While there has been a lot of hype around The Lone Ranger being a major box office bomb, let's set the facts straight. As of the date of this review, it's made over $87 million. What we saw on screen couldn't have been worth more than $50 million at best, and I'm being polite. Deserts, cowboys on horseback, some trains... We've seen it all before. And it made $87 million. Not bad considering the plotting wasn't great and Tonto being over-baked to a crisp.
So why all the hype about it being a bomb? Because the studio proudly reported that they spent $215 million to make this movie.
WHAT??? Did they cut a massive special effects extravaganza out of the movie somewhere? How did they manage to spend $215 million on this? Where's the production value? They put a lot of work into the train SFX, especially train crash SFX, but I'm still not seeing $215 million worth. I'm not even seeing $100 million worth. I'm not even seeing $50 million worth.
But let's get back to the story.
There are two problems with the plotting and characterization of this movie. 1) Tonto is mentally unstable, rather than a loyal and brave guide for The Lone Ranger as he was intended to be. 2) The Lone Ranger didn't seem to have any outstanding skills, and wasn't even very sure of himself or what he should do. I expected them to dial up The Lone Ranger into an Indiana Jones type of character. I wanted to see him as a sharp-shooter who gets knocked down over and over but keeps coming back until he achieves his goal. 3) Silver, the horse, was turned into a sort of semi-mystical spirit creature, apparently capable of doing a few things horses normally can't do. I didn't much like introducing magic into world of The Lone Ranger. Why not throw some aliens in while we're at it? The movie wasn't completely without merit, but all in all, ho hum.
And $215 million dollars??
So why all the hype about it being a bomb? Because the studio proudly reported that they spent $215 million to make this movie.
WHAT??? Did they cut a massive special effects extravaganza out of the movie somewhere? How did they manage to spend $215 million on this? Where's the production value? They put a lot of work into the train SFX, especially train crash SFX, but I'm still not seeing $215 million worth. I'm not even seeing $100 million worth. I'm not even seeing $50 million worth.
But let's get back to the story.
There are two problems with the plotting and characterization of this movie. 1) Tonto is mentally unstable, rather than a loyal and brave guide for The Lone Ranger as he was intended to be. 2) The Lone Ranger didn't seem to have any outstanding skills, and wasn't even very sure of himself or what he should do. I expected them to dial up The Lone Ranger into an Indiana Jones type of character. I wanted to see him as a sharp-shooter who gets knocked down over and over but keeps coming back until he achieves his goal. 3) Silver, the horse, was turned into a sort of semi-mystical spirit creature, apparently capable of doing a few things horses normally can't do. I didn't much like introducing magic into world of The Lone Ranger. Why not throw some aliens in while we're at it? The movie wasn't completely without merit, but all in all, ho hum.
And $215 million dollars??