History Film / TheLoneRanger2013

** The phrases "Never take off the mask" and "Spirit Walker" appear prominently throughout Tonto's narration, always in reference to John Reid. "Spirit Walker" is spoken for the last time (and the first time by John himself) when he [[spoiler:saves Tonto's life by [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands shooting Cole's gun away]] from [[ExaggeratedTrope across a canyon]], [[SerialEscalation with a handgun]], [[UpToEleven while on horseback]], ''aiming at a moving train.'']]

** [[spoiler: When you first see Cole, he flips his pocket watch before reading it. You later see that watch flip again during the story of Tonto's backstory. It's not only your first clue to who one of those men are, but it also hints slightly later at Cole's connection to Cavendish. Tonto is also seen attempting to imitate it when we first meet him, an early hint that the two have met before.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: Cole]] is the only villain who dies on-screen. [[spoiler: Cavendish]] takes a speeding train to the face off-screen, so unless he really was a Wendigo (or at least Creator/RobertCarlyle's character from ''Film/{{Ravenous|1999}}'') it's pretty safe to assume he's dead too. However, Captain Fuller is last seen jumping from said train into the woods (a feat repeatedly shown to be survivable in the film), and is never seen or mentioned again. That said, given that he was ''in'' the speeding train at the time, if he wasn't killed then it's safe to say he was ''very'' badly injured.

** The broken silver pocket watch. Tonto is constantly messing with it trying to get it to run, while Cole is more smoothly in control of it at all time. This takes on a greater meaning when you realize that each of them is defined in a way by the passage of time - [[spoiler:Tonto is trying to avenge the destruction of his village in the past, while Cole [[VisionaryVillain represents the future]], and for all their differences [[NotSoDifferent both of them seem slightly obsessed with the watch]].]] Further driven home when the railroad company tries to repay Cole by giving him [[spoiler: a ''gold'' watch]] in the third act, and [[spoiler:the silver one spilling from his hand [[DeadHandShot is the last thing we ever see of him.]]]]

* NotSoDifferent: Cavendish says this word for word when [[spoiler: He discovers the Ranger is actually John. He says they're both men that have to wear masks, implying that he's had to maintain the secrecy of things he's done.]]

* DemotedToDragon: Butch was the BigBad in the 1981 film ''The Legend of the Lone Ranger'', but here, [[spoiler: he's Cole's right-hand man.]]

* OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler:The opening InMediaRes of John and Tonto's bank robbery is later revealed to be them stealing the explosives Cole's lackey hid in the vault.]]

* OnceMoreWithContext: [[spoiler:The opening InMediaRes of John and Tonto's bank robbery is later revealed to be them stealing the explosives Cole's lackey hid in the vault.]]

** When the trains are stationary before the climax, most noticeably [[spoiler:when Tonto climbs aboard to steal the train]], the characteristic "chug-chug" of a steam locomotive can be heard. In reality you wouldn't hear that while the locomotive is stationary, as the noise is created by the steam being exhausted from the cylinders up through the smokestack while the engine is moving. There IS a similar noise when the locomotive is stationary, caused by the compressor recharging the air pressure used to operate the brakes. So it's possible the sound effects department DID realise this, in which case they get an A for effort, but they've used the wrong sound for whatever reason and anyone familiar with a steam locomotive can immediately tell the difference between the two.

** Two at around the same time, when Dan [[spoiler:sees Cole with the silver watch]] and [[spoiler:Rebecca discovers Butch Cavendish, unchained and freed, in Cole's car]], revealing to the audience that [[spoiler: [[EvilAllAlong Cole was working with Cavendish all along.]]]]

-->'''Tonto:''' ''(groaning'' Stupid white man...)''([[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny Chinese railroad workers nod sympathetically like "Amen to that, brother..."]])''

* AnachronismStew: Countless anachronisms, justified by UnreliableNarrator and RuleOfFunny.

