The Lone Ranger
2013 · Directed by Gore Verbinski
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- western
The story
The Texas Rangers chase down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish, but the gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached and dust-heavy, with wide desert vistas, long lenses flattening the mesas into painterly layers, and a golden-orange glow that gives way to cool blue dusk. Gore Verbinski's camera loves big, busy frames: stampedes of horses, a chugging railway crossing a canyon, interiors crowded with ornate Victorian clutter, all lit with a slightly fantastical, storybook sheen. The score swells with brass and galloping percussion over the familiar William Tell-style rhythms, and the sound design is full of creaking wood, gunfire cracks and thundering hooves. The mood is brisk, comic and sprawling, a tongue-in-cheek adventure with a buddy-pairing at its heart and a wry, gently melancholy streak beneath the spectacle. Violence is frequent and stylised: shootouts, explosions and bodies falling, with some bloody wounds and a few tense, cartoonishly grim moments, but nothing lingers in gore. Best for a lazy weekend afternoon or a long-haul flight when you want a big, playful western to ride along with, and for viewers who enjoy odd-couple chemistry, eccentric production design and a bit of irreverent revisionism.
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