I grew up watching episodes of The Lone Ranger TV series on VHS tape so I have a certain amount of affinity for this character. Unfortunately, this movie fails to do him justice. It's much too subversive. It draws inspiration from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Searchers and while I love those movies, it's wrong place to draw from for this more lighthearted material. The Lone Ranger is supposed to believe in the law and in the system but in this film both are portrayed as being corrupt. Reid himself, quite like Superman in the recent DC films, is very conflicted, starting out as a lawyer rather than a lawman. Another problem is that Johnny Depp's portrayal of Tonto is, quite frankly, bizarre. Never mind the fact that a white man is playing a Native American character in 2013 (I mean they got an actual Native American to play him way back in 1949) watching him feeding the dead bird on his head and pretend (I think) to commune with spirits isn't endearing, it's off-putting. Finally the movie has an inconsistent tone. It goes from fun and lighthearted to dark and violent. It shares this with the later Pirates of the Caribbean films which were also directed by Gore Verbinski.
The Lone Ranger isn't all bad. The action, as usual with Verbinski, is really good. The climax in particular is just a blast to watch. The score, by Hans Zimmer, utilizes Rossini's William Tell Overture a lot more then I though it would, which was nice though it honestly doesn't feel like it belongs in this movie. The actors, outside of Depp, all do a decent enough job with the material they're given. William Fichtner, in particular, is clearly having a lot of fun playing the main villain, Butch Cavendish.
The Lone Ranger, ultimately, doesn't have enough respect for its source material or tonal consistency to really work. Fans of the Pirates movies may enjoy the action scenes but, other than that, I would probably avoid this film.
Score: 6/10
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