After seeing The Lone Ranger this afternoon I must say I was mightily entertained. My first comment is that it is a work of the lowest high camp. That, alone, makes it worth sitting through the entire 2-1/2 hours.
In trying to describe the genre, it struck me that this is nothing less than a humorized version of the Saturday matinee western serial. Johnny Mack Brown would proudly claim ownership of this movie. It boasts cliffhangers, refusals by the stars to kill the baddies when given the opportunity, true blackhat dudes of the Snidely Whiplash sort, a damsel (ok, mother) in distress saved from a railroad track demise, an (almost) heart of gold Madam (Helena Bonham Carter) and more derring-do than I’ve seen in a western in a long time.
The thing is actually a real kick. And the fact that Johnny Depp has figured out how to re-tell the story from Tonto’s (unreliable) point of view is a real plus for those of an age who know the original history. (Well, the comic book, radio and TV history). Tonto even gets a new backstory.
And Armie Hammer’s character plays a beautiful straight man to Depp’s self-centered storytelling. His naïveté is perfect for a comic book hero.
Go to this movie with the idea that you are going to a comedy. You won’t be disappointed.
The railroad trains are wonderful as are the special effects in which they are involved.
OTOH, I think PG-13 is about right. It’s not for small children who won’t understand the violence—the Cavendish villainy, the cavalry being on the wrong side or the railroad magnate’s avarice—even when the director extracts some sort of black humor from the situation.
Depends. Iron Man is obviously a comic book character. For a nine-year-old, the Lone Ranger's comic book status is not so clear. The clothing is western-period, not sci-fi. And there is blood, which Iron Man (IIRC) does not show. There is also a Gatling gun scene which is fairly realistic in a cavalry-Comanche battle and may be too much. And Cavendish does commit an atrocity (off camera) allowing the director to show how evil he is.
If you can prepare your son for that sort of thing, maybe he would be OK. "It's make-believe...etc." (As are the fun stunts). Parents' call, of course. Perhaps preview it with the older child first. Still, I remain doubtful.
The closest thing I recall liking about the Lone Ranger from my youth were the spoof TV ads for the local "Loan Arranger" in Phoenix in the '80s.
Thanks for the review! It's on our weekend to do list!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
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One nice thing is that if you go to see it you won't have to worry about sell-outs or long ticket lines. It is doing very poor boxoffice business so far, probably because the critics just destroyed it. It is at 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. It looks like Lone Ranger goes alongside After Earth as the worst reviewed big-budget movies of the summer. Aaack!
Disney had originally low-balled their 5-day July 4th weekend opening estimates on Lone Ranger, saying they expected it to make $65 million total. Other studios laughed at that number saying that a movie with a budget and marketing like this one should do at least $80 mil over a big, extended holiday weekend. Well, after looking at the Wednesday number and examining advance ticket sales trends, boxoffice experts are now saying they think Lone Ranger may make less than $50 mil over the Wed-Sun July 4th period... disastrous!
As a point of comparison, it appears Despicable Me 2 will do more than $150 million over the 5-day weekend.
-Jason "looking like Lone Ranger is on course to a B or B+ Cinemascore, which is good, so this may be a critics-hate-but-audiences-like kinda film" Evans
Last edited by JasonEvans; 07-04-2013 at 02:27 PM.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
With the money they are going to lose on this film, they may need to call the Lone Arranger!
Saw it today. Absolutely loved it!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Saw it tonight and really enjoyed it!
Thankfully, the theme parks are doing well enough that they didn't need to contact the Loan Arranger.