Disney's Pirates of the Old West is a Jumbled Mess: Our Review of "The Lone Ranger" (2013)

Directed By: Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) 

Starring: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale

Run Time: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, and some suggestive material

Synopsis: Set in 1930's San Francisco, an old Tonto (Depp) regales a kid with the tale of The Lone Ranger - a former lawyer named John Reid (Hammer) who heads home to Texas to join his Ranger brother, Dan (Dale). While tracking down escaped criminal Butch Cavendish (Fichtner), John, his brother and his rangers are ambushed, killing everyone. John is brought back from the dead by Tonto, rechristened The Lone Ranger, and they team up to carry out the task of catching Cavendish, but wind up discovering a deeper plot involving the Transcontinental Railroad and railroad tycoon Latham Cole (Wilkinson).

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Continuing our task of catching up on reviews we’ve been late on posting, today Sarah and I are discussing this month’s big blockbuster, and utter box-office flop, The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer (The Social Network) in the title role.  The Lone Ranger is a bit of a reuniting of the crew that brought us the hugely successful original three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, particularly with Depp and director Gore Verbinski coming together again after Verbinski sat out Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

So this was Disney’s big film of the summer, hoping that this group of people could put together another successful franchise based on the old radio and television show. Sarah, now that we’ve seen The Lone Ranger, what did you think of this new attempt at a franchise?

Sarah: I thought that it was a feast for the senses, but that’s about it. It was action-packed and it was the Johnny Depp Show to the max, but as far as storyline? And character development? I thought it was incredibly weak. What did you think?

A: Well, I think you’re right, that’s it’s totally full of action, especially the last half of the film. But, yeah, the storyline isn’t the strongest and I understand they had to kind of set this up; it’s really starting from scratch pretty much as they’re trying to market this to an audience and a generation that doesn’t really know the Lone Ranger, or even care about the Lone Ranger.

The Full-Length Trailer for "The Lone Ranger" Just Rode Into Town!

Andrew: Hello readers, I'm back with our second big trailer of the day, and this one is for next summer's big Johnny Depp action-adventure film, The Lone Ranger. After what seemed like years of development hell, and skyrocketing production costs while they filmed it, we finally received a teaser trailer a couple months ago showing Armie Hammer (The Social Network) in the title role and Depp as his famous sidekick, Tonto. Check it out and I'll chat about my quick takes on it after the jump:

The First Teaser Trailer for Disney's The Lone Ranger Is Here!

Andrew: Hello readers! We have a new review coming out later today but before that's finished, we figured we'd post the first teaser trailer for a movie we're both pretty excited to see next year - Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer (The Social Network) in the title role and my favorite actor, Johnny Depp, as Tonto!

The Lone Ranger has been an interesting topic in Hollywood for a few years now because of production delays due to a huge budget that Disney didn't want to pay, then it finally started production with a smaller budget that quickly ballooned up to what the original one was supposed to be, early pictures of Hammer and Depp in character where Tonto is wearing a bird on his head causing some concern, and of course the rumors that there will be some sort of magical werewolves involved in the plot. Yikes.

So check out the trailer below and let us know how you think it looks!



All of that said, it's being made and and I have be to honest - this trailer has soothed a few of my fears. It looks far less campy than the last few Pirates of the Caribbean films. All I'm asking for is a fun, action-driven Western, and word of mouth out of L.A. is that The Lone Ranger actually has Disney execs excited over what it could do for the Western genre.

The Lone Ranger stars Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Tom Wilkinson (who has a pretty sweet voice-over in this trailer). It's slated for release on July 3rd, 2013.