Amazon.com Essentials:
A lusty and rousing adventure, this calls to mind those
glorious costume dramas produced so capably by the old Hollywood
studio system--hardly surprising, in that its title character, a de
facto Robin Hood in Old California, provided starring vehicles for
Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power, the '50s TV hit, and dozens of
serials and features. Zorro, a pop-fiction creation invented by
Johnston McCulley in 1918, is given new blood in this fast-moving and
engaging version, which actually works as a sequel to the story line
in the Fairbanks-Power saga, The Mark of Zorro. A self-assured
Anthony Hopkins is Don Diego de la Vega, a Mexican freedom fighter
captured and imprisoned just as Spain concedes California to Santa
Ana. Twenty years later, he escapes from prison to face down his
mortal enemy, a land grabbing governor played with slimy spitefulness
by Stuart Wilson. Too old to save the local peasants on his own, he
trains bandito Antonio Banderas to take his place. Much swashbuckling
ensues as Banderas woos Catherine Zeta-Jones, becomes a better human
being, and saves the disenfranchised rabble. Director Martin Campbell
wisely instills a measure of frivolity into the deftly choreographed
action sequences, while letting a serious tone creep in when
appropriate. This covers much ground under the banner of
romantic-action-adventure, and it does so most
excellently. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Amazon.com video review:
In this day of movies in which one can't tell whether the
action was manufactured by computer generation or by a cookie cutter,
The Mask of Zorro is a grand throwback. It recalls and
celebrates the fantasy workshop that Hollywood was and can be at its
best. It's an audience pleaser in the best sense of the word,
combining great-looking performers with gorgeous vistas and production
design, a story that is familiar yet never insults the viewer's
intelligence, and plenty of eye-popping action.
Anthony Hopkins stars as the original Zorro, a masked vigilante
protecting his people from official corruption in Mexico and what will
become California (from Hannibal Lecter to Merchant-Ivory to action
hero--is there nothing this man cannot do?). He's imprisoned for his
troubles, and upon his release, mentors an impetuous pupil (Antonio
Banderas, more suave than ever) in the fine arts of swordplay and
triumphing over evil. Catherine Zeta-Jones capably portrays the beauty
linked to both men--Zorro I's daughter, Zorro II's object of
desire.
The plotting contains few surprises, but the interplay between the
three leads is always winning, and the winks to the swashbuckling
genre are playful without ever being heavy-handed or campy. --David
Kronke
