Monday night, I took a second trek to the Emagine theaters in Novi, thanks to Amy at thismamaslife.com, and soaked up a preview of the 2 1/2 hour Disney film, The Lone Ranger. While providing some amped-up action sequences, including an almost Spielbergian finale of dizzying fun, the film was too uneven to create a cohesive whole. There were patches of brilliance, but mostly sections that dragged or sequences that involved some rather brutal violence that might be considered inappropriate for younger viewers.
The film is framed and intercut by an aged Tonto (Johnny Depp) relating the story of “Kemosabe” to a young boy wearing a Lone Ranger getup. Looking more like Iggy Pop than Johnny Depp, Tonto’s story interweaves throughout the film, the boy incredulously interrupting at certain moments to question the chain of events. For me, this evoked memories of another version of this storytelling device used in one of my favorite films of childhood, The Princess Bride. But in The Lone Ranger, there doesn’t seem to be any real purpose to looking back on these adventures other than to have an excuse to tell a western.
As soon as we reminisce about the past with Tonto, we are treated to a crackerjack opening action sequence that introduces a cast of grimy, weathered men, toughened by the Wild West. This is meant to contrast with the spotlessly clean and ethically priggish character of John Reid (played by Armie Hammer), who comes off as a bit of a buffoon. Things go awry, certain key characters are introduced (Tonto included), and a wild train crash ensues.
From there, the story settled into some breathlessly beautiful shots of the New Mexico desert that involved no CGI trickery. This viewer also learned that about 12 miles of track were constructed and 2 actual trains were used so as to keep things as realistic looking as possible. There were a few moments throughout where computers created some extremely unbelievable stunts, including some insanely wild horse (and people) jumps, but for the most part, the film attempted to shy away from effects heavy sequences.
Hammer (best known for playing the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network) played the lead part as straight as one could expect, but his character was at times painted as an idiot, a man with a strict moral code (prompting others to laugh at him behind his back), or a serious-minded avenger of justice. This lack of clear direction rang hollow when he developed his final persona of someone operating above the law while still honoring it, yet never directly killing people. This nod to the old radio/TV series code of the Lone Ranger was kind of mangled by having his inaction to cause the death of another person, or having him use his environment to deadly effect.
The biggest draw for most audiences will be the pairing of Johnny Depp as Tonto, in what I can only describe as another performance of ‘oddity’. It’s almost like someone has a script idea, knows Depp is in the movie, and writes “Johnny Depp acts weird here. The audience laughs.” Shuffling around in a perpetual knee droop while trying to feed a dead bird on his head, Tonto sneaks, connives, cons, lies, and weasels his way throughout the movie. When his backstory and motivation are finally revealed, it’s memorable, but Depp’s somewhat stilted, silly performance has defused the emotional payoff. I didn’t dislike him, and he had some truly funny moments, but Depp just didn’t have the devil-may-care fun that he infused into one of his most infamous creations, Jack Sparrow.
There were some rather good performances in general. William Fichtner, almost unrecognizable with his mouth scarred up in a perpetual snarl, took on the role of Butch Cavendish. Tom Wilkinson as Cole was adequately duplicitous. And while I always think of him as the sniper from Saving Private Ryan, Barry Pepper was very memorable as a morally conflicted army colonel.
The absolute BEST part of this movie was the aforementioned final 30 minutes that included a very well-constructed train chase while the William Tell Overture underscored the action. For anyone who has ever seen the old Lone Ranger television series, this sequence tugged on some of my memories of watching syndicated reruns when I was a kid. Damsels in distress, daring stunt work, gunfights, fistfights, running on top of trains, and riding horses to catch up with bad guys were all on display as several disparate parts were effectively jostled about and then brought together as a whole. I just wish this same care to unify everything was more evident in this film.
It’s a silly, fun, kind of mindless summer popcorn flick filled with spectacle, but the middle sags a bit and feels somewhat overlong. And we just never really get a true portrait of the Lone Ranger as a mythical hero, as his ability as a noble and skilled fighter isn’t really put on display. If this film proves successful, maybe his strengths will be explored more fully in the inevitable sequels. But in the end, when the hero rides off into the sunset, I found myself asking, “Who was that masked man, anyway?”
