Lone Ranger Trailer: Five Things We Learned About the Johnny Depp-Armie Hammer Flick

Who was that masked man? E! News has the answer as we break down the new teaser

By Josh Grossberg Oct 03, 2012 5:00 PMTags

This is not your father's—or, for that matter, grandfather's—Lone Ranger, Kimosabe.

The first trailer for Gore Verbinski's eagerly awaited summer blockbuster is out, and by the looks of the Matrix-inspired slow-mo action sequences, the whiz-bang gunfire, the rock-and-roll soundtrack and Johnny Depp's avian headdress, the reimagining of America's first masked hero is well on track.

Here are five things we learned about The Lone Ranger trailer (like, for starters, the fact that the supposedly dead genre of the Western can be a summer tentpole):

1. The Great Train Robbery: It wouldn't be a Western without trains, and to that end, The Lone Ranger delivers plenty—from a shot of a locomotive barreling into the camera (Gore's homage to silent cinema, natch) to some varmints taking over one in the middle of Monument Valley to a train car derailing and sliding dangerously toward our heroes. The teaser, by the way, kicks off with some menacing narration courtesy of Tom Wilkinson, who apparently plays one of the film's villains: "Whoever controls this, controls the future," he intones over a thumping soundtrack.

2. The Legend Returns! Armie Hammer saddles up as John Reid, aka the last of the Texas Rangers who survives an ambush after being saved by a Native American named Tonto, then swears an oath to fight for what's right against the forces of evil and never shoots to kill. In this flick, he may have trouble with the latter, given all the gunplay. But Hammer strikes a commanding pose as our trusted peacekeeper.

3. Tonto's Got Smarts: If there's one thing Depp—who has Native American roots himself—has previously stated he hopes to accomplish with The Lone Ranger reboot, it's to turn the relationship between Tonto and Reid on its head and negate stereotypical portrayal of the American Indian. In this retelling, Tonto (which means "dumb" in Spanish) supposedly serves as the narrator of the tale and will no doubt prove to be the one with the right answers while drawing on the spirit world, natch.

4. Sticking to Tradition? Myth has it that the Lone Ranger uses silver bullets to remind him that life is precious and rides a white stallion named Silver. You'll have to look closely to find them in the remake, but they're in there—like this spinning silver bullet moving in slow-mo across the frame.

5. Every Cowboy Needs a Lady: Helena Bonham Carter pops up in stylish 19th-century garb as Red, the presumed love interest of the Lone Ranger—though whether she's good or evil, we'll have to wait and see when the adventure hits the big screen on July 3, 2013!