** The phrases "Never take off the mask" and "Spirit Walker" appear prominently throughout Tonto's narration, always in reference to John Reid. "Spirit Walker" is spoken for the last time (and the first time by John himself) when he [[spoiler:saves Tonto's life by [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands shooting Cole's gun away]] from [[ExaggeratedTrope across a canyon]], [[SerialEscalation with a handgun]], [[UpToEleven while on horseback]], ''[[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome aiming at a moving train.]]'']]

* RuleOfSymbolism: It's probably not a coincidence that, in a film all about the exploitation of Native populations in the search for priceless luxury resources by white colonials, the brothel madam's prosthetic leg is made of ''ivory''.

* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: When Rebecca is climbing the train, one of her high heels falls off. She's later seen wearing boots, though it's unknown where she could've gotten then from.

* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: When Rebecca is climbing the train, one of her shoes falls off.

-->'''Tonto:''' ''groaning'' Stupid white man... ''([[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny Chinese railroad workers nod sympathetically like "Amen to that, brother..."]])''

* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: [[spoiler:''Tonto'' is the one who has real personal enmity with Cole. Reid's nemesis is [[TheHeavy Butch Cavendish, who killed his brother and ate his heart.]]

** The church group in Reid's train car at the beginning are singing the hymn "Shall we Gather at the River?" A critical part of Tonto's backstory involves him discovering [[spoiler: a vast silver deposit at the
mouth of the river, and it's at that same mine where Reid and Tonto find Cavendish and his goons]].

** Butch Cavendish is first seen slumped against the wall in a shadowy corner of the train car, looking half-unconscious and with [[EyeObscuringHat his face hidden from view]]. When one of the train guards taunts him about his upcoming hanging, Butch ''sloooowly'' [[KubrickStare tilts his head up]] to stare at the guy and ''[[SlasherSmile smiles]]'', telling us [[AxCrazy everything we need to know about this guy]] without him saying a word. The guys in Dan's posse swapping grisly stories of his supposed cannibalism while waiting for his arrival almost seems like an afterthought by comparison.

** Further confused by the mid-credits scene, where we see [[spoiler:the aged Tonto

* BigBadDuumivrate: [[spoiler:Cavendish [[TheDragon does most of the dirty work for Cole]], but they seem to otherwise be on fairly even ground and Cole doesn't order him around much. Cemented by the fact that Tonto found ''both'' of them in the desert when he was a child and helped [[TheFarmerAndTheViper nurse them back to health, and holds them both equally responsible for the destruction of his village accordingly.]]]]

* GainaxEnding: Most of the film is told in a fairly conventional fashion for a Western, but the ending gets a bit...weird. After the conclusion of his tale, Tonto takes off his dead crow hat, puts on a modern (for the 1930s) business suit and starts packing up his things as if to leave. The young boy starts to ask him where he's going, [[spoiler:[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane only to look up and see that Tonto has vanished, from a display case with only a teepee and a rock that he could not possibly be hiding behind. A LIVE crow suddenly appears from behind the rock out of nowhere, caws at the boy, and then flies past him out of the exhibit.]] The boy looks down at his lone ranger mask, then

** The church group in Reid's train car at the beginning are singing the hymn "Shall we Gather at the River?" A critical part of Tonto's backstory involves him discovering [[spoiler: a vast silver deposit at the mouth of the river, and it's at that same mine where Reid and Tonto find Cavendish and his goons]].

** Crows. Tonto wears a dead crow on his head at all times, so whenever we see a ''live'' one it's a very significant moment.

** "Where the river begins."
** "He's coming for you."

** In Reid's first scene, when the young girl sitting across from him on the train drops her doll, Reid kindly picks it back up and playfully tosses it back to her...[[EpicFail only for it to get]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice sucked out the open train window.]]

** The broken silver watch. Tonto is constantly messing with it trying to get it to run, while Cole is more smoothly in control of it at all time. This takes on a greater meaning when you realize that each of them is defined in a way by the passage of time - [[spoiler:Tonto is trying to avenge the destruction of his village in the past, while Cole [[VisionaryVillain represents the future.]]]]