8 Lazy Movies That Were Just Copying Better Films

3. Verbinski Tried To Ape His Own Formula - The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger is a big screen update of 1960's TV series about the titular outlaw that gave top billing to a secondary character. That's a sign something's amiss and when that secondary character is played by Johnny Depp it becomes clear what's going on. Coming from Gore Verbinski, The Lone Ranger was the director's second film based on a source material with questionable relevance to modern audiences. The first was Pirates Of The Caribbean, which had escaped its theme park origins to become a crowd-pleasing action comedy thanks primarily to Johnny Depp's spot-on Keith Richards impression.

The Lone Ranger went for the same basic tactic, although it turns out Johnny Depp's arguably insensitive Native American impression isn't as big a draw. The whole film bore a very familiar, mainstream-friendly vibe that would have no doubt drawn more POTC comparisons if audiences had actually turned out to see it. What's infuriating is that it's not like this is Verbinski's unique directorial 'style'; with the Oscar winning Rango he not only redeemed himself after the overblown Pirates sequels, but showed us he can work in different genres and mediums.

The Lone Ranger was an incredibly high profile troubled production, with shooting stopping halfway through as the budget continued to climb. It struggled at the box office, making a sizeable loss for Disney, suggesting it's not as easy to get away with copying yourself as they thought.