View Poll Results: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
0
0%
Voters: 39. You may not vote on this poll
The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
#27
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
So.... where are the reviews?
#28
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Well here's one...
"This film is a catastrophe of tone, a truly tortured screenplay that seems embarrassed by its central character, and at two-and-a-half hours, it may be the single most punishing experience I've had in a theater so far this year. There are so many bad decisions on display here that I feel like it's a film worth studying, if only to see clearly how not to bring a beloved character back to the big screen."
hitfix
"This film is a catastrophe of tone, a truly tortured screenplay that seems embarrassed by its central character, and at two-and-a-half hours, it may be the single most punishing experience I've had in a theater so far this year. There are so many bad decisions on display here that I feel like it's a film worth studying, if only to see clearly how not to bring a beloved character back to the big screen."
hitfix
#29
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Well here's one...
"This film is a catastrophe of tone, a truly tortured screenplay that seems embarrassed by its central character, and at two-and-a-half hours, it may be the single most punishing experience I've had in a theater so far this year. There are so many bad decisions on display here that I feel like it's a film worth studying, if only to see clearly how not to bring a beloved character back to the big screen."
hitfix
"This film is a catastrophe of tone, a truly tortured screenplay that seems embarrassed by its central character, and at two-and-a-half hours, it may be the single most punishing experience I've had in a theater so far this year. There are so many bad decisions on display here that I feel like it's a film worth studying, if only to see clearly how not to bring a beloved character back to the big screen."
hitfix
#30
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
I agree but with his inflated salary who knows if he will ever work with someone like Jim Jarmusch. And yes Dead Man is an amazing film.
#31
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/t...057879.article
Transplanting the Pirates Of The Caribbean aesthetic to the Wild Wild West proves disastrous in The Lone Ranger, an indigestible swill of forced humour and oversized, overbearing action sequences. Reuniting the Pirates franchise’s creative team of director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Johnny Depp, this origin story of the iconic American cowboy character has plenty of combustion, but it’s almost entirely devoid of charm or genuine excitement.
Unspooling on July 3 across North America and other territories, The Lone Ranger looks to have a dynamic initial launch thanks to the movie being the major action draw for the US Independence Day holiday weekend. However, downbeat reviews may translate into mediocre word-of-mouth, especially if there are complaints from Native American groups about Depp’s gimmicky portrayal of the Lone Ranger’s loyal sidekick Tonto. So, stratospheric grosses may be unrealistic, although this Western still seems destined to be one of summer’s better performers.
Told in a series of flashbacks by an elderly Tonto (Depp) to a young boy, The Lone Ranger takes place in the mid-1850s in Texas as idealistic young attorney John Reid (Armie Hammer) ends up befriending the distrustful Comanche warrior Tonto while pursuing Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), a sadistic outlaw who has killed John’s older brother Dan (James Badge Dale), a Texas Ranger. Though they come from warring cultures, John and Tonto must work together, with Tonto believing that this white man has been granted special powers by the spirit gods.
Based on the 1930s radio serial, which was later adapted into films and a TV show, The Lone Ranger resembles the Pirates Of The Caribbean series (whose first three instalments were directed by Verbinski) in its mixture of playful slapstick and large-scale action. As he did in his performance as Jack Sparrow, Depp turns Tonto into a surreal, eccentric character who dominates the film. That’s especially problematic since Hammer’s John (the movie’s central figure, who will transform from a meek lawman into the assertive Lone Ranger, complete with trademark black mask and white hat) pales in comparison.
But the complaints don’t end there. Depp, who has claimed partial Cherokee heritage, has insisted that he wanted to play Tonto with more sensitivity than has previously been afforded a character who in the past has been little more than a “noble savage” cliché. Unfortunately, the portrayal is nonetheless bothersome because Depp digs into his usual bag of actorly tics and cutesy deadpan expressions to get laughs. The performance may be less culturally offensive, but Depp’s Tonto is still a bit of a buffoon — and not a particularly entertaining one.
