The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger, the summer blockbuster is now available On Demand and on DVD. I'll say right away that it is worth a rental and that I enjoyed most of it, but it is also a perfect example of why I dislike remakes. The writers, producers, and director became lost during the two-hour plus movie and could not decide if they want to follow the essence of the old story and characters, or create something entirely new. The audience was left with a mixed bag of Western comedy, drama, and riotous action. Older audiences, like myself, who have fond memories of the Lone Ranger, will laugh and smile at some of the "campy" language and over-the-top acting. I enjoyed learning some of the back story of the Lone Ranger and Tonto. I thought the premise that a museum Tonto was telling the story to a little boy dressed as the Lone Ranger was clever – I had the exact same costume, complete with cap-fired six guns. When the familiar music started to play at just the right climatic scenes, I felt myself galloping along with the masked avenger. It brought back wonderful memories of cowboy and Indian fights in the backyard... Saturday matinees, black and white reruns.

However, towards the middle of the movie, things began to drag and to feel overly dramatic – even heavy handed regarding the plight of Native Americans. The creators of the movie needed to remember that the original Lone Ranger short films were usually never more than thirty minutes long and that we never needed to know every little bad thing about the bad guys – they were bad guys, that was enough for us and the Lone Ranger. For a younger audience, Not indoctrinated to the ways of Kemosabe, Tonto, and Silver the movie must have been confusing at times. My son thought it was all rather stupid – just like Pirates of the Caribbean, but set as a Western. He was right – the bad guys were the exact same actors and even wore the same costumes as the Pirates sailing through the Caribbean. Johnny Depp played the same character – Tonto was Jack Sparrow without the swash-buckling sword fighting. The bad guys in both movies were just as horrible and nasty, motivated by greed and whatever... The good guys tromped through both movies just as clueless without real substance or character development. The acting was shallow. The plot seemed overly familiar. My only hope is that they don't start a Lone Ranger franchise and make a dozen sequels – that would certainly kill the spirit of the original.