Kurt Loder Reviews The Lone Ranger

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Courtesy of Disney Entertainment

Whoever decided the time was right to revive the Lone Ranger—a character that first saddled up on radio in 1933 and effectively rode off into the TV sunset in 1957—would normally not be consulted for bright ideas again at any time in the near future. But since the motivating force behind the new Lone Ranger was Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and since his collaboraters were also Pirates mainstays—star Johnny Depp, director Gore Verbinski, and writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio—the folks at Disney, the Pirates studio, must have envisioned the launch of a grand new multi-billion-dollar franchise. But despite some terrific stunts and rousing action sequences, reports Kurt Loder, the story is clogged with unnecessary elements and the move's bloated two-and-a-half-hour runtime is exhausting. Any hope that this film will quickly earn back its budget would seem overly rosy in the extreme.