The Mask of Zorro (1998)
Seen on 14 July 1998 with Andrea and Patrick at the UA 64th and Second. Studio preview.
The Zorro tale has been treated more than two dozen times in movies, since the silent days. I was not completely familiar with it, though, and until recently the most exposure I had to it was my plate-and-mug set from childhood. I liked the marketing, so it follows I would like the movie too.
The previews for *The Mask of Zorro* were quite long and practically gave away the whole movie. So I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. There was a lot more intelligence and thought in this recent incarnation. It's got a lot of humor and wit to go along with all the swashbuckling and swaggering.
There is some heavyhandedness, melodrama, and even some outright silliness, but the movie is enjoyable nonetheless. It is fast-paced and engaging. Perfect for a summer movie, and a lot more rollicking than any of those comets or lizards bent on destroying New York City.
The story is your basic good-versus-evil tale. Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) is an inate baddie who is raping the resources of Mexican-held California in 1821. He is more than willing to kill innocents to lure the mysterious Zorro out into the open. But Zorros is able to fend off countless attackers with vigor and swordsmanship. He gets a little help from the Murrieta brothers along the way.
Flash ahead to 20 years later. Don Rafael has arrested Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) and absconded to Spain with Elena de la Vega as his own daughter. But he returns as governor of California and brings her fully grown back (with Catherine Zeta-Jones as the full-figured Elena) with him. De la Vega gets out of prison and is seeking revenge. Along the way he re-encounters the grown-up Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas), now an ungroomed horsethief. A tale of revenge and honor ensues, as worthy of the tradition as other tales of this ilk, like the better known *Count of Monte Cristo*. Both Zorros are heroes to the people; the elder Zorro is a rich man who doesn't have to help anyone, but follows a higher moral code. I guess that's what makes him so sexy. That, and long hair. It all depends on whom is asked.
While Don Rafael and a younger baddie, Captain Love (Matthew Letscher) scheme to use California gold to buy the land from the Mexican government, using natives to mine in in concentration-camp-like conditions, de la Vega mentors Murrieta in swordsmanship and charm so they can both exact revenge on their mortal enemies. These are among the most enjoyable scenes.
There is a lot of swordplay and impossible escapes in *The Mask of Zorro*, some of them very comic. Some of them are also very heartstopping. It is all abetted by great music and lavish costumes and set design.
Hopkins is by far the best actor in the bunch. Catherine Zeta Jones is rather good also (watch for her "cleavage stage right" scene). Bandaras is pretty good too; it's hard to believe, sometimes, that he's not just there to look good and make a good percentage of the audience pant with sexual desire. He's not a bad actor, but he's no Anthony Hopkins, who's not made a bad movie for the past decade. But, Hopkins and Bandaras are both worthy successors to the mantle first made famous by Douglas Fairbanks in the silent era. He did his own stunts though. Today a small army is on hand to help in that department.
Directed by Martin Campbell; original music by James Horner; production design by Cecilia Montiel; costume design by Graciela Mazón.
Audience Note: A woman in front of us actually *gasped* when Don Rafael opened a box to reveal a single bar of gold. Andrea and I could not stop laughing.
Historical Note: Four years after the fictional Zorro story ends, the US steals half or Mexico or more and we all lived happily ever after. Except for the Mexicans.
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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