How often is your opinion about a movie influenced by looking at sites like IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes? If I were to believe these sites The Lone Ranger is a movie I shouldn’t attempt to watching. On IMDB it only has a 6,6 and Rotten Tomatoes has 31% score. The movie is also a western, a genre I generally can’t really enjoy. Despite those scores I still was interested in checking out The Lone Ranger.
The movie introduces the viewer to an old indian named Tonto (Johnny Depp), who tells a little boy about The Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer), a man who changed after people close to him are hurt. He wants revenge and his target is Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), an outlaw who is as bad as they come (and doesn’t have any redeeming qualities).
I have asked this in the past with other similar movies, but I wonder what people expected of The Lone Ranger going in? It is a blockbuster movie, not True Grit or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The same team behind the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (Bruckheimer, Verbinski, Depp) now tackles the west, so the same things can be expected: big set pieces, funny situations and strange characters. That’s what The Lone Range offers. I’ll admit the story isn’t its strongest point, but the movie looks great, has awesome action pieces (especially at the end) and a lot of humour. I liked the chemistry between Depp and Hammer. Depp is basically playing the same role he has been for a while now, but he offers a lot of comedy because of it. The movie could have been a bit shorter (taking out the parts with the old Tonto for example as they did not add anything to the movie), but this is the type of Western I like watching. To me it is a forgettable movie, but it was an enjoyable one.
I was put off by all the negative press, but then Tarantino said he loved it and put it in his top 10 so far, and its now on my to-see list. Plus you gave it a good score so Im even more excited to see it now 🙂
He did? I can understand why he would, because it does have great production design and set pieces. Would not be on my top 10 list (probably would not even consider it), but it is a fun ride.
I saw it yesterday, I gave it 4/10 but I think all the negativity is not deserved, it wasn’t that bad, hell it wasn’t even bad, just mediocre and too long.
I can understand people giving it a low score. It depends on what you are looking for. I was expecting an entertaining ride and that is what I got. But I agree that it was a movie that was way too long.
I really wanted to like this, to see a film that proved the reviews wrong. But none of it worked. It felt like somebody rewrote the story twelve times but didn’t take out any of the supporting pieces.
I left feeling sad and then, later, angry that the film hadn’t lived up to the potential.
I sometimes want to prove reviewers wrong, but for this one I hadn’t read anything…I just enjoyed it 🙂
Agree though that some supporting pieces could have easily been taken out.
This one was just too long, dry and dull for me to even care about, let alone get by the 2-and-a-half-hour time-limit. Good review Nostra.
Sorry to hear that. So there was nothing for you which you were able to enjoy then?
I didn’t like the idea in the first place. People I trust (not profesonnal critics … people whose taste and mine is the same) hated it. I love the original guy and Frankly, Johnny Depp makes me want to heave. So, sorry, not even free on cable.
Well, I can understand that. It’s a summer blockbuster type of movie you won’t really miss much about if you skip it.
I still might give this a rent, though I’m not in a huge rush to see it.
Yeah, rushing is not needed, but it is a nice time waster even though it is slightly too long.