Gore Verbinski directs Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp and Ruth Wilson in this mega budgeted western about a masked lawman and his native sidekick.

The Pirates of the Caribbean team produce their best Pirate film with nary a long sail or swashbuckle in sight. This large cartoonish western has issues. It is way, way, way too long and convoluted. Depp’s Tonto is good value within the fiction but difficult to defend in the real world marketplace. Yet if you can get past these stumbling points, then there is an unprecedented scale, kineticism and visual unhingedness running throughout that creates a lot of daft larks. Unpack it, unpick it and there’s a joyously OTT movie here, and a western to boot. The William Tell Overture scored railroad demolition derby finale, for example, is a manic joy to behold. Very watchable.

7