Disney's 'Lone Ranger' Loses Its Way in Bloated Western Adventure

Johnny Depp carries over his quirky Jack Sparrow routine as Tonto in The Lone Ranger.

Ever since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl made boatloads of booty back in 2003, Disney has desperately gone back to the drawing board attempt to duplicate its financial and critical success. 2010's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time failed to generate any sort of buzz as did last year's John Carter, but now with The Lone Ranger riding headfirst to the big screen, is there any reason to beat yet another dead horse?

Going through the motions to tell the origins of how and why district attorney John Reid (Armie Hammer) and Comanche outcast Tonto (Johnny Depp) crossed each other's paths shouldn't need to include a tonal seesaw shifting between silly lighthearted Jack Sparrow stunts one minute and the villains feasting on a victim's bleeding guts the next.

Neither Reid nor Tonto are thrilled about forming an impromptu alliance to bring vicious outlaw, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) and his cronies to justice. But it's an absolute necessity for the two to bury the hatchet, well at least temporarily, or else the Old West as they know it will fade into the past. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are a famous of a duo as Batman and Robin or even Han Solo and Chewbacca, but there's no effort at creating a genuine bond between the two in this latest adaptation.

The main concern with Depp and Hammer teaming up is the lack of chemistry that sparks onscreen. Armie Hammer's a solid actor who's unfortunately had the worst luck landing dynamic roles and having little wiggle room as the masked vigilante continues to convey Hammer as not leading man material. That's not the case at all, rather the shoddy screenplays he's constricted to. Fortunately, Johnny Depp picks up the slack as "Captain Jack Tonto," still riding the same quirky routine that transformed him into a mainstream bankable headliner in Pirates of the Caribbean.

But if Disney was dead serious about making The Lone Ranger the must-see event of the summer, the entire movie should have stayed true with its feel-good climax that paralleled the theme park vibes from Pirates of the Caribbean. Instead, the first two hours of an heavily bloated 150 minute run time are unnecessary, repetitive and all over the place including a handful of forced sequences straying from being Disney friendly.

Having tackled 2011's Rango, it was practically a given that Gore Verbinski had a handle on the struggling western genre, but with what appears to be an excess of studio interference strangling any hopes of a bright future for The Lone Ranger. The vision of a potential franchise is buried under uninspired boredom that can't be undone.

There's no real point having Helena Bonham Carter and Tom Wilkinson waste their talents in this movie, but at least William Fichtner has a bit of fun as the sadistic baddie, Butch Cavendish. With only Depp and Fichtner provided any sort of entertaining roles in The Lone Ranger, the remainder of the cast get lost in the shuffle of ridiculous sequences that do little to move the plot along.

Cutting The Lone Ranger down to a manageable consistent movie would have done wonders for the film. On occasion, Verbiniski breaks the supposed sprawling adventure up via flashback by a delusional Old Tonto at a 1930s sideshow in a manner that's nothing more than an ill-conceived narrative distraction.

Even blaring the iconic "William Tell Overture" over the climax has its limitations keeping audiences the slightest interested after two hours of plodding buildup and slam the door shut on a potential franchise that never got its feet off the ground. Outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and Star Wars Episode VII, Disney needs a live-action franchise to shake off the other failed attempts.

GRADE: C (5/10)