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| Photo courtesy of IMP Awards |
After seeing The Lone Ranger this weekend, I've come to the following conclusion: It got sacked for no reason other than its big budget and bad press. I'm not saying it's perfect. It's longer than it needs to be and the story gets a bit convoluted. However, that doesn't justify the universal mocking it received when it opened. In fact, I can think of three things that make the movie worthy of a viewing.
First, Armie Hammer deserves to be seen in this iconic role. His transition from bumfuzzled District Attorney to masked outlaw is believable on every level. Not only that, the chemistry between him and Johnny Depp is terrific.
Second, the film is not cluttered with CGI. Sure it's there, but it's not overpowering like it is with other big budget movies. It's more enhancement than anything else. I'll never look at my pet rabbit the same way again.
Third, William Fichtner. I pretty much adore him in everything he does. He's one of the best character actors out there. The brief time he shares with Heath Ledger in that opening sequence of The Dark Knight is one of my all time favorite scenes in any movie. His Butch Cavendish in TLR is every bit as terrifying and charismatic as the Joker.
That said, I think that history will be friendlier to The Lone Ranger than the critics were.
Update: Quentin Tarantino picked TLR as one of his top ten of 2013:
http://www.tarantino.info/2013/10/05/quentin-tarantinos-top-10-films-2013-far/
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