Review of The Lone Ranger (1956) by Josh K — 03 Jul 2014

Going in to The Lone Ranger you already expect a great amount of ridiculousness, due to the trailers and the look of the film, but after leaving the film its kind of hard to understand the kind of film that was being made.

The film has so many problems, twists and turns, as well as failures, that it really does fail at whatever it was trying to accomplish. The film features Johnny Depp as Tonto, a Native American, and Armie Hammer as John Reid, who becomes The Lone Ranger.

Tonto and the Lone Ranger must track down Butch Cavendish, a dangerous outlaw who killed Reid's brother and who Tonto is also bent on revenge of some kind. The main problem with the film is that it always goes more in Depp's direction, with Depp generally getting more to do than Hammer.

Hammer really doesn't connect as the Lone Ranger throughout much of film, thus primarily doing stupid things or else at times complaining, while Depp seems to act as the wiser character. Only toward the end of the film does Hammer really connect as the Lone Ranger, finally becoming the character.

The film is also long, running at 2 hours and 30 minutes, which starts to become really excessive and overdone. One interesting thing about the film is how it is told, with Depp's Tonto as an old man telling the story of the Lone Ranger to a young kid in 1930s San Francisco.

Toward the end, the film becomes overdone and overcomplicated, that it doesn't really work. Maybe the Lone Ranger should have just been left alone to begin with.