One Ranger Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

One Ranger Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 18, 2023

There's a kind of cool historical anecdote offered as an epigram of sorts at the beginning of this feature which helps to explicate its title. Evidently back in the 19th century there was some kind of unrest brewing in Texas and a, well, lone ranger showed up to quell the disturbance, at which point one of the locals asked him where the rest of the rangers were? This intrepid lawman reportedly responded, "One riot, one ranger". That may serve as a pithy summary of how powerful Texas Rangers are, or at least think they are, but unfortunately a lot of the ensuing dramatics in One Ranger are pretty substantially devoid of pith, though the film provides a bit of a showcase for Thomas Jane as a ranger named Alex Tyree.

One Ranger quickly establishes Tyree's bona fides as a tracker and especially a rather impressive shot in an opening vignette that sees Tyree supposedly chasing after some kind of Native American ne'er-do-well only to stumble on something decidedly more deadly. It's just the first kind of some slightly off kilter aspects to writer and director Jesse V. Johnson's approach to a "fish out of water" story that Johnson himself admits was inspired by the Clint Eastwood evergreen Coogan's Bluff.

The upshot is that Tyree gets sucked into a frankly preposterous terrorist plot that sees him traveling to London where he teams up with a British intelligence officer Jennifer Smith (Dominique Tipper), and their handler, Geddes (John Malkovich). It's all pretty relentlessly predictable, despite how ludicrous so many of the plot elements are. If Jane provides a some stolid quality, his Texas drawl might need a little help, but if anyone can identify what patently bizarre idiolect John Malkovich is utilizing in this film, it might be a miracle. Malkovich may frankly have jumped the shark from "mere" quirkiness to downright crazy with this off the wall performance.

One Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

One Ranger is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. Probably unsurprisingly for what seems to be more or less a straight to video enterprise, I haven't been able to dredge up any authoritative technical data on the shoot, and neither the IMDb nor the film's closing credit roll provide any real information either, but this is a competent digital capture that I assume had a 2K DI. The palette is often skewed toward yellow, something that gives the dusty, barren Texas sequences a bit of grit, but which can seem perhaps misplaced in some of the London locales. Detail levels are generally excellent, especially in more brightly lit environments. Some low light scenes can look just slightly noisy. This is another Lionsgate release with some minor banding in evidence.

One Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One Ranger features a competent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that attains moments of real force in some of the more action oriented elements, as in the early scenes of Tyree dispatching a bunch of bad guys from a considerable distance. Some of the urban London locations provide good spill into the side and rear channels of ambient background noise. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

One Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Writer / Director Jesse V. Johnson


• On the Hunt: Tracking One Ranger (HD; 24:05) is an above average EPK with some decent interviews and behind the scenes footage.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 6:51)

Additionally, DVD and digital copies are included, and packaging features a slipcover.

One Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Without wanting to seem too cheeky, the real question in this film may not be whether a Texas Ranger can thrive in London (guess what the answer to that question is), but what Being John Malkovich has come to (so to speak). I frankly kept asking myself "why is he saying lines like that?" every single time Malkovich came on to the screen. You've seen this story before, but there may be a certain "train wreck" quality to the Malkovich side of things which can provide some distraction. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.