The Lone Ranger -- Learn To Have Some Fun

I almost reluctantly went with my daughters to watch the Lone Ranger this fourth of July weekend.  I loved what I'd seen of the previews, and I love the Lone Ranger, but the bad reviews had me doubtful.  Reviews for this film have been pretty bad.  The New Yorker has declared it a major flop, and it seems most reviewers pretty much hate the film.

This pretty much proves the point to me, critics don't like fun.  They like serious movies, or movies with deep historical roots, or films with a message; but they are left dumbfounded when a movie is simply meant to be a lot of fun.

Here's what you should know at the get go: The Lone Ranger is a comedy.  I didn't know that going in!  I thought this was a serious western with maybe a few jokes.  No sir!  This is comedy.  At points it is slap stick comedy.  The action sequences are complex, brilliantly timed and come off as something that would have made the three stooges proud.  Can the Lone Ranger and Tonto best the Three Stooges?  Well, what I saw on screen was pretty brilliant.  But people come to see the Lone Ranger give us a moral message or a serious western -- and that's just not what this film is.  Give the thing room to breathe on its own without squeezing it into the box of the past.

I would be hard pressed to give a detailed plot synopsis, but the story telling was once again, just fun.  I see reviewers complaining that it's supposed to be Texas, but looks like (fill in the state) and so it isn't very realistic.  I think, "Really?  That's what you're worried about?  It looks more like Arizona than Texas?"

When the Green Lantern came out, a friend asked if I was going to go watch it.  I said no, it looked pretty stupid.  "Of course it's stupid!" My friend laughed.  "It's a movie.  Just go enjoy yourself."

Do we Americans take story telling so serious we've forgotten how to have a good time?  Ultimately, the Lone Ranger is about a guy with a mask, his Indian friend and a horse as they fight bad guys.  This isn't meant to be taken serious.  It's meant to entertain.  Life is serious enough right now.  I wonder this with Stephen King books, movies and other media.  I see folks getting awfully serious about Under the Dome instead of just enjoying it.  When everything is picked apart, it doesn't make a critic look any smarter -- it just makes him look full of himself and a little judgmental.

One complaint has been that the Lone Ranger is boring.  The thing is full of action, humor and -- well, that's it, action and humor!  Was the movie everything I would want it to be?  No.  The Lone Ranger is a bit weak for me.  And at times Tonto's bad-Indian personality is overkill.  But that  doesn't kill the movie for me.

I like this bit from Mr. Cosby,

Read a review that talked as if this new movie had stolen something from their childhood.  As King would point out, the old stuff is still there.  You can go buy the old TV shows at Walmart, or watch them on Youtube.  You'll discover they weren't really very good.  But they were fun.  We have fond memories of it because as kids, we were just looking for a ride to a good time, and the Lone Ranger was the the friend that got us there.

My kids liked the movie a lot.  It wasn't like some movies where we spent all day after  the film talking about it.  It was just a joy while we watched it.  My ten year old leaned in at one point, as the Lone ranger jumped from one railroad car to another, and said, "Dad, this is a lot like that game subway surfer."

Sometimes a movie that is just looking to entertain is well worth the alternative of something like The Piano or The English Patient.  Give me Cowboys and Aliens any day over Tron.  And that, my friends, is why I will never get a job reviewing movies.  I enjoy them too much.  Well, some of them.

There are movies that stir our minds or deeply move our hearts, like Maximum Overdrive; movies with depth and passion, like Children of the Corn; and there are movies that call us to true new intellectual heights, like Needful Things.  And  then there are some movies that are meant to do little more than make you laugh and give yous some deep, "YES!" moments.  No politics.  No religion.  Not even a lot of attempts at being politically correct.  The movie just aimed at fun.  I think it hit the target just fine.