Bullet Points: One Ranger
You may have thought that Chuck Norris had the Texas Ranger gimmick trademarked or something but that isn’t the case. He may be the first person you think of when someone says it but it doesn’t make it sacrilegious for another to put on the white hat of justice. In One Ranger, that hat is transferred to the always capable scalp of the Maryland-born Thomas Jane but worry not, dear friends! He was once THE PUNISHER!!
Synopsis: Texas Ranger Alex Tyree (Thomas Jane) is recruited by British Intelligence to help track down a wanted Terrorist who is planning a massive attack on the city of London.
- One Riot, one Ranger: The film opens with a brief bit of history about the Texas Rangers. When a massive riot was supposed to happen way back when, one single Ranger showed up and said, “Hell, ain’t I enough?” That’s an incredibly cool line to say and I can only hope that it was actually spoken for real. For the context of the film, though, it means they’re totally badass and not unaccustomed to handling a situation alone.
- The Robbery: A robbery in a border county of Texas and Mexico leaves some dead police officers in its wake. Luckily, Ranger Alex Tyree (Jane) is in the area of where the robbers are escaping and he’s also got a rather large rifle. Fast forward a few more minutes and there are some dead robbers and we’re given our first ineraction between Tyree and Declan McBride (Dean Jagger), a terrorist for hire who may have bitten off more than he can chew with this lawman.
- Across the pond: A large portion of this film is spent with Tyree working alongside British Intelligence Agent Jennifer Smith (Dominique Tipper) to apprehend McBride before he does something REALLY bad. A close friend of Tyree’s was killed in the escape so he’s willing to hunt McBride to the ends of the Earth. Some movies might have played some of the scenes here for laughs with the “fish out of water” tale of Ranger Tyree dealing with life in metro London. This is taken far more seriously, but we do get a few jokes about his accent and his hat.
- Malkovich: You probably won’t get through this film without thinking the same thoughts I had about how terrible John Malkovich was. I wish it weren’t so…
- Fight Forever: There are several gun battles and both heroes and villains are shot. Ranger Tyree takes a few bullets and Agent Smith gets shot at least once. What is more impressive to me, however, is that we get no less than 3 awesome brawls between Thomas Jane and Jess Liaudin. He plays McBride’s right hand man, Oleg. He’s a Russian badass and he isn’t one to walk away from a fight. The two of them have some epic Roddy Piper/Keith David beatdowns that include eyes being poked out, sledge hammers being used, and I’m pretty sure I saw someone get stabbed with a fork. Just the type of fights that we all want to see.
- A great team: The biggest standout of the film is the connection between Jane and Tipper as Tyree and Smith, respectively. The two of them starred in the series The Expanse together (what a great show!), and you can tell there is a comfort there. Tipper isn’t some rookie cop looking to take down a big-time terrorist to make a name. She’s a tough, no-nonsense Agent with a history and contacts in that world that make their job easier. While Jane’s Tyree is definitely painted as the “main hero” of the film, Smith isn’t no slouch and saves his ass on multiple occasions. To say that they make a wonderful team as characters and as actors would be an understatement.
The Verdict: One Ranger is Thomas Jane playing a Texas Ranger with the most Texan accent that anyone could ever muster onscreen. He’s a walking, talking stereotype of everything you’d ever want in a Texan lawman right down to his choice of curse words. If that isn’t for you then this movie might not work. That, to me, sounds like a little bit of movie heaven. I’ve always been a big fan of Thomas Jane and felt nothing but joy at the fact that he was playing a Texas Ranger. This film gives him plenty of opportunity to flex his accent muscles as well as his real muscles as he has more knock-down, drag-out fight then he’s probably had since The Punisher. It sure feels like a role that he was meant to play and I, for one, would be thrilled to see another entry in the Ranger Saga.
