Director: Gore Verbinski
Year Released: 2013
Rating: 3.0
The unlikely pairing of a straight-laced, by-the-book lawyer-turned-outlaw (Armie Hammer) and an outcast Comanche with head problems (Johnny Depp) fight against Corrupt White Men (namely William Fichtner and the irreplaceable Tom Wilkinson) building railroads and stealing silver (the metal, not the horse). Much maligned upon release (and a disaster at the box office), this one is a little too strange, dark and disjointed to be a spoon-fed popcorn movie - it's flawed to be sure (the picture seems to want to stretch itself out to the three hours mark needlessly) but I found the awareness of Native American history on behalf of the screenwriters to be respectful and knowing, with Depp turning Tonto into his own creation, a bird-brained, comical (but justifiably vengeful) warrior and Hammer's Lone Ranger as his more one-dimensional 'leader.' The action-packed set pieces are, to me at least (I did not see this in the theatre), fun and ridiculous, particularly the final train sequence which seems inspired by the work of Buster Keaton (who did not have the luxury of CGI).
