Monday, July 28, 2025

Now Showing: The Lone Ranger

 
The Lone Ranger
Genre: Western/Action/Adventure
Director: James Mangold
Writer: Dwight Gallo
Based on the characters created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker
Cast: Jacob Elordi, Amber Midthunder, Russell Crowe, Lee Pace, Scott MacArthur, Oliver Platt, Floriana Lima, Wes Studi, Michael Greyeyes

Plot: Texas - 1850.
While the Civil War rages on in other parts of the country, Young John Reid, the son of Christian missionaries, is brought along with his family to the uncivilized areas of western Texas. While his parents try to convert a local Comanche tribe to Christianity, John befriends a young Native girl named Tonto. Even at an early age, Tonto is more interested in warrior training than the traditional roles expected of her. Tonto's father, Chief Silverheels (Michael Greyeyes), is wary of the missionaries and even more wary of his daughter's refusal to accept her role in their culture. As tensions rise between settlers and natives, John's family leaves the area.

1870. 
The Civil War has ended and John Reid (Jacob Elordi) has grown up to be a Texas Ranger under the leadership of his older brother Dan Reid (Lee Pace). Dan rides on a majestic white horse, Silver. Together, they work with a group of Rangers at transporting a group of prisoners through the expansive Comanche nation by stagecoach. The final destination on their trip is Colby, Texas, a booming railroad town. One of the prisoners, Collins Cavendish (Scott MacArthur), continually boasts that his powerful brother will get him released once they get to Colby. John inquires who Collins' brother is, and Collins explains that his brother Butch is in charge of building the railroad from Colby toward the Pacific Ocean and is close friends with the governor. Dan tells Collins that he doesn't care who his brother is or who he knows. All that matters to Dan is that Collins is criminal like the others he is chained up with in the stagecoach and that he will be brought before a judge to determine his fate. 

Railroad magnate Butch Cavendish (Russell Crowe) looks out his window in Colby at the lack of progress being made on his railroad. Cavendish is interrupted by an unexpected visit from Senator Clayton (Oliver Platt), who inquires on the progress of the railroad. Cavendish lies to the politician, saying that they are right on schedule. Clayton plays along, saying that is good news. Clayton then reminds Cavendish that if his company does not reach each milestone on-time along the track to California, the federal government will not pay Cavendish and will instead find someone else who can finish the job. Cavendish jovially offers Clayton a glass of whiskey, but Clayton declines saying he has other business in town to conduct still before he returns to Washington. Shortly after Clayton leaves, a railroad surveyor enters Cavendish's office, having been tasked with helping map out the railroad's path to the Pacific Coast in California. The surveyor nervously informs Cavendish that there is a problem with his planned route - it is blocked by Comanche lands. The surveyor suggests finding a path around the Comanche territory, even if it means that the construction will fall further behind schedule. This infuriates Cavendish, who grabs a model train off his desk and beats the surveyor with it, killing him. Cavendish then calls the beautiful Isabella Gomez (Floriana Lima) into his office. As she dutifully kisses him, he orders her to break his brother out of the custody of the rangers as he has a job for him.

John, Dan and their Texas Rangers prisoner stagecoach reach Bryant's Gap, a deep canyon that they must pass through on their route. Dan urges the other Rangers to be on high alert. Once they are deep into the canyon, John quietly tells his brother that he saw a shadow move in the rocks up ahead. Dan can't see anything himself though, commenting that it must have been wildlife. Two gunshots suddenly ring out, hitting the two horses pulling the stagecoach. The cabin flips over, breaking apart, allowing Collins and the other prisoners to escape. John, Dan and the other Rangers take over, but cannot see their attackers as the sun is shining in their faces. Collins emerges from the wreckage of the stagecoach and joins forces with Isabella. She tosses Collins a gun. Isabella uses her deadly throwing knives, taking aim at John. Dan sees this and blocks the path, with the knife hitting Dan in the heart. Collins, meanwhile, shoots John in the chest when he goes to his brother's aid. John and Dan lie on the ground, bleeding, as Collins and Isabella kill the rest of the Rangers and even the other prisoners, leaving no human left standing. Isabella walks over to Dan and John. She pulls her knife from Dan's chest. Isabella and Collins leave the scene after setting fire to the carnage they caused. John, barely clinging to life, tries to crawl away from the area, eventually passing out in the desert.

Tonto (Amber Midthunder) has become a nomad without a tribe after she was shunned for wanting to be a warrior. She sees smoke rising from the canyon and goes to investigate. She stumbles upon John, unconscious, in the path. At first she assumes he is dead and is prepared to move along, but when he lets out a pained moan, Tonto realizes that John is still alive. She checks on all the other bodies, but they are all clearly deceased. She drags John behind her horse out of the canyon and to a medicine man camped along the prairies. Along the trip, Tonto observes that Dan's white horse, Silver, is following. The medicine man, Tosahwi (Wes Studi), performs a ritual and treats John's gunshot wound with an ointment made of herbs. When John awakens, he and Tonto realize that they knew each other when they were children. John asks how her tribe is, and she regretfully reveals that she was exiled for not conforming to her tribe's traditional role for women. 

