The Mask of Zorro

My wife and I have been married 8 years -- and for our anniversary we're going to see Grease! at The Little Theater in Sullivan. But, that's 5 days after the actual anniversary date, so to celebrate the actual day, we went to see The Mask of Zorro. My wife has a thing for Antonio Banderas, and fortunately for me, they usually pair him up with some dusky, sensual beauty, so it seemed like a good possibility.

It would be easy to say this film is from the same formula as countless films -- the older hero passing the mantle to the younger. In fact, Star Wars comes to mind right off, with Obi Wan teaching Luke -- lots of mystical fight training -- sword play -- good and evil -- pretty standard. Of course this film is essentially a remake of all those old Zorro serials that set the standard, so the circle is complete, so to speak. It was a good film, there were no car chases, but there was a very entertaining horse chase, and plenty of explosions to make a modern action movie fan take interest. If there's a problem with the film, it's the fact that of the 5 main characters, only one is actually Latino. OK, the cavalry captain wasn't supposed to be, so we'll let that pass. Stuart Wilson kind of reminds you of Jose Ferrer (who is too dead to actually appear in a film anymore), and Catherine Zeta Jones' middle name sounds like it could come from some ethnic group other than British. I guess they didn't think some one like Edward James Olmos would seem like enough of a bad guy. Or Ricardo Montalban. And where was Cheech Marin!!!! I thought it was a rule, any Mexican film has to have him in it. Anthony Hopkins was wearing the same wig he wore to be Dr. Van Helsing in Dracula -- that thought occurred to me the next day. Still, they're trivial gripes, because all in all the acting was good, as was the film -- enough action for guys, and Antonio for the gals -- the perfect date film. Go see it.