Hammer has proved himself capable of mocking his golden-boy looks to good effect in Mirror Mirror, but John Reid doesn’t provide him with the same comedic opportunities, even though the character (especially early on) is meant to be a ridiculously effete city-slicker who doesn’t have the backbone to survive in the rough-and-tumble American West. With a screenplay credited to three scribes — two of whom, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, worked on all four Pirates films — The Lone Ranger goes for humour based on the odd-couple relationship between John and Tonto. But Verbinski’s comic timing is leaden, and the two leads don’t display a lot of chemistry, killing much hope for chuckles.
As for the supporting cast, it’s starry — including Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter — but not well-used. Indicative of the film’s overblown style, Fichtner’s villain is ugly and crude, Butch’s unremitting nastiness dished out without any sense of proportion or restraint.
Repeating the mistake of his Pirates films, Verbinski also overdoes his set pieces, creating such elaborate, effects-heavy sequences that they cease being even remotely believable, substantially limiting audience investment in what’s happening. If, on paper, a finale involving two runaway trains — including characters swinging from one to the other while a separate character rides a horse atop one of the trains — sounds dynamic, on screen it’s simply numbing because of the filmmakers’ unwise decision to keep increasing the stakes without much thought to the laws of gravity or the limits of the human body. The Lone Ranger starts off at a fever pitch of action intensity — epic train chases bookend the movie — but because Verbinski elsewhere wants the movie to have a dark, realistic edge, these sequences simply feel phony and excessive.
Featuring locations across the American Southwest, The Lone Ranger doesn’t lack for arresting visuals, with Verbinski and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli filling the frame with beautiful shots of vast, rugged landscape. Penny Rose’s costumes and Joel Harlow’s makeup are also expert, with Harlow able to help Depp pull off his latest, albeit familiar, chameleon act.
But of the other craftspeople, perhaps the most notable is Hans Zimmer, whose score is rather generic with the exception of his slight alterations to the classic William Tell Overture, which has become more widely known by many as the Lone Ranger’s theme. The Lone Ranger’s most stirring moment comes from the eventual playing of that original theme — and it’s quite damning that this brief blast of pure euphoria easily outclasses everything the producers have brought to their gussied-up new film.
Transplanting the Pirates Of The Caribbean aesthetic to the Wild Wild West proves disastrous in The Lone Ranger, an indigestible swill of forced humour and oversized, overbearing action sequences. Reuniting the Pirates franchise’s creative team of director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Johnny Depp, this origin story of the iconic American cowboy character has plenty of combustion, but it’s almost entirely devoid of charm or genuine excitement.
Unspooling on July 3 across North America and other territories, The Lone Ranger looks to have a dynamic initial launch thanks to the movie being the major action draw for the US Independence Day holiday weekend. However, downbeat reviews may translate into mediocre word-of-mouth, especially if there are complaints from Native American groups about Depp’s gimmicky portrayal of the Lone Ranger’s loyal sidekick Tonto. So, stratospheric grosses may be unrealistic, although this Western still seems destined to be one of summer’s better performers.
Told in a series of flashbacks by an elderly Tonto (Depp) to a young boy, The Lone Ranger takes place in the mid-1850s in Texas as idealistic young attorney John Reid (Armie Hammer) ends up befriending the distrustful Comanche warrior Tonto while pursuing Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), a sadistic outlaw who has killed John’s older brother Dan (James Badge Dale), a Texas Ranger. Though they come from warring cultures, John and Tonto must work together, with Tonto believing that this white man has been granted special powers by the spirit gods.
Based on the 1930s radio serial, which was later adapted into films and a TV show, The Lone Ranger resembles the Pirates Of The Caribbean series (whose first three instalments were directed by Verbinski) in its mixture of playful slapstick and large-scale action. As he did in his performance as Jack Sparrow, Depp turns Tonto into a surreal, eccentric character who dominates the film. That’s especially problematic since Hammer’s John (the movie’s central figure, who will transform from a meek lawman into the assertive Lone Ranger, complete with trademark black mask and white hat) pales in comparison.