Collins and Isabella arrive in Colby where they are greeted by Cavendish, who gives Isabella a kiss and his brother Collins a pat on the back. Cavendish reveals his plan to them - they are going to build the railroad right through Comanche land and if the Comanche don't like it, they'll simply slaughter the lot of them. Collins is excited, happy to get back to some more violence after time behind bars. Collins and Isabella load up on weaponry and round up a rough posse of railroad workers.

Tonto and Tosahwi help nurse John back to full strength. When John sees Silver outside, his eyes tear up at the thought of his brother's death. Tonto asks John if he was close with the horse. John laughs, saying that he never even rode Silver. Tosahwi proposes that Dan's spirit has become one with the spirit of the horse and is now watching after John. Now that he has had time to heal from his wounds, John tells Tonto that he has to go and to Colby to get revenge for his brother's death. Before John leaves, Tosahwi gives John a mask symbolizing rebirth and vengeance. As John mounts Silver and turns to ride back toward Colby, Tonto stops him. Tonto tells John that she will come with him and help avenge Dan's death. Together John and Tonto ride across the prairies back toward the desert. 

Under the cover of darkness, Isabella, Collins and their posse surround an Comanche village. They set fire to the village with torches, shooting any Comanche natives that try to leave the village. Chief Silverheels stands up to the posse, but is shot in the chest for his defiance. The attack is merciless, with screams of the natives echoing through the night as flames and bullets consume the village. Once the screaming finally ceases, Collins calls off the posse, telling them that drinks at the Colby saloon are paid for by his big brother tonight.

Along the road back to Colby, John and Tonto stop in Bryant’s Gap. John and Tonto work together to bury the killed Rangers, including Dan. After digging the graves, John finds his Texas Ranger badge in the dirt and clips it back onto his jacket. Tonto informs John that the quickest route to Colby is through Comanche lands. John is wary at cutting through the native territory, but Tonto assures him that they will be safer going through Comanche lands than sticking to the main roads.

As John and Tonto ride into Comanche territory, the burnt remnants of Tonto’s old village appear on the horizon. Tonto urges her horse forward as John follows nervously. As they approach, they hear the distant, labored breath of a dying man. It’s Chief Silverheels, bloodied and propped against the ruins of a ceremonial lodge. His eyes widen when he sees his daughter. He reaches out weakly. Tonto kneels beside him. In his final moments, Silverheels confesses regret. He tells her that he misjudged her, that her strength and spirit were what the tribe needed, not something to be cast out. Silverheels tells them that he heard the name Cavendish when the village was attacked. Silverheels succumbs to his injuries as Tonto weeps.

Once the fires in the Comanche village have gone cold. Tonto kneels beside her father's body, wrapping him carefully in his cloak. John stands nearby, hat in hand. Tonto speaks softly in Comanche - her father’s name, his clan, a prayer of passage. Together, they carry Silverheels’ wrapped body to a ridge above the village. At the edge of the ridge, Tonto and John begin constructing a scaffold pyre - a Comanche death platform built from branches and cedar poles. They place Silverheels atop the platform, arms folded over his chest, his face toward the stars. Tonto lights a small bundle of dried sage and sweetgrass beneath the scaffold. Smoke curls around her father's form, spiraling upward into the sky. She chants under her breath in the Comanche tongue.

John and Tonto ride in silence across the prairie. The wind howls low through the grasslands. Neither has spoken since burying Silverheels. As they cross a ridge, the outskirts of Colby come into view. 

Later that evening, the Colby saloon bustles with life. Railroad workers crowd the bar, half-drunk and singing. John pushes through the crowd in Dan's old coat, his hat low over his face. Tonto slips in behind him. Toward the back, Collins Cavendish sits at a poker table. John grabs Collins by the collar and slams him against the wall. Collins tries to go for his gun, but John's already got the drop on him. John demands to know why Collins killed his brother and who ordered it. Collins, panicked and still cocky through the haze of liquor, admits that Dan’s death was part of a larger plan. The ambush, the massacre - it all came down from Butch. The railroad couldn’t wait, and the Comanche stood in the way. The Rangers were just collateral. John lets him go. Collins reaches for his pistol, but John is faster and one shot to the chest ends Collins' life. The saloon goes quiet. Tonto lowers her gaze, and the two of them walk out through the front doors, leaving Collins’ body slumped against the wall. 

