“Wherever men unite into society, they must quit the laws of nature, and assume the laws of men.”
Not actually quoting, but apparently paraphrasing 17th Century philosopher John Locke’s “Two Treatises on Civil Government (2nd Treatise, Chapter VII),” The Lone Ranger is as smart, dynamic, and visually stunning a blockbuster as anyone could ask for. Not tedious, and never boring – if anything, it’s overstuffed. Clocking in at 2 hours and 39 minutes, viewers need an iron bladder.
This is an origin story. Apparently, everyone’s origin story: In the first 10 minutes, we meet: Train robbers, Comanches, the executives building the Transcontinental Railway, railway workers, Texas Rangers, The Lone Ranger, The Lone Ranger’s family, Tonto, Cavaliers, and Presbyterians. Nearly every character is portrayed by a well known actor, though you may find yourself struggling to recognize them under layers of handsome make-up and prosthetics. The next two and a half hours zig-zag between the storylines of all these characters. It’s presented as a retelling by an octogenarian Tonto of questionable mental acuity, so there’s more zigs and zags than straight lines, and the film often stops to question the accuracy of the details. Almost mocking themselves, the filmmakers occasionally detour into the surreal – sometimes full scenes, more often, just adding a slightly incongruous (or absurd) element to a scene. It works. It’s fun, wild, silly, and you certainly get your money’s worth.
TLR’s copious backstory includes an endless stream of apologist wisecracks, but given it’s true, it’s hardly objectionable. One of those most deftly constructed barbs begins with a Texas Ranger asking Tonto, who had been imprisoned, what his crime was. His response, a single word, artfully confronts a culture steeped in racism, but also references the single word used to describe Jay Silverheels (the original Tonto)’s characters from the vast majority of his roles before he was cast in the The Lone Ranger tv series. Everyone will get the overt remark, but only TLR buffs will automatically understand the deeper meaning.
Some criticisms of the film are valid. At over 2 1/2 hours, this is a difficult stretch for some. Still, if you’re up for it, there’s a train robbery, bank robbery, ethnic cleansing, a corporate take-over, back stabbings, cop killings, gun fighting, bar fighting, turn-coating, brothels and brothel raids, barn fires, spirit walking, horse talking, treaty breaking, wife swapping (almost), a bridge blowing up, and one guy who refuses to sacrifice his code amidst all of it. It’s fairly violent, though often via suggestion. (People do get shot on screen.) Further, given the filmmakers wanted to film real people actually do real stunts, and went so far as to build their own pair of mile long train tracks, why did they add so much CGI on top of it. I occasionally felt myself try to look around effects which seemed to block the action. I also noticed, just a few times, that quick editing robbed crucial moments of their dramatic impact. (Just a few.) And most importantly, as evidenced by opening weekend attendance, who wants to see Cowboys and Indians? Answer: it’s not selling well with kids, but it is with older adults.
Given it’s astronomical budget, Gore Verbinski directing, and Disney’s brand, don’t doubt the film is well crafted, chock full of historical detail, rarely stops long enough to catch its breath, and looks stunning. The scenery is real, and truly beautiful, often looking like a reproduction of old Wild West oil paintings. While rottentomatoes pegs it at about 24% among critics, Cinemascore, which tracks audience opinion, gives it a very respectable B+, and on IMDB it scores about a 6.7, which is pretty good (the voter graph actually peaks around 7.5). One last note, my mother, my aunt, and my step-father all saw it at different showings, and all liked it very much. Young people just don’t know what ‘good’ is. Perhaps this is just another Disney marketing blunder.
Who was that masked man? Armie Hammer is the great-grandson of chemical baron and arts philanthropist Armand Hammer. (Yes, the guy behind Arm & Hammer baking soda.) Though his parents are strongly religious and business oriented, apparently a recessive gene from his great-grandfather compelled him to pursue acting, against his parents wishes. You might recognize him as the Winklevoss Twins from The Social Network.
Here’s the original text of John Locke’s Treatise on Civil Government, “Wherever, therefore, any number of men so unite into one society as to quit every one his executive power of the law of Nature, and to resign it to the public, there and there only is a political or civil society.”