The Lone Ranger

At the very least, this wildly erratic production deserves a measure of credit for maintaining some kind of oddball comic momentum over the long haul of its mock-epic Western-movie action. The story is disposable and inconsequential. Most of the best stuff in the film is bizarre action, exuberant grotesquerie, cartoonish sight-gags and stunts, FX action involving vintage trains, etc. Johnny Depp plays Tonto here, and with his dead-bird headgear and assorted mystical and mythical trappings, his can seem like a rather Hunter S. Thompsonized version of the character. But in his most elaborate action scenes, he seems to be channeling the deadpan stunts and intrepid spirit of Buster Keaton. Revisionist farce shows a less pungent side with the film’s Lone Ranger (Armie Hammer), a neurotic and somewhat narcissistic do-gooder who is little more than a mock-heroic accessory for the action sequences. Cinemark 14 and Feather River Cinemas. Rated PG-13.