by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Put a touch of native American pride in a Cherokee actor such as Johnny Depp, get an iconic myth of American culture such as ‘The Lone Ranger’ – which started as a radio show in 1933 and became an established television series in the 50s – add 250 million dollars and the outcome is the entertaining Disney film directed by Gore Verbinski.

The Lone Ranger is a masked ex-Texas Ranger who, fights injustice in the American Old West with his Indian companion Tonto. As the name of this latter suggests, the ranger’s buddy isn’t that smart, but Verbinski somehow reverses the personality traits of the two main characters. It was back in 1956 that the first attempt to take the hero on the big screen  was made by Stuart Heisler, starring Clayton Moore as the Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto.

In Verbinski’s version the charming Californian Armie Hammer wears the mask of the goofy handsome ranger, whilst Johnny Depp is Tonto and seems to have never abandoned Jack Sparrow’s semblance, or Tim Burton’s lunatic roles. Also Mrs Burton, that is Helena Boham Carter (even though she and Tim were too lazy to tie the knot we may consider them as a married couple since they’ve been together for more than ten years and have two children), can’t seem to get rid of the grotesque flaky characterisation she has played ever since she’s been directed by her partner. Verbinski may not be Burton, but he does enjoy the outlandish, after all what could we expect by the director of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean?’

The film is shot marvellously, but the script written by the trio Justin Haythe-Ted Elliott-Terry Rossio does have some inconsistencies. The flashbacks and flash-forwards do keep you focused on a series of scenes that alternate from frenzy to wearisome. If the 149 minute adventure-western were to unfold through a linear timespan it would definitely be a bore. The fun arrives in the last part of the movie, with the acrobatic action scenes. Hence, the story starts with a stealthy plodding pace but gradually gallops to a climax of amusement to the beat of the theme music of The Lone Ranger television series, i.e. the ‘March of the Swiss Soldiers,’ the finale of Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture.

At long last the modern influence of the revisionist tale, makes spectators ponder on the analogies between the fictional characters and current issues. Railroad companies and military types prove corrupt, and the titular character is pertinaciously anti-gun.
Sounds familiar?

Related Images: