I recently attended an early screening for the film at Disney's California Adventure and wow it was great. The story is well told and gives you a good idea of how a man named John Reid becomes the Lone Ranger who is brilliantly played by Armie Hammer. Johnny Depp obviously stole the show for his portrayal of Tonto; I thought it was one of his best characters he's ever played. The highlight here is the two's chemistry throughout the film, these are two very different people who both have different perspectives on life and they were just hilarious together. My only problem with the film was the supporting cast, I thought some characters were a little under developed and not as enjoyable as the leads. I wished the villain were just as enjoyable like how Geoffrey Rush was for Curse of the Black Pearl. So in other terms the film is not as good as Curse of the Black Pearl but more superior then the Prate sequels. Go see this movie you'll have a great time, and people can learn from this movie it's got some good messages.

Quite frankly, I was highly skeptical on attending the screening of the hugely anticipated Johnny Depp, Arnie Hammer starrer The Lone Ranger, primarily because I am not such a huge fan of western movies plus a runtime clocking almost 150 minutes seemed to long to handle. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try owing to the Depp factor and the director, Gore Verbinsky who has a pretty neat track record as a director.I haven't actually seen The Lone Ranger T.V series which aired from 1949-1957, so I pretty much knew nothing about the characters as such and went in with a clean slate, which in my opinion is a good thing as it removed unwarranted comparisons and biasness.

Settling down in my seat and 10 minutes into the movie, I was hooked on. A spectacular opening scene, where the outlaws make away with their chief held captive and being transported on a train. The scene introduces us to the principal characters of the movie namely Tonto (Johnny Depp), John Reid (Arnie Hammer) and Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner). Verbinsky establishes his characters smoothly and seamlessly throughout the narrative which is definitely one of the high points of the movie. The entire story unfolds as Tonto, recounts the tales of his journey and how John Reid becomes The Lone Ranger. The two form an uncanny team to bring Cavendish to justice, each in his own manner. John believes in non-violence and the court of law and Tonto is just the opposite. The two share an electrifying chemistry and Depp gets his comic timing spot on as the quirky Tonto. Tonto, belongs to a native American warrior tribe, who feels responsible for the death of his fellow men and his family owing to a trade he made with two white Americans he saved from certain death when he was a child. John seeks revenge from Cavendish as he is responsible for the death of his ill-fated brother Dan Reid.(James Badge Dale).

Inspite of its length, the movie never drags or feels lethargic at any point of time, instead it provides a good dose of laughter at regular intervals and Depp shines in those scenes. The scenes where the Native American, trades a feather or grains for everything he steals from dead people or the scene where the white stallion chooses John over his brother, and Tonton repeatedly tries to force the stallion to switch the selection, Depp is just fantastic.

Depp rises above his co-stars with his impeccable comic timing and one liners. The best facet to his character is the fact that he is so unpredictable. You never know what is he going to do next. Arnie Hammer pitches in an earnest performance and nicely complements Depp. Despite, all its triumphs it does have a couple of blemishes. It's understandable that the entire writing revolved around the two principal characters, John and Tonto and I'm guessing due to the focus on these two characters some other supporting characters got sidelined. The sub plot involving Rebecca (Ruth Wilson) and her relationship with John is half baked and is not well developed. Similarly, Helena Bonham Carter as Red Harrington is unconvincing as the deadly leggie and neither does her character get enough screen time leave a mark.

Barring the two minor hiccups, The Lone Ranger overall is a fine movie which is high on entertainment value. I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone who seeks a good time at the movies. Fun guaranteed!

Is The Lone Ranger a great movie? Not really, but it is relatively entertaining.

Is the movie slow in the middle? A little, but not as bad as most critics would have you believe.

The Lone Ranger is a bit long and does ask you to be patient at times, something that seems to be lost in the modern video-game world we live in.

The strength of the movie lies squarely with Johnny Depp and his portrayal of Tonto. I seriously doubt that any other actor could have pulled it off. Depp deadpans through several one-liners, which gives us much of the movie's humor. In Depp's capable hands, the character of Tonto is both admirable and witty, with a charm all his own.

The first part of the movie definitely gets us started with a bang. It does jump around quite a bit in the first few scenes, which seemed a little disjointed at times, but things are tied together well enough as the movie progresses.

The middle of the movie is slower, but we are provided with many of the answers as to the back history of the characters, especially with Tonto and the villains. I will agree that the movie could have accomplished the same with five to ten less minutes, but that is certainly not an adequate reason, in itself, to skewer the film.

And the last few scenes are the non-stop action sequences that most modern audiences love, although they do almost come off as cartoonish at times.

As stated, Depp's performance is the single biggest selling point for this movie. I thought William Fichtner was very good as Butch Cavendish, the film's main villain. Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham Carter all lend excellent support.

Of the movie's title character, I'm not sure that someone else other than Armie Hammer wouldn't have made a better Lone Ranger. That being said, the interactions and dialog between him and Depp's Tonto are enjoyable and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. In many ways, this is a buddy movie, albeit with a bit of a twist.

Perhaps, one of the main reasons critics dislike the movie is its title. For all intents and purposes, this is really a Tonto movie. It is more his story and told from his point of view. It probably should have properly been called Tonto. But I don't see that as being a bad thing at all.

If you take it for what it is, The Lone Ranger is a reasonably entertaining film, with a very strong performance by Depp. And that was enough for me to give it a 7 out of 10.