The Lone Ranger

The most underrated blockbuster of the year. Admittedly uneven in pace, with occasional dullness in the middle passage and some forced humour courtesy of a goofy Depp, but otherwise full of playfulness, likeable exuberance, unprecedented production design and top-notch choreography in several action passages. And please, screw the fact that Depp is just recycling Jack Sparrow, I’m not going to deny excellent craftsmanship because of that. (2013-10-05)

A multi-genre homage to a century of cinema? The purest western with the most classic vaudeville gags? Indeed. A big train robbery and easy girls that even Méliès couldn't make up. Or Hell on Wheels through the lens of a comic book hero and progress that you can't stop, even in 1933 (that's when they could play with labels to make Tonto a notorious savage). General Custer keeps his narcissist in check at all times, the ugliest Jane Eyre Ruth Wilson has grown up a bit, Armie Hammer is a worthy successor to the Lone Rangers (ever since the 1933 radio series, novels, comics, and more) and of course, Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter are absolute classics. And Hans Zimmer isn't ashamed to cram the entire "William Tell Overture" and its finale into the soundtrack! (2013-07-03)

The Bruckheimer filters rather spoil the otherwise convincing western atmosphere served up to us so successfully by Verbinski. The struggle with this childish, sometimes infantile and senile (the narrator forgets to tell us all the details because he’s an old, crazy grampa) story is uphill. Good ideas here and there and the absolutely amazing train chase save the reputation of this movie. Hammer doesn’t stand out, Depp doesn’t disappoint and the only performance rally worth remembering is William Fichtner as an unscrupulous bad guy who laughs through his teeth. Zimmer’s music is again the tops and you can tell that he really enjoyed doing this movie. (2013-10-07)

Cowboys and Indians for the twenty-first century pulling out all the stops; the bad ones and the good ones. And the dozens (dozens!) of neat, not immediately obvious allusions (the cicadas and the birds in the bush, the umbrella in the desert etc.), paradoxically more than in Rango, prove better than anything else that the creating team didn’t treat this as just another product. And, yes, this is unarguably “just" the Pirates of the Caribbean in Western garb. However, it should be said that, along with the first Pirates, this is the best to come out of that “series". (2013-07-05)

It looked it’d be a real dud, but it’s watchable. Those who were thrilled by Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull will certainly not be bored, as this film is similar both formally and aesthetically and in terms of the plot. It certainly has a unique mix of traditional Western elements (set design, costumes) perfectly matched in an excellent visual package (great effects, dynamic action scenes). The middle part of the film has are several redundant funny scenes and boring stretches, but William Fichtner and Tom Wilkinson are very entertaining, and the main duo of heroes is a classic. So, it’s fun though not impressive, and everyone knows how it will end from the beginning. Still a likable thing, though. (2014-03-02)