was just dumbing down his performance as Jack Sparrow in Pirates.
The relationship between Tonto and the Lone Ranger seemed to be a ripoff of the relationship between Holmes and Watson in the latest Sherlock movies.Bottom line, watching this was a waste of time..
In 1933, in San Francisco, a boy visits the Wild West in a sideshow and meets an elderly Tonto (Johnny Depp) in a chamber and the Comanche tells the story of The Lone Ranger to him.In 1869, the idealistic prosecutor John Reid (Armie Hammer) returns by train to his hometown Colby.
"The Lone Ranger" is a cinematic bomb with even greater destructive power that "Wild Wild West" movie, already back in 1999 tried to parody the old classic westerns, giving them a supposedly more modern dress.
First, Johnny Depp, while very talented is the lead and makes the Lone Ranger (John Reid) a side-kick.
Whoever got the idea of turning The Lone Ranger character into a stupid mindless moron should be sentenced to watch this film over again.
Johnny Depp, stay in France, Disney, stick to ruining Star Wars with George Lucas...I cannot condemn this movie enough.I actually enjoyed the 1981 version of the Lone Ranger, why couldn't these talentless hacks look to that movie for ideas.
The film reunites the original "Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski, with its main star Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and a price tag hovering around the $250 million dollar mark.The year is 1869 and the first transcontinental railroad is nearing completion.
If not for Johnny Depp, this big-budget revisionist interpretation of the classic 'Lone Ranger' character would probably never have happened.
That is a fair bit to set up, which explains the seemingly indulgent two-and-half-hour running time that in reality coasts by surprisingly swiftly.Besides the sheer charisma of Depp's character as well as to a lesser if no less significant extent Hammer's, the film manages to be consistently entertaining thanks in no small part to Verbinski.
As with 'Pirates', he shows a deftness in navigating Elliott and Rossio's intentionally convoluted screenplay, which actually succeeds in giving Depp and Hammer the space for their characters to develop alongside each other while creating the right excuses for major action setpieces.Verbinski is of course no stranger to the kind of spectacle summer audiences want to see.
The Lone Ranger role was tailor-made for Armie Hammer, who is perfect as the lawman turned outlaw with a strict sense of morals and I don't think anyone else could have played Tonto but Johnny Depp, who brings all his typical quirks to role, ultimately turning him into a native American Jack Sparrow.
The movie develops the relationship between The Lone Ranger and Tonto; to have presented them from the start as a team and as fully developed characters would have been presumptuous and a rip-off of the television series.
Johnny Depp's rendition of Tonto is outstanding in the way he is able to mix humor and the dramatic and Armie Hammer is the epitome of The Lone Ranger.
The last movie to star the character (1981's The Legend of the Lone Ranger) was also a box-office bomb, and a 2003 pilot for a new TV series wasn't picked up.
Plus, I don't know if anyone, regardless of age, wants to see Johnny Depp play a Native American.So, why did The Lone Ranger get made?
Like The Lone Ranger, the film featured Johnny Depp as a wacky side character and was directed by Gore Verbinski.
Also like The Lone Ranger, it was a PG-13 Disney movie based on something that was once popular (in this case a theme-park ride).
I can see why this was nominated for a Razzie!The only highlights of this film was Johnny Depp's Tonto, Helena Bonham Carter and the horse.Luther's Ruth Wilson was awesome but it was kind of sad to see her wasted on this film, especially because I watched this not long after seeing her play a much more interesting and brilliant character in Luther!
This is not a movie out there trying to compete with westerns like True Grit (an amazing film for sure), but more along the goofy lines of Pirates of the Caribbean and Shanghai Noon.
Those who like it probably never grew up with the Lone Ranger.Casting Johnny Depp as Tonto was the biggest mistake the producers made.
The only role that Depp could play in this movie would be that of a villain.The movie got away from what made the Lone Ranger successful.
