Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer: Critics “slit the jugular” of The Lone Ranger (Exclusive)

American film critics “slit the jugular” of ‘The Lone Ranger’, according to star Armie Hammer.

Yahoo! Movies sat down with ‘Ranger’ stars Hammer, Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski in the aftermath of the film’s disappointing US opening.

The team all agreed that US critics were the reason for it’s not-too-impressive $29 million box office opening, and that reviewers pre-judged the film based on behind-the-scenes problems.

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“I think the reviews were written seven-to-eight months before we released the film,” said Johnny Depp. “I think the reviews were written when they heard Gore [Verbinksi] and Jerry [Bruckheimer] and me were going to do ‘The Lone Ranger’. They had expectations that it must be a blockbuster. I didn’t have any expectations of that. I never do.”

Ignoring his disapproving publicist, Hammer agreed with his co-star. “I have a delightful opinion about that that she’s gonna get mad to me about sharing [his publicist]. But I’m going to tell you.
 
“This is the deal with American critics: they’ve been gunning for our movie since it was shut down the first time, that’s when most of the critics wrote their initial reviews.

“If you go back and read the negative reviews, most of them aren’t about the content of the movie, but more what’s behind it. It’s got to the point with American critics where if you’re not as smart as Plato, your stupid. That seems like a sad way to live your life.
 
“While we were making it we knew people were gunning for it. I think it was the popular thing when the movie hit rocky terrain they jumped on the bandwagon to try and bash it. They tried to do the same thing with to ‘World War Z’, it didn’t work, the movie was successful. Instead they decided to slit the jugular of our movie.”
 

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Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who made billions with the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise, thinks critics will eventually re-appraise ‘The Lone Ranger’.
 
“I think they were reviewing the budget, not reviewing the movie. The audience doesn’t care what the budget is - they  pay the same amount if it costs a dollar or 20 million dollars.

“It’s unfortunate because the movie is a terrific movie, it’s a great epic film. It has lots of humour. Its one of those movies that whatever critics missed in it this time, they’ll review it in a few years and see that they made a mistake.”
 
We’ll see what UK critics and audiences make of ‘The Lone Ranger’ when it’s released over here on 9 August.