Thursday, July 23, 1998

'Mask of Zorro' the best of action movies

THE MASK OF ZORRO

By Bob Drohan

Forget those comets and asteroids, movie fans.

The best action film to come along in many years brings back that venerable Robin Hood of old California -- Zorro.

The Mask of Zorro provides two swashbuckling heroes, a pair of dastardly villains and a lovely and plucky heroine.

Director Martin Campbell sets a joyfully frantic pace, and the swordplay and stunts on horseback are dazzling.

But there are also quiet moments of stunning power, and there is plenty of humor to take the edge off the violence on display.

Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas are both marvelously charismatic actors, and both are just as commanding with a whisper as with a shout.

Hopkins is the original Zorro, the masked champion of the people who loses his family and his freedom as the film commences.

The evil colonial governor Montero is being recalled to Spain from the California territory, but he manages to imprison Hopkins and steal his baby daughter.

Worse yet, Hopkins sees his wife killed during his capture.

Screenwriters John Eskow, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio allow the character created by Johnston McCulley to rot in prison for 20 years.

Then Montero (Stuart Wilson) returns to America with plans to buy California from Gen. Santa Anna of Mexico, who needs gold to finance his campaign in Texas.

Hopkins makes his escape from prison, consumed by the desire to kill Montero, but the original Zorro soon discovers his beloved daughter has been raised to believe Montero is her father.

Hopkins is a bit too old to slip into Zorro's garb, but he runs into an unlikely but willing protege in Banderas, a vagabond thief who yearns to avenge his brother's death at the hands of Montero's warped military henchman (Matt Letscher).

The plot of the film may sound a bit intricate, but there is literally never a dull moment as Banderas is molded into the new Zorro by the driven Hopkins.

Banderas eventually gets to romance the exquisite Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and he also gives the peasants of the California territory some hope by appearing in the familiar mask and cape for the first time in two decades.

Although the action gets even more intense during the various showdowns at the end of the film, The Mask of Zorro is all about self-sacrifice, unconditional love and preserving a sense of family at all costs.

The spirited cast, top-notch direction and stunning acrobatics on display add up to a wondrous big-screen endeavor.