Movie Reviews: The Lone Ranger
John Reid (Armie Hammer) is a prissy lawyer and the brother of battle-hardened Texas Ranger Dan (James Badge Dale); when Dan is murdered and horribly mutilated by outlaw Butch Cavendish (William Fitchner), John is left for dead in the desert. Brought back from the brink of death by Tonto when a mysterious white horse singles him out as a ‘spirit walker’, John Reid dons a mask and vows to bring Butch Cavendish to justice. Director Gore Verbinski has grander ambitions than simply bringing the old TV series to the big screen, however, and the bravura opening sequence, which introduces all the main characters in a jailbreak aboard an out-of-control train, sets the tone for what’s to come: exhilarating action and brutal violence linked by quirky comedy (most of the latter courtesy of a singularly bonkers performance from Johnny Depp, who plays Tonto as a quasi-mystical Native American who has long since wandered off the reservation of his own mind). There’s more to Verbinski’s movie than a Wild West buddy-buddy flick, though. The story, which returns at regular intervals to the aged Tonto and the young boy, is also interested in investigating America’s self-mythologising of its origins and the legends about its pioneers and its vigilante lawmen. While there is much to like, however, the overall tone is uneven, with serious moments abutted by inappropriate crass humour, such as when a Native American horseback charge is viciously winnowed by US Cavalry Gatling guns — the poignant scene immediately followed by a slapstick train-ride that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Laurel and Hardy flick. It’s occasionally messy and unfocused, then, and unnecessarily lengthy at 149 minutes, but despite all its flaws The Lone Ranger is still well worth your time.
Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) becomes an unwilling hero in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (15A) when a disgruntled colleague, Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney), takes hostages in the wake of losing his job at their sleepy Norfolk radio station. Farrell refuses to deal directly with the police; instead he demands that his good friend Alan — who we already know has persuaded his new bosses to sack Farrell instead of himself — enter the hostage situation and become his spokesperson. Thus the scene is set for the perfect Partridge comedy scenario, in which the oleaginous, self-serving Alan slithers around a potentially lethal situation, trying to impress everyone, especially himself. Playing Alan Partridge is second nature to Steve Coogan at this stage, and he’s suitably repulsive — and very funny — as the morally bankrupt, third-rate DJ always looking for the next angle. Declan Lowney’s film never really delivers on its early promise, however; while Partridge fans will very probably get their money’s worth, everyone else will feel a little let down by the paucity of narrative twists or character development. The cramped environs of the radio station interior only add to the feeling that Alpha Papa is little more than a feature-length sitcom episode, a story stretched too thin.
