Review: The Mask of Zorro (1998)

The Mask Of Zorro

Zorro and I have a history. Whenever I could find Guy Williams in the Disney series, his big shoulders swinging the sword to make the fat sergeant's pants fall, I watched with fascination. Here was a show that had fun following a formula, that advertised its lack of seriousness.

The show hooked me on action and adventure, clearing the way for my Friday-night addiction to THE WILD, WILD WEST. As long as I didn't sit too close to the set, my parents let me watch as much as I wanted.

THE MASK OF ZORRO wants the audience to enjoy itself, and succeeds in most of its purpose. The film is longish for a story that smacks of movie serials; but enough swordplay, pursuit and explosions pack the minutes that the viewing experience is certainly never boring - and only slightly repetitive.

As Don Diego de la Vega, Anthony Hopkins wins our regard effortlessly. He plays a Zorro who, only a few minutes into the film, communicates the essential traits of the character. Saber blazing, he defeats countless Spanish soldiers, rescues peasants whose execution was the bait that drew him, and finally, confronts the despicable governor Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson). Although Zorro escapes to show his familial tenderness at home, telling stories to baby Elena and kissing wife Esperanza (Julietta Rosen), the gentleman soon loses all that matters to him. He is thrown into a terrible California prison just as Montero returns to Spain, accompanied by Don Diego's stolen infant.

The other plot involving injustice and greed centers on a couple of Mexican outlaws, the Murieta brothers, and a red-bearded mercenary named Captain Harrison Love (Matt Letscher). The action has jumped 20 years, and fate has thrown together Alejandro Murieta (Antonio Banderas) and Don Diego, who has escaped from his dungeon in a manner dreamed up even before Alexander Dumas. It is the classic mentor-apprentice relationship: one of the producers has even described it as Merlin teaching Arthur. Credit goes to the director, Martin Campbell, for not spending too much time on the scenes in which the at-first inept Alejandro learns the craft from the elder Zorro and then assumes the mask himself.

Banderas is the most convincing Zorro yet. His looks and accent only assist his comic timing and physical coordination. (I confess it was hard to tell which was Banderas and which was the stuntman, especially in scenes showing Zorro masked. But Banderas does a good deal of the fencing and fighting himself.) Veteran combatant coach Bob Anderson did a masterful job with the male leads, as well as with Catherine Zeta-Jones (the adult Elena). I can envision Banderas returning every few years for more slice-'em-up action - another old product remade into a franchise.

Technical aspects of THE MASK OF ZORRO are mostly smooth and transparent. The sets are remarkable for their size and accuracy. Many of the colors are probably too brilliant for nineteenth-century textiles and paint, but the buildings - and especially the scaffolding of a gold mine worked by enslaved peasants and political prisoners - contribute much to the storytelling. The editing also pushes the story ahead rapidly. In fact, very few scenes exist only to develop character. I do not expect to see Elena brushing her hair or Zorro nursing his sore muscles; but I would argue that the film is too tightly edited. We see loads of action (and countless fights between our hero and the same baddies), with little connective tissue. As I write this I remember, though, that Martin Campbell is known in part for his action films: THE MASK OF ZORRO even copies the openings and closings of James Bond. Zorro swirls his cape and, turning to the audience, carves a burning "Z".

In the end, the film's action has fashioned a tone that is almost tongue-in-cheek. We know the formula; we've known it since we were kids. Some of the fights are so deliciously over-the-top that they set my son and me laughing out loud. Unlike several recent disappointments, THE MASK OF ZORRO works hard but knows when to lighten up.