Tonto's comment at the end of the film after 'The Lone Ranger' yells out "High Ho Silver Away" for the very first time is classic!.
I figured after all those great pictures, Depp knew what he was doing.If you like Westerns, especially mixed with nonstop action and comedy, you will love The Lone Ranger.
Depp is brilliant, as expected, and so are Armie Hammer (as The Lone Ranger) and William Fichtner (as Butch Cavendish) and everyone else.
Gore Verbinski has a real feeling for The Old West of Hollywood Past (Rango was animated, but he gave us the same Western fun in that one) and even though a lot of Indians get killed in The Lone Ranger, so do plenty of them bad guy white people.Much gunplay and other violence - too much bloodshed for little kids, although the two sitting in front of me didn't seem to mind.
This movie's one-dimensional "violence rocks!" message doesn't work for fans of the classic Lone Ranger, who was a hero who helped downtrodden people because it was the right thing to do.
Acting is good: I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of Armie Hammer (who does his best to embody the look and mannerisms of the title character), Johnny Depp (who channels the same deadpan lunacy that made Jack Sparrow so fun), and everybody else.
Music is generally good, and toward the end, the William Tell overture is utilized liberally.A lot of viewers and critics don't seem to like this film, but I really don't see that much wrong with it.
They completely and utterly underutilized Johnny Depp (he could've been electrifying and was not), the writing blew (film school drop outs?), the scenes dragged on waaaay too long (Zzzzz), lead woman Ms. Wilson has Lindsay Lohan duck lips (disgusting to watch), Helena Bonham Carter appeared in disjointed parts of the movie (I'm still trying to figure out why), Lone Ranger was rightly cast with Armie (but with no script he never had a chance), there was waaay too much gross stuff involving blood, vomit and feces (8-year old boy humor as interpreted by adults?), and the brilliant--albeit few--scenes (where Johnny Depp absolutely shone), made me hate the rest of the movie that much more for not being the movie it should've been.
When the Lone Ranger was big it was in a time when John Wayne was king of cowboy movies and for the most part action adventures were either westerns or war movies.
The only thing this movie DIDN'T rip off was the original Lone Ranger!
There seems to be everything you need for a good adventure movie in Lone Ranger.
Beautiful scenery, great action scenes, handsome hero, good director, fine producer and Johnny Depp.
Johnny Depp is great as a role of Tonto, but even he can't carry the whole movie.
THIS Lone Ranger is up-to-date and gives Tonto an actual personality and background that plays well into the story.Great movie to see on the 4th of July weekend.
I must say i don't watch western films well except for Django Unchained but this is a must see moviei watched a lot Johnny Depp movies i loved his characters and the way he makes them funny,entertaining,he did the same with Tonto plus i liked the chemistry between both characters how they fight together and make the audience laugh they killed it for the massive destruction scenes it was amazing for the special effects it was realistic not fake like F&F 6 for the story it was well written i enjoyed it,for the acting i give it a 10/10 for sure,for the effects and sound mixing also 10/10 Overall:fun action movie for the whole family or friends.
Rating: 3 out of FordyceI knew going into "The Lone Ranger" that the only reason the studio made it was because Johnny Depp agreed to play Tonto, which was a wise move.
This film opens up in 1933 San Francisco where a young boy meets an aged Native American warrior Tonto (played by Johnny Depp) who tells him the long story of his adventures with the titular hero.
In terms of the performances, Armie Hammer is not bad as the Lone Ranger nor is Johnny Depp as the Indian Tonto, especially with the stylish makeup done his face and his vintage Indian costume design.
Fortunately, this climatic scene along with the early train sequence is just enough to save the film from being too much of a bloated mess, especially for one running 149 minutes.The Lone Ranger is a bloated western action extravaganza piece that has little to offer beyond it's dazzling special effects and surface level performances.
Then I saw Previews for the movie Johnny Depp's Tonto was off putting and a lot of his lines leaned towards comedy.