Disney has some pretty big expectations for The Lone Ranger but the new Johnny Depp movie may not be a big box office hit. Reviews are starting to come in for the modern western and they don’t look good.
The movie currently has a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes . A particular harsh review claims that Director Gore Verbinski has taken a promising idea and “put a silver bullet in its head.”
Alonso Duralde at The Wrap writes:
“ The Lone Ranger feels schizophrenic, a state of affairs that would be forgivable if it delivered as a post-modern comedy or as an exciting Western or even as an exhilaratingly brainless piece of summer entertainment … [Director Gore] Verbinski and his writers have taken a promising idea and put a silver bullet in its head.”
Unsurprisingly, Duralde wasn’t the only critic who believes that the movie killed the mystique of the Lone Ranger.
Drew McWeeney writes at Hit Flix :
“Someone needs to drag this thing out behind the barn and put a silver bullet in its brain. It’s the only kindness this movie deserves.”
Here’s the trailer for The Lone Ranger.
Variety compliments the movie for it’s energy and action but criticized Verbinksi for “sucking the fun” out of The Lone Ranger.
Peter DeBruge writes : “Delivers all the energy and spectacle audiences have come to expect from a Jerry Bruckheimer production, but sucks out the fun in the process.”
The Lone Ranger had a reported budget of about $250 million. It also employs one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars, a seasoned blockbuster producer in Jerry Bruckheimer, and a competent director with Gore Verbinski. The same trio scored a massive hit for Disney with the Pirates of the Caribbean but it doesn’t look like Disney is starting the franchise that it had hoped for.
Tim Grierson at the Screen Daily writes: “Transplanting the Pirates Of The Caribbean aesthetic to the Wild Wild West proves disastrous in The Lone Ranger , an indigestible swill of forced humor and oversized, overbearing action sequences. Reuniting the Pirates franchise’s creative team of director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Johnny Depp, this origin story of the iconic American cowboy character has plenty of combustion, but it’s almost entirely devoid of charm or genuine excitement,”
Both Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp said that they were interested in a sequel . Do you think Disney will green light a Lone Ranger sequel?