John tells Tonto if Collins was telling the truth, there has to be a paper trail - orders, ledgers, something that ties Butch to the massacre. They can see the mainline train Cavendish will use for the final ceremony. At the far end, hitched to the engine, is a private railcar. John points out that it has to Butch Cavendish's private train - which is probably where he'd keep his valuables. John and Tonto move across the tracks, ducking behind stacked crates and engine wheels. A lone guard smokes a cigar at the end of the caboose. Tonto circles around silently while John distracts from the opposite side. Tonto drops from above and strikes him unconscious with the butt of her tomahawk. John and Tonto board the railcar. A desk at the far end is cluttered with maps, sealed documents, and a half-written letter to Senator Clayton. John sweeps the papers into his satchel, and the two leave the car before anyone spots them, vanishing into the darkness.  

As morning approaches, John looks over all the documents. The evidence is clear - Butch Cavendish ordered everything: the massacre, the Ranger ambush, the land theft, all to finish his railroad and secure his payment from the federal government. 

The town square is alive with celebration. At the center of town, a hot air balloon has been raised, tethered to the platform where the final golden spike is to be hammered. Cavendish stands beside it, shaking hands with town leaders. Isabella watches nearby, eyes scanning the crowd - on high-alert after Collins was gunned down the night before. Senator Clayton sits on the stage, growing visibly uneasy as Cavendish makes grand claims about how the railroad will unite the country - with or without the consent of "obstacles in the land." 

John and Tonto mount up and ride toward the square from opposite sides. As Cavendish hoists the spike high to cheers from the crowd, a gunshot cracks the air. John rides into the square on Silver, mask on, badge gleaming. The townsfolk freeze. The guards reach for their rifles, but a second shot, this time from Tonto, hits the rope holding the balloon, shaking it violently and sending gasps through the square. John dismounts and throws a bundle of documents at Cavendish’s feet. The papers scatter across the ground. Townsfolk pick them up, reading aloud: orders for munitions, authorization for land seizure, correspondence about clearing native resistance. Cavendish tries to shout it down, calling John a criminal and a traitor. Senator Clayton stands and picks up one of the pages, reading it silently. After reading the damning information, Clayton orders the arrest of Butch Cavendish. Isabella signals to nearby guards. They raise rifles. Cavendish retreats quickly, climbing into the hot air balloon basket as it’s cut loose from the mooring ropes. The balloon rises fast above the square. Cavendish yells down, furious, spitting threats as the wind pulls him into the sky. John leaps from a water trough onto the back of a wagon and from there onto the rising balloon’s tether, climbing quickly before it lifts too far.

The celebratory locomotive begins moving down the fresh western track. Tonto spots Isabella leaping aboard the train, flanked by two of Cavendish’s men. She draws her tomahawk and races on foot to the last car, climbing on as the engine gains speed. On the roof of the second car, Isabella pulls her knives, waiting.

John pulls himself over the edge of the basket. Cavendish is waiting with a rifle, but John knocks it away. The basket sways as they fight, fists and elbows flying. Cavendish is older but dangerous, fueled by desperation. John gains the upper hand, knocking Cavendish into the ropes. Cavendish pulls a hidden blade and lunges. They slam into the edge, nearly tipping the basket. John finally gets the blade and pins Cavendish down. Below, the townsfolk watch in awe as the balloon floats overhead, drifting toward the ridge. Cavendish begs. John kicks the weapon overboard and leaves him clinging to the edge of the basket.

Tonto and Isabella fight brutally atop the train cars. Isabella slices with her knives. Tonto parries with her tomahawk. Isabella gets the upper hand and drives Tonto against the edge, blade at her throat. But Tonto spots a bridge coming. She shifts her weight, throwing Isabella off balance. Just as the train reaches the narrow trestle, Tonto flips her over. Isabella falls screaming into the river canyon below. Tonto breathes hard, watching her vanish in the water below. She wipes blood from her cheek and climbs down into the train. She whistles for her horse and rides back toward Colby.

The balloon floats lower now, leaking slowly. John jumps clear and rolls onto the roof of a building, landing hard. Cavendish remains in the balloon, clutching the side, until it slams into a water tower outside of town and erupts into flame. 

The townspeople gather around John and Tonto. Senator Clayton, now holding a full stack of Cavendish’s papers, tells the townsfolk that justice will be served - and that contracts and titles acquired through blood will be considered void.

On the ridge above Colby, John secures Silver's saddle while Tonto stands nearby with her own horse. John confesses that he doesn't know what comes next - no badge, no orders, just open land. Tonto tells him that justice isn’t something you wait for, it’s something you ride toward. John steps in closer to Tonto. They kiss, soft at first, then deeper. When they part, Tonto rests her forehead against his chest.  They mount up and ride off together, side by side, vanishing into the horizon.


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