Gore Verbinski's "Lone Ranger" opened in theaters Wednesday. Verbinski, director of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, brought along a familiar face, well-known actor Johnny Depp. Despite Depp's appeal, however, the film has received sour reviews, and two prominent reviewers explained why.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Coalition and Editor-in-Chief of Movieguide, described the film's "strong mixed pagan, revisionist, politically correct worldview."
"The pagan elements triumph because you're looking at it from Tanto's point of view." He used "pagan" as a generic term for non-Christian, unidentified spirituality. "It's not Buddhism, it's not Hinduism, it's a mishmash."
"There's a lot of humor in the film, much at the expense of some of the Christians," he added, also mentioning the villain "who prays in the name of Jesus before he goes off slaughtering people."
But Baehr thinks that despite the film's flaw, he wouldn't go as far as saying the film is a "direct attack on Christians." "I don't think it's an evil film at all," he noted.
Paul Asay, senior associate editor for Focus on the Family's review blog, Plugged In, agreed with Baehr's criticism but hesitated to call the film "pagan." Noting the prominence of Tanto's perspective, he said, "you see a great deal more spiritism, animism, magic, and portent in everything he sees and does."
"Spiritism is not an unusual thing to see in movies these days – magical elements that don't exactly jive with Christianity," he argued. But when it came to Christianity, the "Lone Ranger" "felt a little bit mean."
"Most of the Christian characters are benevolently stupid or outright bad," Asay said.
While the film never explicitly says Tanto's animism is true, "his view is more persuasive than the Christianity presented here."
He argued the betrayal of the Lone Ranger tradition proved the film's most damning weakness. "I think that's the primary reason the movie doesn't work."
He noted that, in their original settings, neither the Lone Ranger nor Superman are characters that a modern American can identify with. "He is not meant to be a sort of flawed and frail character," Asay explained. "He is more of a template, an aspirational character."
"This is what goodness is like, the American character," he added. The Lone Ranger became the "embodiment of truth and justice in the rugged west."
"When you take away that aspirational heart of the Lone Ranger, you really are left with a guy in a mask," Asay argued. The original Lone Ranger "didn't wear a mask because he's becoming an outlaw," but for "a kind of modesty" – he didn't need praise.
The filmmakers "understood the legend behind the Lone Ranger, but I don't think they understood the character."
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