Description: A sweeping romantic adventure of love and honor, tragedy and triumph set against Mexico's fight for independence. Twenty years have past since Don Diego de la Vega (Hopkins) fought oppression as the legendary hero, Zorro. Now he must find a successor and he chooses Alejandro Murietta (Banderas), a bandit with a troubled past who he must, somehow, transform into the fearless fighter he once had been. Then, armed with sword, whip, mask and the jet-black stallion, Tornado, the new Zorro must stop tyrant Raphael Montero, newly returned from Spain with a plot to actually buy California and enslave the populous to work in his mines.
Amazon.com essential video: 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: 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
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Well done!
Great movie. My husband had his doubts when he saw the movie cover, but we both really enjoyed the great acting and action scenes.
Rating: - A Fun and Entertaining Revisiting of the old Serials...
Every once and a while Hollywood surprises us by making a movie like it used to. In this generation most movies contain top-notch special effects, dizzying action, unabashed, explicit sex and gore, and less-than-decent plot and character development. Needless to say, many of these shallow films are deeply unsatisfying.
But every once and a while Hollywood makes a movie without these things. The Mask of Zorro is one of these movies.
It is a rousing revisiting of the classic 20s and 30s serials, in which "the fox" defeats the villains, saves the peasants, and gets the girl all in one day. This time the original Zorro, Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins), loses everything within the first ten minutes of the film. After Diego's last Zorro ride, the evil Californian governor Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) raids his home, kills his wife, and takes his infant child Elena to be raised as his ... Read More
Rating: - Behind the Mask
The first three times I saw this film (twice within a week; and the third a year later), I felt that it fulfilled its promise of being a first-rate, well-acted adventure thriller with delightfully comic overtones. The costumes and production values are also of the highest quality; and the music with its flamenco beats is truly exciting. I enjoyed each viewing immensely.
Anthony Hopkins portrays the elder Zorro with his usual elegant style; Antonio Banderas displays his considerable talent for comedy as Zorro's apprentice who learns (the hard way) to become a swashbuckling swordsman, and Catherine Zeta-Jones represents his perfect foil, in every sense of the term. She also does a smashing dance with Banderas that is both exciting and marvelous to behold.
Although I still enjoyed "Zorro" on my recent fourth viewing, I began to notice some of the flaws that because of the general excellent quality ... Read More
Rating: - It could have been a whole lot better
As a typical action movie, this was enjoyable enough, but if you are a real fan of Zorro--starting from the original written by Johnston McCulley and then the Disney Zorro TV series with Guy Williams from 1957-59--this movie just doesn't cut it.
I could easily love Antonio Banderas as Zorro and Don Diego if only they had stuck to the original storyline. The idea that Anthony Hopkins could have been Zorro is ridiculous. Zorro was a Spaniard living in Spanish California. Also, the idea that the old Zorro could train a new one to take his place is also absurd, unless it had been his own son and he had been training him over the years to be an excellent swordsman, horseman, acrobat and handle a whip, etc.
The Zorro I know and love was way more intelligent than the other characters in the stories. He was charming, handsome and virtuous.
I also don't buy Kathryn Zeta Jones in her role as a ... Read More
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- Well done!
- A Fun and Entertaining Revisiting of the old Serials...
- It could have been a whole lot better
