Review of "The Lone Ranger"

John Depp provides a slightly darker variant on his Captain Jack Sparrow character in this tale of the genesis of the Lone Ranger. Splendidly told with the expected mixture of humour, drama and thrills. Some very good special effects in there, but the story always remains in the foreground. There is a framing device which is a bit of a cliche - the story is being told to a small boy (us, the audience) in a museum of the wild west by an aged Tonto in a display cabinet who comes to life for us. Revisited 2 or 3 times during the film it provides a useful punctuation and method to move the story along. Armie Hammer is good in the John Reid/Lone Ranger character as the hero, and the rest of the cast play their standard fairy tale roles of baddy, helper, humour, guide, and so on with verve and conviction. A very enjoyable entertainment with various nods and winks to the Western genre favourites - including of course the original Lone Ranger TV series. Marred at this screening by some presentational issues - only the second time I have been to FLIC but it seems that they have a habit of imposing an interval in the middle of their screenings which really breaks the flow - some, usually very long films, are designed to have an intermission, but otherwise it really spoils the experience. The other problem is really the venue - the hall is large, the screen is small for the hall and is mounted much much too high up. The front row of seats is set a bit further back than the optimum viewing distance, but if you sit there you get a terrible crick in the neck. Even sitting in the middle, which is really too far back for the size of the screen, it is not comfortable. The other thing to watch for is some woman who insisted that before the film everyone should sit through the credits because there was something special at the end - there isn't. Occasionally a film-maker adds an 'easter egg' at the end of the credits, and I usually do stay on the off-chance. The Lone Ranger simply has a shot of the aged Tonto hobbling off into the desert distance under the credits - nothing worth waiting for.