Let's get the show on the road, shall we? As always, I shall warn those who are on the Spoiler Police Squad need not get their panties in a knot, I am giving you ample warning before I begin my review! Turn back now or your butthurt comments about spoilers will be ridiculed generously.
Again, those who are not fans of spoilers, please discontinue reading this post, and remember that if it's from the back row, it's going to contain spoilers. Also, these reviews are all my opinion. If you disagree, please state your difference in a polite manner or take it elsewhere.
Okay, are they gone? Good.
The Lone Ranger
Quality acting/scripting?: Yes
Engaging Story?: Definitely
Relatable Characters?: Very much so
Stuck to Story from Book/Show it came from?: I'm too young to have seen the original Lone Ranger series.
Balance between Movie/Real Logic?: Decent
My Rating: A
My Take: WOW. This was a VERY interesting ride.
And I better delve into this first: I LIKED JOHNNY DEPP AS TONTO. I am sorry to all my friends who think a full Native-American actor should have been put into the role, but I think their choice was justified. And I will explain why.
Just not right away. I have to say first, the device they use to put Tonto in as the narrator was clever. I very much enjoyed the way the movie would at times cut from the story back to where Tonto and the young lad he was telling the story to were. ...In fact I couldn't help but laugh my ass off a bit. Especially the points where Tonto apparently demonstrated some truly magical 4th Wall Smashing abilities. (Lol Peanuts bag)
Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE me some well done villains. And Butch Cavendish? Oh. My. Goodness. This man was pure evil with a lovely set of scars and a tendency towards cannibalism. This jacked up, evil cowboy was a joy to watch. Cole on the other hand? He was evil... but he was far too gentlemanly and subtle an evil for me. Sure he was half of the team, but his being part of it was much too obvious. He might have been the overall brains of their outfit, but he did not have the same 'love to hate him' quality. He was more a '...Okay, when does this asshole die already?' kind of villain.
The first arrival of John--Armie Hammer--was nothing but pure, clumsy, goodhearted but in no way street-smart comedy. Every move he made, from trying to make a good gesture by rescuing a child's dolly to coming to the rescue of Tonto in the prison car... goodness. This boy is as green as Kermit the friggen Frog. I couldn't help but 'D'aww' at his blundering about as he and Tonto made their way through trying to foil the train robbery/jailbreak.
And he maintains this quality, even as he goes through watching his brother die at the hands of Tonto's wendigo, seeing this monster devour his brother's heart raw and even up to when he THINKS he's bringing all the misdeed by Cavendish to light and justice. John is very stubborn and has that childlike idealistic view of how justice and the world works and it's very endearing! And all the more heartbreaking when he realizes that his vision of how justice is served has been horribly wrong. I fell in love with his character from the moment that dolly went flying.
Tonto... goodness. I was confused at first about how the shriveled up old Injun could be standing in a San Francisco sideshow and not be some sort of wax model. But that didn't make the character unlovable at all. In fact, some of Tonto's more interesting tics are demonstrated in the first few moments of the film: Trading and feeding his dead crow-hat. And the MOMENT he called Cavendish a wendigo it had me squeeing a bit. (Sure, it brought to mind the Supernatural episode involving one, but it also brought forward memories of reading the book Pet Semetary in my youth.)
I will now explain why I think casting Johnny Depp as Tonto was a smart move. Yes, yes, he's an A list actor and always brings in a crowd but that's not why I feel he was a great fit.
When you get to the point where he and John end up in contact with a tribe of the Comanche, and get more of a background on his character, to me it is made so clear that he was meant to stand out as NOT QUITE RIGHT. He wasn't supposed to seem as though he was always this badass indian who was wise and stoic. Tonto is not right in the head entirely, and is an outsider even to his own people. This to me is why they had to cast someone who did not fit. Yes, in the end Tonto does end up being right about the majority of things--especially the 'stupid horse'--but that does not change the fact that much like John ends up being, he is not a fit even with his own people. I applaud their casting choice and I think that Depp pulled it off remarkably. Especially with that stupid bird-hat.
Their dynamic and how it ends up molding them into a near perfect corruption-fighting duo is a joy to watch. Especially as John sheds his innocence and realizes that Tonto was right: Sometimes the good men must wear a mask. That one aspect of the film that is well followed through was strong and very expertly reinforced when John discovers Cole's involvement and is betrayed by the general of the US Army in favor of the corruption. That moment when he and Tonto are finally on the same page, in a way they had not quite reached until the moment they are sitting by the river and watching as the blood of the slaughtered Comanche... it twisted my heartstrings all up in knots, but I was glad to see it. The turning point was clear and well orchestrated. The fact that the makers of this film did not shy away from making it clear that the Native Americans were the ultimate victims in this ordeal is something I deeply admire them for.
The supporting cast was just as amazing as the main characters! Flamboyant Frank, Red, Rebecca--they were all very enjoyable. Rebecca's accent alone actually had me swooning a bit. She might not have been as gorgeous as your typical love interest lady, but she certainly was more than a match for those who stood in her way than most might have thought. After all, she was a western woman who had to know how to use a gun to defend her family and her people.
Helena Bonham-Carter's role as Red the Madame was certainly interesting. The fact that her entire leg was made of ivory and could function as a gorramn rifle? I liked that quite a bit. Her simple statement about 'What Butch Cavendish took from me' and the pan up to the portrait of her as a ballerina... it not only said a lot about her character--for all she was not a main or core character, but a supporting one--but it said a lot about the character of Cavendish.
Of course, I have to give a bit of text to the horse. Silver. Goodness, Tonto is not kidding when he says 'something is very wrong with that horse'. And the beast's apparent ability to leap flaming barns in a single bound, appear on a tree branch or even to guzzle his share of whiskey, Silver is a helluva character in his own right.
I very greatly enjoyed this movie. I think it was almost up on the same level as Pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe not QUITE, but it was just as much fun a ride as PotC was.
Next Time: Despicable Me 2
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