My childhood memories of Zorro are very few and now very fuzzy, so I can't accurately compare what I remember of Zorro in the early 80's and "The Mask of Zorro." No matter, this movie was good. It was funny, charming, and exciting.
The year was 1821 and Spain was being driven out of Mexico by General Santa Anna. One Spanish man by the name of Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) refused to leave and was a menace to the people. Zorro the elder was Don Diego De La Vega (Anthony Hopkins) and he was the people's champ until he was found out. Montero killed De La Vega's wife and kidnapped his baby daughter and raised her as his own while De La Vega languished in prison.
20 years later De La Vega would escape from prison and train a new Zorro to continue the legacy and perhaps stop Montero from his nefarious plans. The new Zorro was Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) and he had enough anger to be a Zorro, he only lacked the ability.
Banderas was excellent. He fell into the role naturally. Hopkins was a bit of a misplacement as a swordsman and fighter, but Hopkins is such a good actor he gets a pass. Of course we got some romance between Banderas and Zeta-Jones who played De La Vega's adult daughter Elena. I think this movie was done right. It was refreshing to see an action movie without endless bullets and explosions. I'd like to see more action movies set in pre-automatic weapons days.
The year was 1821 and Spain was being driven out of Mexico by General Santa Anna. One Spanish man by the name of Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) refused to leave and was a menace to the people. Zorro the elder was Don Diego De La Vega (Anthony Hopkins) and he was the people's champ until he was found out. Montero killed De La Vega's wife and kidnapped his baby daughter and raised her as his own while De La Vega languished in prison.
20 years later De La Vega would escape from prison and train a new Zorro to continue the legacy and perhaps stop Montero from his nefarious plans. The new Zorro was Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) and he had enough anger to be a Zorro, he only lacked the ability.
Banderas was excellent. He fell into the role naturally. Hopkins was a bit of a misplacement as a swordsman and fighter, but Hopkins is such a good actor he gets a pass. Of course we got some romance between Banderas and Zeta-Jones who played De La Vega's adult daughter Elena. I think this movie was done right. It was refreshing to see an action movie without endless bullets and explosions. I'd like to see more action movies set in pre-automatic weapons days.