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There are some moments in Zorro that make you feel like a kid again. That is, if you recall ever liking Zorro. The duels, the mysterious mask, the passion and the action all are present in Zorro's latest reincarnation, The Mask Of Zorro. But these moments are surrounded by nearly two and a half hours of really arduous story-telling.
This story, starting in the early 1820's Mexico spans 20 years. The first scene establishes that the Zorro of the time (Don Diego, played by Hopkins) is a freedom fighter out for peace and justice. But when his nemisis, the governer of Mexico, kills Zorro's wife and takes his baby daughter for his very own, Zorro disappears. (Which is easy when you're in prison.) After 20 years, he breaks out and takes on a lowly but talented theif, Alejandro, played by Banderas, as a pupil. One of the governer's captains killed Alejandro's brother. So now there are two Zorro's who seek revenge.
There is a near-pointless side plot that involves the heavies attempting to buy California with gold stolen from there. It provides for a few James Bondian bad guy scenes (the head honcho standing around a huge table addressing the other baddies, while standing in front of a map, talking about world domination.) But really only makes for a setting for the final showdown.
Zorro has as many highs as it does lows. First off, watching Antonio Banderas is a delight. He is as funny as he is heroic and devilishly handsome. He does some fantastic stunts with the sword, and still, throughout his heroism, he manages to play the buffoon from time to time.
Anthony Hopkins, sadly, phones in his performance. Though he too is enraged at the evil-doings (and has more of a vendetta than Banderas' character) his eyes never change. He never shows the passion that has driven his character for 20 years. Aside from that, he is the only Mexican (well, former Spaniard) that speaks with a British accent. Which is a shame, too, since Hopkins is brilliant at masking his voice.
And then there is Catherine Zeta Jones. This newcomer to American cinema manages to steal every scene she is in. Partly because she is one of the most strikingly beautiful women I've ever seen on the silver screen. But there is a tenderness that she brings to her character. She plays the love-interest for Alejandro, and is the only person in the film that can out-do Banderas' fine performance in each of their scenes together. The Welsh actress also hides her accent quite well, adopting a Spanish one. (Strange, though, that she plays Hopkin's daughter and yet...)
The action in Zorro doesn't disappoint, but it is sparce. The film is so overlong that characters seem to pop up out of nowhere just to keep it going. I kept asking myself, "now, why would she be there at this time?" or "where the hell did he come from? And why is he here?" I was never satisfied with the drive of the storytelling, the primary fault of director Campbell. The cuts from scene to scene often left me with a sour taste.
Aside from two of the lead performances, the big winner in Zorro is the Art direction. The sets are out of this world, particularly Zorro's training lair. The film is beautiful, no doubt, but it just can't quite hit the mark, even if you do care about some of the characters relationships in the film, as I did.
By : Nick Amado
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The reason why the movie industry continues to set box office records every year is due to one thing: tradition. Motion pictures have not lost their way in telling stories that are set in the present while mixing them perfectly with stories from the past. Look at all of the films to win the Best Picture Oscar in the 1990's. Only one film, 'The Silence of the Lambs', is set in the present day and of all the films to win the award in the 1980's, only two, 'Ordinary People' and 'Rain Man', are set totally in the present day. People were fascinated to learn the story of 'Titanic' and while that film had a fictional backdrop, it still managed to put forward a harrowing climax, detailing the final hours of the great ship's demise. It has become the highest grossing film of all time and shares the most Oscars ever won, 11, with 1959's 'Ben-Hur'.
The only film I've ever seen that I really liked Antonio Banderas in was 1996's 'Evita'. Banderas didn't have a large enough part in 1993's 'Philadelphia' to really make an impact and he has found true stardom with 'The Mask of Zorro'. I was struck by the fact that in a recent interview with Banderas, he stated that he is the first Spanish actor to play the swashbuckling hero and that lends even more credibility to the part and in fact, the entire cast is excellent in a film that follows a Hollywood formula of good guys vs. bad guys and the film makes certain that there is a beautiful woman involved.
The film opens in 1821, and Don Diego De La Vega (Anthony Hopkins) wears the mask of Zorro, defender of Mexico, and battles the corrupt forces of Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson). Don Rafael has selected three innocent men from the town square to be executed, all for the sake of drawing Zorro out in public so his soldiers can kill him. The men are of course saved and the scene has enthralling energy and grand style as the hero shows up the villains but not all is pretty. As Don Rafael seeks out the true identity of Zorro later in the day, he finds it is Don Diego and in a terrible accident, Diego's wife is killed during his apprehension and Don Raphael takes the infant daughter of Don Diego away and claims her for himself and raises the little girl on his own. Don Diego returns some twenty years later after his time in prison, and his daughter is now a grown woman (Catherine Zeta Jones) and Don Diego seeks revenge against Don Rafael and a reunion with his daughter. He may have found it in Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas), a man who as a child along with his brother, saved Zorro's life. Murrieta's brother is cornered by Captain Harrison Love (Matt Letscher) and takes his own life instead of being captured and eventually tortured. Captain Love is working directly with Don Rafael in a gold mining plot swindle that will mean both their lives if they are exposed. Murietta as every reason to want the same revenge as Don Diego.
Banderas and Hopkins work well together in this film. Too old to truly be the dashing hero he once was, Hopkins trains Banderas to be the new generation of justice and eventually wear the mask of Zorro for his very own. My only complaint with the film is that it seemed that Banderas learned the art of Zorro's defence just a little too quickly and while eventually convincing, the film does balance this by showing him in battle at times being a little wet behind the ears with an aloof sense of duty in his first couple of tries.
Director Martin Campbell ('GoldenEye', 'No Escape') doesn't trivialize the characters for the sake of action and adventure. There is a good human story contained within the film and one of the movie's executive producers is Steven Spielberg and the old time historical significance in the film and the straight action scenes put me in mind at times of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. I was truly impressed with all members of the cast and the seasoned qualities of Anthony Hopkins are again diversified as he is the foundation of the film and continues to solidify his reputation as both a movie star and truly great actor.
'The Mask of Zorro' is a dazzling and highly entertaining movie and what a pleasure to watch a film that is completely loaded with action without any computerized special effects. If there are any in the film, they certainly don't need to be there as the film would have been capable of generating its own sense of wonder and tension without them.
By : Walter Frith
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