Reeves, a cotton farmer and prominent politician in the area. The movie’s politics are complex to say the least.“Bass Reeves is the closest real person to resemble the fictional Lone Ranger on the American western frontier of the nineteenth century,” Burton wrote.īorn a slave in 1838 in Crawford County Arkansas, Reeves’s owner was William S. Ironically, by trying very hard to update the representations of Native Americans usually associated with the Lone Ranger, Verbinski and his crew have stirred up just as much controversy. For all the controversy over casting Depp rather than a Native American actor, it’s hard to deny Depp’s mastery of physical comedy and outlandish characterization.The problem is whether it’s appropriate to mix lighthearted humor with depictions of Indian massacres. Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as John Reid carry the film well. The standard Western themes are at work, too: revenge, outlaw heroes, corruption, fathers and sons, etc. Much of the film was shot in Monument Valley and other instantly recognizable locations in Colorado, Utah, Texas and Arizona. The movie pays tribute to many classic Westerns, giving nods to “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “The Wild Bunch,” “The Searchers,” and many others. Characters battle each other and play cat and mouse atop rushing railroad cars. Verbinski and company set up simple scenarios and play them out, milking them for sight gags and twists in ways that recall silent films, especially “The General.” Befitting a Western, most of the action takes place on a train. It is equal parts comedy, adventure and Western movie tropes. The movie dares to mix wit and dynamics into its action sequences. Rather than updating the franchise to make it fit in among the superheroes, director Gore Verbinski, best known for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, proudly sticks to the old formulas. “The Lone Ranger,” an old property with little brand recognition among young viewers, goes against the grain. They seem to have forgotten summer movies are supposed to be fun. These trends are the product of superhero movies’ dominance over the box office, and both Marvel and DC are equally to blame. Action sequences have become excuses to destroy as much of New York City as possible, and to do it in loud, monotonous ways. Action sequences are no longer sources of sight gags and story development. Somehow, the typical Hollywood blockbuster has evolved from exciting escapism to gloomy introspection.

In some ways, “The Lone Ranger” is exactly the movie I have waited for all summer. Early reviews range from raves to ravaging.

Just as polarizing, however, is the quality of the film itself. The way the film represents Tonto and American Indians in general, it turns out, is a bit more complicated.

Where was the lone ranger filmed