Gore Verbinski has a taste for the surreal. Going all the way back to Mousehunt and The Mexican, he takes traditional stories, characters, and situations and throws in a big shot of heatstroke-induced quirkiness. The Lone Ranger fits right into Verbinksi’s milieu. Although casual fans of the Ranger might be put-off by this sobering reality: this is actually the Tonto story, and it’s not a straight telling.
There’s a satirical edge to Tonto, slyly needling the white man’s stereotype of “The Noble Savage.” Depp’s Tonto is just a weird medicine man at first. But when the movie dips into his back-story, we learn why his own tribe cast him away. He has a quest, and he just might be insane with revenge. As his behavior becomes more erratic and he starts talking to the horses, you start to wonder if maybe Tonto is that Indian following Jim Morrison around in Oliver Stone’s Doors movie -- high on peyote.
The ranger, John Reid, is the sidekick here, and he and Tonto bounce back and forth between bickering like characters in a Woody Allen movie to saving each other’s asses from the movie’s formidable railroad tycoon villains. But after all the back-story, lingering desert weirdness, and scene-stealing by the various horses, the action is glorious. From the thrilling days of yesteryear and a mighty high-ho silver Verbinski and company orchestrate one of the most fun, most exhilarating movie climaxes in many a moon. Long takes and wide shots make the incredible action easy to follow (unlike Man of Steel), and it doesn’t hurt that Rossini’s on the soundtrack. I embrace Verbinski for all the hi-jinks and all the weirdness. I loved the “Pirates” movies and I loved Rango. There’s so much imagination on display here, it’s a shame more people aren’t seeing it.
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