Trailer Tuesday: The Lone Ranger

-

After languishing in development hell for well over a decade, and then stalling last minute because of budget concerns (this baby costs over $250 million), The Lone Ranger is finally returning to the big screen in the 21st Century. No doubt hoping to duplicate the success of its Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Disney has re-united the director (Gore Verbinski), producer (Jerry Bruckheimer) and star (Johnny Depp) of that particular series for this boisterous, mega-budget Western.


Ascendant heartthrob Armie Hammer plays the title character, a former Texas Ranger left for dead during an ambush. Saved by Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Depp), our hero dons a mask and fights injustice, riding off on his white stallion with the catchphrase "High-ho Silver, away!" Out of interest, The Lone Ranger started life as a radio serial in the 1930s (with The Green Hornet as its spin-off) before becoming an iconic TV series in the 1950s, starring Clayton Moore.

Now the trailer for The Lone Ranger 2013 is just a 90-second teaser but I already like what I'm seeing: the film seems to be visually striking, stylish and not without a nod to Wild West decadence. Quirks are also clearly there - I don't think you can avoid them with both Burton buddies Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the cast - but the actors seem to be playing things refreshingly straight. Right now, The Lone Ranger doesn't seem to simply be Pirates transplanted to (very) dry land. For the record, Tom Wilkinson and William Fitchner round out the cast.

The Lone Ranger is currently set for a 3 July 2013 opening in North America. The film's South African release date has yet to be set.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding
Read more