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Depp, for seemingly decades now, has become one of the more revered figures in acting for his caricature portrayals of everyone from Ed Wood, Jr. to Edward Scissorhands.

But the greasepaint started to run back with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and four doses (soon to be five) of Pirates of the Caribbean havent helped.

And with his Tonto getting top billing over The Lone Ranger well enough is enough.

The Lone Ranger isnt the biggest disappointment of the summer, but at nearly 150 minutes in length and seemingly that many minutes of dull stretches, it comes mighty close.

Director Gore Verbinski who has made all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films borefests (except for his highly original first film) pretty much does the same thing here. There is a rousing climax with explosions, train crashes and the like, but getting to that climax is a major undertaking.

The script here is reminiscent of Little Big Man (which for a lengthy film is much more fun, plus it features Dustin Hoffman in one of his stellar roles). The year is 1933 and Tonto (Depp under even more makeup than usual) is aged and is a part of a Wild West sideshow.

And Tonto (in Little Big Man fashion) does a lengthy flashback to a young Lone Ranger fan, of what is what like to be the famous sidekick of a Western hero.

Armie Hammer (The Social Network) plays John Reid/The Lone Ranger and competing with Depp and his makeup does make the famous ranger little more than a sidekick. Hammer does finally get in super hero mode in that rousing climax, which comes complete with the obligatory Rossini William Tell Overture. But it takes a rousing William Tell Overture to stay awake through much of The Lone Ranger.

There is some nice cinematography of the West that would probably even meet director John Fords approval, but that can only go so far.

In true Western tradition there are bad guys (William Fichtner plays a particularly nasty villain) and the ladies, the innocent and not so innocent (frequent Depp co-star Helena Bonham Carter) and they are saving graces of The Lone Ranger.

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Who was that masked man? Lone Ranger plays under study to Johnny Depp’s Tonto