|
|
EDITOR'S PICK
'The
Lone Ranger' an epic worth watching
Rating: 3.5
`The Lone Ranger` is a bloated, wild, wacky, mega-budget, wide-screen
re-imagining of an iconic radio serial made in the early 1940s and a television
series in 1956-57.
It is the story of John Reid (Armie Hammer) a masked hero, who is "out to
right the wrongs", and his constant Indian sidekick Tonto (Johnny Depp). It
is also the story of exploration and corruption during the early American
history. The film is treated like a pulpy classic cowboy-western genre.
The narration of the "Lone Ranger" begins in a rather absurd fashion
and resorts to flash backs that return now and then to the point of origination.
The story starts with a wide-eyed kid (Mason Cook), wearing a white cowboy hat
and a black mask, exploring the Wild West sort-of-a museum at the carnival show
in 1933, San Francisco.
He stops at the counter labelled "The Noble Savage" to assess a
wrinkly, arched figure with a mounted crow as a headgear. With the magic of a
children's fable, the Indian comes alive. He is Tonto, and he gears up to tell
the boy about John Reid, a learned lawyer from the East who arrived in Colby,
Texas, back in 1869 with a copy of John Locke's "Two Treatises of
Government" tucked under his arm.
Upon his arrival in Colby, John Reid is deputised as a Ranger by his macho
brother Dan (James Badge Dale) in order to help arrest the notorious savage
outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). But things do not go according to
plan, and Reid ends up appearing dead.
The Comanche Indian - Tonto, who was initially accompanying Cavendish to Colby,
nearly buries John. But, he is stopped at the nick of time when the legendary
noble Spirit Horse appears and revives John. From thence begins their
camaraderie and their journey to seek and deliver justice.
Director Gore Verbinski's epic is filled with numerous characters - outlaws, a
greedy scheming railroad baron Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson), Rebecca (Ruth
Wilson), a corrupt US marshal (Barry Pepper), a cagey one-legged brothel madam
(Helena Bonham Carter), and two-faced pals and many more.
With two enormous action sequences set aboard speeding locomotives that bookend
the film and occasionally peppered with comic exchanges between Tonto and John,
the film is a spirited entertainer whenever it manages to take flight.
For the most part, Hammer plays straight man to Depp's enigmatic smart aleck. He
has an amiable enough cinematic presence.
Depp as the sidekick Tonto in a weird get-up and weirder performance, constantly
hams through. His sedate dialogue delivery with poker faced bluntness makes this
"Depp-comedy" routine and staid. But, together they complement each
other. They are funny and likeable at the same time.
Grimacing and scowling, occasionally eating human body part with demonic aplomb,
Fichtner with his harelip and silver tooth is magnificent as Cavendish.
Wilkinson is all sinister charm as Latham Cole, the railroad magnate with a
maniacal plan. Ruth Wilson as Rebecca, John's widowed sister-in-law and love
angle is rustic but delivers what's required out of her.
Carter as the tough but decent prostitute with a porcelain leg that camouflages
a gun, is wasted. She has nothing much to contribute in terms of narration nor
histrionics.
With everything flung at you at the same pitch and speed, the film keeps you
hooked. The film is certainly a visual delight, with beautiful John Ford-style
vistas amalgamated with a score inspired by Ennio Morricone and action set
pieces that minimise the use of CGI whenever possible. The film is also tinged
with subtle touches of fantasy and myths.
Though the narration is scattered with plenty of weaknesses; an unevenness of
tone, convoluted subplots and some tricky political echoes, it is the length of
the film, which is nearly two hours and 29 minutes long that gets to your
nerves.
Nevertheless, "The Lone Ranger" is one entertainer that will not leave
your subconscious much after you left the theatre.