When it was announced that the Mouse House would adapt this classic radio drama, it was a strange but possibly compelling project. After all, Armie Hammer from "The Social Network" was tapped for the title role and Johnny Depp would costar alongside him with Gore Verbinski in the director's chair. However when production issues becoming making the headlines, this was a warning sign of potential failure but we continued to hold out hope till the release. Ultimately the skeptics weren't entirely wrong to be worried as the film became a massive bomb following the train wreck known as "John Carter". The story is definitely an origin story about how John Reid became the title hero. I won't spoil the main plot as the radio drama delivers a vastly superior tale that is the actual origin and not what Disney's film shows. While the filmmakers do somewhat actually show how John and Tonto meet later in the film's first act, the overall execution is sloppy beyond measure to faithful devotees of the TV series or radio drama. In the lead role of the Lone Ranger, Armie Hammer's compelling talent from his earlier success in David Fincher's "The Social Network" is severely thrown to the wayside. I doubt this is the actor's fault completely because Hammer is one of the finest actors of the new millennium and is more the fault of the writers. The Ranger's legendary bravery is woefully left in the dirt and replaced with ridiculous scenarios that paint him as hapless or needing to rescued unlike his previous incarnates who held their own. While nailing the action sequences and attempting to have chemistry with Depp, the delivery of lines and charm are sorely wasted and is more laughable than engaging.Creating controversy for the film was the decision to cast Johnny Depp as the Native American sidekick, Tonto. The Oscar nominee has claimed he might have Cherokee ancestry, but whether its true or not there is an issue with casting a Caucasian in non-white roles. From Scarlett Johannsson in "Ghost in the Shell" from 2017 to early examples like Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's (playing an Asian man)" to blackface, this is a casting notice that needs to be addressed in Hollywood. While Depp tries to be sensitive, the portrayal by the eccentric actor comes across as cringe-worthy and horribly embarrassing. The writers, like writing the title character, seems to forget the true origins of Tonto from the original programs. As already mentioned, the chemistry between Armie Hammer and Depp is virtually absent unlike Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheel in the original TV show. It's also clear that Disney decided to make it more of the "Johnny Depp movie with the Winklevi twins guy" which misses who the movie should actually be about.The film's sole highlights would have to be its creepy villain played by character actor William Fichtner, the action sequences (obvious where most of the budget went aside from Johnny Depp's salary), stunt work (Armie Hammer learned to ride a horse while shooting a gun on a moving train which is pretty impressive) and the driving score by Oscar winning composer Han Zimmer which includes a great revamp of the original radio and TV show theme (the final movement from the "William Tell Overture"). If only the rest of the film could've been on the same level.

The story is very Bande dessinée and was told in different versions humpteen times. But it is a good story worth retelling. Much of it have happened in real life all over the world. Lots of humour and acrobatics, all impossible, but it is a story told to a young boy, so it is of the film. Boys should like it. Great production, B-movie like Indiana Jones.

An interesting take on the Lone Ranger story with the lead character being Tonto played by Johnny Depp.Some of it has great humour and is fun to watch and some of it has great special effects and is stunning to watch.But much of it is just nasty - the film doesn't seem sure where to tread the line between being likable and just being horrible. Many films manage to make the bad guys bad but the film still fun but this one misses that target by a mile for a lot of scenes.The entire end section is fabulous - dramatic, special effects and stunts and a lot of fun. Wish the rest of the film had been as well made.A big let down on what it could have been

A painfully unfunny wraparound story of Tonto, in the 1930s, maybe, narrating this story, his memoir, basically bookending this preposterously overlong, overcomplicated to the point of absurdity western/ comedy/ SciFi, taking place decades earlier...I can barely think clearly after this one.I like Armie Hammer, I have ever since I saw him in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and I (usually) like Johnny Depp as well, but they are given the most oddball screenplay to work with here, as the film veers wildly from western genre, to zany slapstick, and I kept getting a science fiction vibe in a lot of the scenes, as there was so much of an overuse of CGI.The comedy elements are silly and juvenile, and occasionally tasteless (why do we see a horse taking a dump, only to see Hammer dragged through it?) and the action never looks real, the story lacks any sense of adventure, and I couldn't help wonder why we, as an audience, should care about any of this?I give it a 4/ 10, again, just because I like Hammer and Depp, and because the film does have some impressive looking cinematography in desert southwest, when it isn't drowning in CGI.