The Lone Ranger

Always ride brokeback style!

I love that expression, a joke taken from Brokeback Mountain, you know the gay western drama ? It is amazing that many real male cowboys got angry at that motion picture, like it destroyed the image of western men. Come on, that is just silly. Western movies does not need to follow the same pattern, as long as the characters are interesting and the storyline is good. The Lone Ranger is a character based on the radio show, from 1933. The character became very popular, and kept the audience excited. Moving on into the end of the 30´s, The Lone Ranger became a Movie, and the audience loved the character on the big screen. More sequels kept on coming, for many years ahead. Some successfull, some less successful, but The Lone Ranger legacy stayed strong. Over 60 years later, The Lone Ranger is still around, and this time in a new updated version with a much bigger budget.  With Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger, and Johnny Depp as Tonto, is this remake a worthy tribute to this legendary character, or is this another big budget flop no one will remember ?

In San Fransicso, the year is 1933. A little boy named Will ( Mason Cook ), who love The Lone Ranger, dress up to look just like him. Will visits a sideshow, with a western theme. Inside the western tent, he encounters Tonto, an old Comanche Native American, who begin to tell the story behind his life, and the story of The Lone Ranger. It all started in the year 1869. In Colby, Texas, lawyer John Reid ( Armie Hammer ) is travelling home by train. On the same train, there are 2 prisoners in chains, Tonto ( Johnny Depp ) and outlaw Butch Cavendish ( William Fichtner ). Butch is going to be hanged, ever since he was arrested by Texas Ranger Dan Reid ( James Badge Dale ). Butch manage to get himself free, and kill 2 of the guards, leaving Tonto chained, while Butch is rescued by his own gang. John tries to stop Butch, but ends up in chains together with Tonto. They try and find a way to get the front wagon disconnected, with the help of John´s brother Dan. They succeed, and the passengers are saved. Dan arrange that John is now also a Texas Ranger, while Tonto is locked up in jail. The Texas Rangers ride away, but are ambushed by Butche´s gang. Everyone is killed, except for John who survived. Tonto manage to get out of jail, and find John in bad condition. He takes John with him, take care of him until he feels better. While John wakes up, he remember what happened to his brother. Tonto tells John he have been chosen, to help him on a quest, to stop Butch. A transformation is about to begin, as John becomes The Lone Ranger, who seeks revenge.

Comparing this with the older movies, or tv series is not a big idea. The Lone Ranger in 2013 have changed, as well as Tonto. In a bad way ? Not completely, i like the look of Tonto, but the chemistry between Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp does not feel complete. It´s like they choosed to do these characters, but did not find the right feeling. Still, the western scenery looks great, and we get plenty of action in some scenes. I would not call this a great update of The Lone Ranger, but you can tell Gore Verbinski tried to give this updated version a more stylish look. 2 hours and 30 minutes is way too long, and you can feel restless in some scenes, they would have needed to make this shorter. The Lone Ranger is not the great remake the fans should have deserved, but this is nowhere near as bad as Wild Wild West. I guess you could say that The Lone Ranger is at least a good try, to bring this legend back on the screen.

Rating: DDD