Right Brother

Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, Terry Rossio, Ted Elliot and Hans Zimmer teamed up again after the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. This time they're bringing the adventure to the Western territory. The Lone Ranger is a modern adaptation of the popular radio and TV series. Even this title produced a modernized spin-off The Green Hornet which was already adapted into film by Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen. The production of The Lone Ranger was troubled, Disney shut down its production for a while due to budgetary concerns. But here we are, a blockbuster-to-be with the price tag of $225 million.

The story is being told from Tonto's perspective. He met John Reid in an unlikely situation and then John Reid and his brother plus a group of Texas Rangers were killed by a criminal named Butch Cavendish. In the meantime, the town of Colby is preparing a new railroad track to connect cities in the USA. However, the guy in charge Latham Cole might have something else in mind rather than just railroads.

For me, The Lone Ranger is one of the best movies of the summer. It's fun, it's thrilling, it's so full of action and interesting characters. While the story is quite predictable, the action and the story leading to its climax is awesome. As much as I hate seeing my favorite actor Johnny Depp in the same weird make-up in every movie, I find the role of Tonto really is for him. Well I didn't get to watch the TV series back then so I guess this is the mix of old-style Tonto and Captain Jack Sparrow. Armie Hammer is also born for this role. His face fits the mask nicely and the role nicely too. The other supporting actors are also great. Especially William Fichtner as Butch Cavendish, sooo good. Director Gore Verbinski treated this as Pirates of the Caribbean on the desert and it's supa great. The over-the-top action are top-notch. The intricate action sequence are amazing. Thanks to writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot, the ones responsible for the Pirates trilogy (whom Disney should bring back for Pirates 5 if they want to do it right). The music by Hans Zimmer is eargasmic. Easily one of the best scores of the year along with M83's Oblivion. Zimmer's take on William Tell overture is incredible, so creative and epic. The 10-minute finale might give you the biggest shivers throughout the movie. The film might start out high with the amazing opening sequence, and then its pace went down in the middle for enough character talk and origins story but then it went back up again and ended the film in quite a high note. And maybe the film feels too Tonto-centric, but we do get quite a fair share of The Lone Ranger himself. All in all, The Lone Ranger is actually Pirates of the Caribbean 4. It is the true sequel to Pirates 3 that never was, this is the right brother to Pirates series. It is a shame that the film flopped, maybe it's time to change the location from Monument Valley to someplace else because John Carter used this place too. If you're reading this, please don't believe the critics and judge the film by yourself. It's safe for me to say that The Lone Ranger is better than Iron Man 3, and you can totally hate me for saying that but that's the truth. The Lone Ranger: rated 3.5/4

If you're not sold, let me give you Zimmer's amazing William Tell arrangement


Sorry no McConaughey in this post, been quite busy. Next week, double feature with Pacific Rim and World War Z