Disney’s The Lone Ranger has been fraught with production difficulties, from budget issues to the drowning of a crew member to general concern about Johnny Depp playing a Native American. However, the Gore Verbinski film pulled through all of those setbacks and the teaser trailer has finally premiered.
Arriving via Coming Soon, the trailer shows little more than a few explosions and portentous overtones of the arrival of the steam engine in the American West. We do get to hear Johnny Depp as Tonto for the first time too but I’m hoping that he doesn’t talk like that throughout the entire film.
The trailer is actually more serious than expected as well, which is either great news for the power of the film or indicates a lack of awareness about the somewhat dated tale of John Reid, the lawman turned masked man, and his Native American warrior pal Tonto.
The cast is uniformly impressive beyond just Depp, with Armie Hammer as John Reid and backed by Helena Bonham-Carter, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper. But it’s Depp we’re all interested in, and Depp who is featured most prominently in this short trailer.
The Lone Ranger will likely hinge on his performance as Tonto, not to mention how readily the audience will be willing to accept him as a Native American character, an always problematic decision.
We may soon judge for ourselves if Depp pulls it off as The Lone Ranger rides on July 3, 2013.
Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.
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