The Lone Ranger Review - 2 Stars

The idea of Johnny Depp as Tonto in a reimagined telling of “The Lone Ranger” lifts expectations for this big summer movie.  Most of us expect Tonto to play a wise man guiding the Lone Ranger in his quest to bring justice to the old west.  I’m sorry to say instead we get Tonto as a wise cracking comic figure and the Lone Ranger as a clueless square in an empty mask in a story complicated by a few too many plots told in a running time of two hours twenty minutes.  The result feels forced and runs at least a half hour too long.  Armie Hammer plays the Lone Ranger as a square lawyer in awe of his big brother.  Joining a group of rangers in pursuit of the Cavendish gang,  Hammer survives an ambush that kills the other men.  Tonto finds the Ranger and nurses him back to health.   Donning a mask so the gang won’t know he survived, the pair fights the gang and gets involved with the high-powered villains building the transcontinental railroad while stealing land that belongs to the indians.  The railroad plot allows Johnny and Armie to perform stunts atop a moving train.  The train segments feel like a way to make “The Lone Ranger” look like “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  The finished movie tries too hard, runs too long, and never quite captures the magic of the original “Lone Ranger” or of  the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series.   This could be a case of too many factions contributing to a script.  Does it deliver what it promises?  Overlong disappointment.  Is it entertaining?  Not sure what it wants to achieve.  Is it worth the price of admission?  A disappointment.