22 years and 27 films later, The Walt Disney Company will end its partnership with Jerry Bruckheimer, long renowned as one of Hollywood’s most prolific, profitable, and esteemed producers. This announcement comes in light of some massive financial failures for Bruckheimer and Disney – most regrettably The Lone Ranger‘s disappointing box office figures – and the integration of Marvel and Lucasfilm into the Studio’s lineup.

But though this partnership may conclude in 2014 – essentially finishing a few years down the line with the release of the recently delayed fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film and potentially another National Treasure entry – we cannot overlook the numerous successes they shared, too. Let us review the Disney/Bruckheimer movie timeline. Buckle your seat belts, watch out for car chases and explosions at every turn, and take a ride on the roller coaster that Bruckheimer and Disney built.

The Lone Ranger #16
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcello Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 10, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Lone Ranger #16 is yet another shining example of how to make a great comic book. Honestly, I’m really tired of this book not getting the recognition that it deserves.

In this issue, writer Ande Parks takes us back to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The Ranger and Tonto have to travel to Chicago to track down the villain of the arc. It’s got some great fish out of water elements, and tastefully deals with the racism against Native Americans at that time in this country’s past. The book is also sprinkled with humor, as The Ranger learns that walking around in a big city wearing a leather mask doesn’t quite go so well. The villain of this story arc is particularly entertaining. He’s more than the stereotypical western bad guy. Hat’s off to Ande for turning the western genre on it’s ear and coming up with some truly unique characters.

Saddle up! The Lone Ranger is not the train wreck you have expected. What a ringing endorsement, right? Surprisingly enough I went into this bombastic action-adventure with high hopes, despite knowing how critics tore apart Johnny Depp‘s latest vehicle, and I was not disappointed. I am against the general consensus. I guess I could be considered “The Lone Positive Reviewer,” or at least one of the few.

Here are some factors that make Ranger ride into my heart, even if most felt it jumped over a cliff to its doom. Check out my video analysis below and my written thoughts after the jump.

The Lone Ranger
Director: Gore Verbinski
Screenwriter(s): Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Cast: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper
Walt Disney Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 149 Minutes
Release Date: June 28, 2013

Directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), The Lone Ranger stars Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as a masked man of the law who, with Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp), fights greed and corruption in the American Old West.

Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and based on the 1930s radio serial, Verbinski’s adaptation of The Lone Ranger marks the first theatrical film featuring the character in over 30 years. Written by Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road) and Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the duo behind the Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Lone Ranger is a big-budget ($250 million) western that serves as an origin story to one of America’s classic pop culture icons.

Lenny Bruce, one of the greatest forward-thinking comedians who ever lived, once paid his own special kind of tribute to George W. Trendle and Fran Striker‘s classic western of radio, television, and the big screen – The Lone Ranger – with a brilliant monologue about why the Ranger never sticks around to be thanked by those he rescues, and why those individuals are better off not knowing.

Two years after Bruce died at the young age of 40, an animated short film was produced based on his deconstruction of the Lone Ranger.

You can watch Thank You, Mask Man here below.