After years of preparation and a seven-month-long shoot, Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger rides into theaters today, delivering thrilling action, heartfelt characterizations, and the majestic scenery of the still-Wild West to your local multiplex. Johnny Depp plays Tonto, a Comanche who retells the story of how John Reid (Armie Hammer) set aside his law books to become the Lone Ranger, and how the pair banded together to fight injustice. The topnotch supporting cast includes James Badge Dale as Texas Ranger Dan Reid; Ruth Wilson as Dan’s wife Rebecca; Bryant Prince as young Danny Reid; Tom Wilkinson as railroad baron Latham Cole; William Fichtner as outlaw Butch Cavendish; Helena Bonham Carter as a shrewd madam; Barry Pepper as Captain Fuller; and Saginaw Grant as a Comanche chief.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer built an Old West town in New Mexico to use as the film’s set, along with a 200-foot long train tunnel, two 250-ton trains and miles of track. Director Verbinski told Reuters that building such ambitious sets was necessary to achieve the right “feel” for the film’s biggest action scenes: “The movie is an epic tale and I didn’t want it to feel overly lush and too pretty,” he said. “We all know what trains and horses look like, so I wanted to shoot trains and horses and do it the old-fashioned way.”

The Zone congratulates everyone involved in bringing The Lone Ranger to the screen, and thanks them for their vision and commitment.

You can read more about The Lone Ranger on the Zone’s News & Views forum; member reaction to the film is available on the Porch General Discussion forum.