The Lone Ranger (2013) Review

History has proven that it is a dangerous thing to make a commercialized western, a matter that has been proven once more. In an attempt to recreate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, Verbinski and Depp have come ashore and headed for the Wild West.

The film starts off using an odd framing device where old Tonto (Depp) is telling the story of his adventures with the Lone Ranger. Already here problems arise, as there is absolutely no need for this whatsoever. At times it feels like they are trying to use this to contrast the progress America made in such short time, but it never really becomes clear why they included it.

Once we get to the Wild West the plot slowly unfolds, however for the first hour it is just a series of action set pieces that never give you any time to get proper context for story or character and you are left feeling like you walked in halfway through the film. The story never really gets going, as it never really feels like there is a story, just a guy to catch. After the film was over I felt like I had missed an hour of exposition, as nothing seemed to hang well together.

Johnny Depp needs to stop all this nonsense, I used to love him, but even he is just a mess at this point. His Tonto isn´t even clever in the way Jack Sparrow often was. There are several scenes where they rely simply on Johnny Depp giving a weird look and us laughing, but the audience never does and it just becomes painful to watch as so many jokes fail. There is a fairly interesting bit of backstory to Tonto that is unravelled eventually, which was interesting. The problem is that in this section it is shown that Tonto is a darkly disturbed character, but instead he just comes off as silly and all the dark layers he supposedly have are soon forgotten.

As for Armie Hammer it is obvious that he is no leading man, he lacks any form of charisma and likability. Even he just comes off as whimsical and silly, as opposed to a hero. That leaves us at a point where there is really no hero to cheer for or any characters to stand behind, something essential for a film like this.

What is most baffling is how a man, whose previous film was an animated western, can make a film that feels so cartoony compared to his previous film. Rango was a cartoon that captured the feel and look of the Wild West. The Loner Ranger on the other hand feel like a cartoon pretending to be something else. It is hard to understand how he has made such an ugly looking film where certain scenes shot on location even feel like they are shot on a green screen due to some distracting and odd lighting.

The tone of the film is all over the place. It tries to be a western, but never captures that feel; it tries to be a fun adventure, but then all of a sudden throws in some really dark moments in the middle of all the cartoonish silliness. There is one scene where you have Tonto doing some silly, supposedly fun, stuff and then in the same scene a bunch of Indians are getting slaughtered; yet the tone is so light that it almost feels offensive.

As someone who really enjoyed the Pirates trilogy (the fourth one is dreadful) I had hope for this to be good, no matter how bad it looked. Sadly it is even worse than it looks, even Hans Zimmer´s score is pretty generic. This is probably one the worst blockbusters of recent memory, being nothing, but a generic, boring, bloated mess, outside the occasional chuckle.

1/5

Pacific Rim (2013) Review

Once in a while a film comes along that, if you allow it, will transform you into twelve year-old yourself. Pacific Rim is one of these films. From the opening prologue both you and the film itself acknowledges the ridiculousness of the premise, yet puts you in a sweet spot where you go with it.

The writing is for the most part corny and cheesy, but purposefully so. In a way you could say that it is cheep to say something like that, but the fact of the matter is that it does benefit the film. The story is after all extremely corny, and by having the incredibly corny dialogue and characters, you never forget that it is a film that is not meant to be taken too seriously.

Attempting something like that will in most cases result in a disaster, luckily it is Guillermo del Toro holding the reins on this disaster film. Like with his Hellboy film, he finds the perfect tone between serious and ridiculous. He manages to make everything fun, yet at same time make us care enough for the characters that the few carefully placed emotional moments actually work. The whole film is really a testament to how great of a director Guillermo del Toro is; hitting every note right in what could otherwise have been a disaster.

 

The visuals are extraordinary, sprawling with Del Toro´s imagination in the almost surreal, neon landscapes. The inspiration from Japanese anime is very apparent and totally works for the visuals. The film does use a cheap trick of having most of the big fights in night during rain, which makes it easier to get good looking CGI. That being said it doesn´t really matter when the visuals are so damn good and imaginative.

The world-building was also surprisingly good, setting up a good sci-fi universe and adding to the film´s immersion. 

The acting is for the most part at the same corniness as the dialogue, but most of the actors pull of the balance that Del Toro has in the mood. Charlie Hunnam doesn´t do anything spectacular, but he has enough presence and likability that I really did care for him to be alive at the end of the film. The standouts were Idris Elba, Rinko Kukushi and Ron Perlman. Not all the actors managed to hit the right note of corniness and became cringe worthy at times, but it never bothered me enough to drag the film down.

Pacific Rim is something uniquely fun, surprisingly engaging and somewhat satirical. It is an orgy of imaginative visuals and action, creating one of the most fun film of the year so far.

4.5/5