But the complaints don’t end there. Depp, who has claimed partial Cherokee heritage, has insisted that he wanted to play Tonto with more sensitivity than has previously been afforded a character who in the past has been little more than a “noble savage” cliché. Unfortunately, the portrayal is nonetheless bothersome because Depp digs into his usual bag of actorly tics and cutesy deadpan expressions to get laughs. The performance may be less culturally offensive, but Depp’s Tonto is still a bit of a buffoon — and not a particularly entertaining one.
Hammer has proved himself capable of mocking his golden-boy looks to good effect in Mirror Mirror, but John Reid doesn’t provide him with the same comedic opportunities, even though the character (especially early on) is meant to be a ridiculously effete city-slicker who doesn’t have the backbone to survive in the rough-and-tumble American West. With a screenplay credited to three scribes — two of whom, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, worked on all four Pirates films — The Lone Ranger goes for humour based on the odd-couple relationship between John and Tonto. But Verbinski’s comic timing is leaden, and the two leads don’t display a lot of chemistry, killing much hope for chuckles.
As for the supporting cast, it’s starry — including Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter — but not well-used. Indicative of the film’s overblown style, Fichtner’s villain is ugly and crude, Butch’s unremitting nastiness dished out without any sense of proportion or restraint.
Repeating the mistake of his Pirates films, Verbinski also overdoes his set pieces, creating such elaborate, effects-heavy sequences that they cease being even remotely believable, substantially limiting audience investment in what’s happening. If, on paper, a finale involving two runaway trains — including characters swinging from one to the other while a separate character rides a horse atop one of the trains — sounds dynamic, on screen it’s simply numbing because of the filmmakers’ unwise decision to keep increasing the stakes without much thought to the laws of gravity or the limits of the human body. The Lone Ranger starts off at a fever pitch of action intensity — epic train chases bookend the movie — but because Verbinski elsewhere wants the movie to have a dark, realistic edge, these sequences simply feel phony and excessive.
Featuring locations across the American Southwest, The Lone Ranger doesn’t lack for arresting visuals, with Verbinski and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli filling the frame with beautiful shots of vast, rugged landscape. Penny Rose’s costumes and Joel Harlow’s makeup are also expert, with Harlow able to help Depp pull off his latest, albeit familiar, chameleon act.
But of the other craftspeople, perhaps the most notable is Hans Zimmer, whose score is rather generic with the exception of his slight alterations to the classic William Tell Overture, which has become more widely known by many as the Lone Ranger’s theme. The Lone Ranger’s most stirring moment comes from the eventual playing of that original theme — and it’s quite damning that this brief blast of pure euphoria easily outclasses everything the producers have brought to their gussied-up new film.
#33
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Well here's one...
"This film is a catastrophe of tone, a truly tortured screenplay that seems embarrassed by its central character, and at two-and-a-half hours, it may be the single most punishing experience I've had in a theater so far this year. There are so many bad decisions on display here that I feel like it's a film worth studying, if only to see clearly how not to bring a beloved character back to the big screen."
"This film is a catastrophe of tone, a truly tortured screenplay that seems embarrassed by its central character, and at two-and-a-half hours, it may be the single most punishing experience I've had in a theater so far this year. There are so many bad decisions on display here that I feel like it's a film worth studying, if only to see clearly how not to bring a beloved character back to the big screen."
#34
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
There is no way this isn't going to be the biggest flop of the summer. Who wanted this movie?
And Armie Hammer? Really? What was he named after baking soda?
And Armie Hammer? Really? What was he named after baking soda?
#36
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
I looked up Armie on Wikipedia, and his great grandfather was actually named Armand Hammer, which is also his real name. Funny.
#37
DVD Talk Hero - 2023 TOTY Award Winner
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Rocking a 22% over on RT.
I recall being immediately put off my the trailer. Clearly, this film has embraced the idea of ridiculously implausible (and CGI-laden) action sequences being the same thing as entertainment.
