Where did it go wrong? What did it get right?
The movie’s failure seemed eminent – I heard no buzz about
it from anyone; none from no one, be they a faithful moviegoer or a casual
theater attender. Even up to this very day I have heard nor read about this
movie from a regular Joe like myself who has seen or has intentions on seeing
the movie. The Lone Ranger has been out of major public view for decades
especially after the near-scandalous theatrical version that was released in
1981; The Legend of the Lone Ranger,
which was crucified by both critics and fans. Much like this new version, it
was filmed gracefully but the story robbed the main character of his mystery. The
complaints we hear nowadays about pulp icons runs along the same ire discharged
back then. Why did they take away the mystery? People don’t need to know every
tidbit about a hero’s life, people want entertainment. What used to make
Wolverine from Marvel’s X-Men so
unique, he was a mystery. Marvel did away with that too and while he’s as
popular as ever, he’s just not very interesting anymore. How does that impact
long term development of a character? We hardly ever find out because entertainment
studios are overly willing to answer the question instead of pursue the
unknown, which also speaks about why we have no original creations in
Hollywood.
To return the masked man and his trusted accomplice Tonto to
glory, Disney went with the team behind the highly successful, though critically
split, franchise The Pirates of the Caribbean
who some themselves happen to be fans if not of the mysterious cowboy,
certainly fans of westerns. On paper, it seemed like a decent choice, but then
Johnny Depp wanted to play Tonto. That stirred its own controversy among particular
social circles, although Depp does have Native American ancestry in his blood.
Another potential misstep was they chose to take the same route that led to the
recent Green Hornet movie’s downfall – make the lead character a bumbling
tagalong and thrust the sidekick into the hero role. It’s practically kismet that
both films suffered from similar consternations considering the longstanding
notion, depending on which variation of medium (comics, radio, television) of
the two icons you believe, that The Green Hornet, Britt Reid, is a descendant
of The Lone Ranger, John Reid, which was first implemented in The Green Hornet
radio show back in 1936 and was also touched upon in The Green Hornet comic
book series which debuted in 1989 from NOW Comics, using the radio shows
continuity as a foundation for the new Green Hornet’s universe.
Despite the surrounding criticism of the movie’s story and
characters, it sure was pretty! The cinematography uses several landscapes across
America to their fullest complete with impressive action sequences, which might
actually be enough to appease a generally interested moviegoer, but since
Disney chose to use a familiar name with a proud legacy equalized by its following
for the sake of having a built-in audience whom the mouse believed would
already be suckered in enough to give up their money, the crowd they wanted
might have been their Achilles heel because no matter how many movie reviewers
get bought off to make positive reviews for unjust films, word on the street,
word of mouth is what still makes or breaks a movie. Currently, the American
economy is an unforgiving storm on a hard working person’s wallet. Going to the
movie theater is no longer reasonable therefore it is no longer a first choice
for most homes, so word of mouth among the ambitious movie goers and film
lovers, regular people like them, is far more critical to them than anyone
else. If Hollywood wants people to be interested, don’t ruin the mystery. Try
some new characters; every story to tell has already been written, nowadays it’s
all about how well the story gets told. Most of all, people aren’t stupid.
Hollywood needs to stop treating them like they are. 
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