Movie Review: The Lone Ranger (Confirmed: EH and a 1/2)

Johnny Deep automatically means a billion dollars for Disney, right?

      No studio has touted a blockbuster this year as much as Disney has The Lone Ranger.  The Mouse House’s hope was that combining director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and actor Johnny Deep would result in another Pirates of the Caribbean style billion dollar tent pole franchise.  So did Disney’s plan work? Find out after the break…..
Inside Disney's last two  box office flops. Thanks to Box Office Mojo and Business Insider for the chart!

      Unfortunately for Disney, at least on the business side of things, the answer was a resounding NO! The Lone Ranger resulted in a John Carter like loss for the studio costing Disney upwards of a $150 million dollar loss.  Even worse, the film was just OK.

I wonder how many people actually enjoy Jack Sparrow's Tonto impression?

Rather than trying to create something new with The Lone Ranger, Verbinski and Bruckheimer tried to use the exact same formula from Pirates, but this time setting it out west rather than on the open seas; it was a formula that audiences across the globe saw right through.  Look, no one in the world will ever doubt the talent of Johnny Deep. He is arguably the greatest actor of his generation, however his performance as Tonto felt like Jack Sparrow doing an Indian impression rather than Johnny Deep playing the character of Tonto.

William Fichtner's performance as Butch Cavendish was one positive in a canyon of negatives!

     Fortunately for The Lone Ranger the film does have a few bright spots spread out across the films two and a half hour plus run time.  Director Gore Verbinski shot the film beautifully resulting in one of the sharpest looking modern Westerns this side of Django Unchained and 3:10 to Yuma.  There were also some decent performances to go along with Johnny Deep’s comic relief.  William Fichtner’s performance as outlaw Butch Cavendish was just a lot of fun to watch as Fichtner chewed scene after scene.  As for Armie Hammer, while The Lone Ranger may not be the type of franchise starter he had hoped for, he turned in a solid performance alongside the icon Johnny Deep, never allowing him to steal the show.

For a good Transcontinental Rail Road drama we recommend AMC's Hell on Wheel's!

     Overall, the most marketed film of 2013 resulted in nothing more than an episode of AMC’s Hell on Wheels on steroids; sadly for Disney those steroids came in the form of a $250 million dollar plus budget!

Confirmed: Eh and a 1/2








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