I recall being immediately put off my the trailer. Clearly, this film has embraced the idea of ridiculously implausible (and CGI-laden) action sequences being the same thing as entertainment.
#40
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Remember the Far Side comic where, in his later years the Lone Ranger looked up Kemosabe in an Indian to English dictionary & it translates to a horse's backside. Still LOL at it.
#41
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
#43
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Anne Thompson has an interesting take on this film on her blog, as well as a contrasting reviewers' round-up:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsono...-western-score
I like this quote especially:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsono...-western-score
I like this quote especially:
But as a moviegoer, while the picture is indulgently long at two hours and 29 minutes, there is much to look at on that screen. There had better be. From the period sets, CG horses and buffalo and real trains to Monument Valley vistas, this is one gorgeous movie, set in classic western territory, post-Civil War period, in 1869. The filmmakers wound up shooting over four months in the most glorious locations in four western states: California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, in stunning 35 mm. There is serious craft on display. (The Academy screening this weekend was packed.)
Western fans, at least, should enjoy "The Lone Ranger" (although that aging demo will not a blockbuster make). This movie is no "Cowboys & Aliens," which was a too-pricey western tentpole wannabe that didn't deliver as a real western at all. After all, Verbinski lavished loving care on Oscar-winning animated western "Rango" --voiced by "Pirates" star Johnny Depp, who here plays Tonto with a considerable debt to deadpan silent comedian Buster Keaton and his inventive train stunts in "The General." (While Keaton famously broke his neck on one of those stunts imitated here, the end credits for "Lone Ranger" stuntmen go on for miles.)
Western fans, at least, should enjoy "The Lone Ranger" (although that aging demo will not a blockbuster make). This movie is no "Cowboys & Aliens," which was a too-pricey western tentpole wannabe that didn't deliver as a real western at all. After all, Verbinski lavished loving care on Oscar-winning animated western "Rango" --voiced by "Pirates" star Johnny Depp, who here plays Tonto with a considerable debt to deadpan silent comedian Buster Keaton and his inventive train stunts in "The General." (While Keaton famously broke his neck on one of those stunts imitated here, the end credits for "Lone Ranger" stuntmen go on for miles.)
#44
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
Judging by the poll 3 people have seen this movie, two gave it 0 stars, the other gave it 1 star. Where are the actual reviews at?
#45
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
It's too bad Hans Zimmer got to hog the score again. Alan Silvestri did an excellent job of mock-spaghetti western music in Verbinski's The Mexican. Such a shame we didn't get a chance to see (Or rather, hear) how Silvestri would've done with the grand scale here.
Spoiler:
#46
DVD Talk Limited Edition
#47
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
They totally screw up the legend of the Lone Ranger. He was originally a badman who was given a second chance at life to atone for his wrongs. The reason he wore the mask was to avoid recognition by marshals and lawmen.
#49
Banned
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Conducting miss-aisle drills and listening to their rock n roll
Posts: 20,052
Received 168 Likes
on
126 Posts
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
While details differ, the basic story of the origin of the Lone Ranger is the same in most versions of the franchise. A posse of six members of the Texas Ranger Division is ambushed by a band of outlaws led by Bartholomew "Butch" Cavendish. Later, an Indian named Tonto stumbles onto the scene and recognizes the lone survivor as the man who saved his life as a boy. He nurses the man, whom the radio show eventually established as being named John Reid, back to health. Among the Rangers killed was Reid's older brother, Captain Daniel Reid, who was a captain in the Texas Rangers. Tonto fashions a black domino mask, using material from Reid's vest, to conceal Reid's identity. After the Cavendish gang is brought to justice, Reid continues to fight evil and crime under the alias of the Lone Ranger.
#50
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013) — The Reviews Thread
White House Down budget = $150 million
Opening weekend (worldwide) = $31 million
Lone Ranger budget = $250 million
So it would need to open lower than $45 million worldwide to be in White House Down territory. I don't see it opening to any less than $50 million here in the states, and it will be huge overseas (as was After Earth, which is why I don't mention it here).