The Mask of Zorro

The Mask of Zorro came out around a time when a movie like this was desperately needed. During a period of summer movie flops (mainly 1995 – 2001), the chances of a good summer movie coming out was next to none, and outside of Men in Black (which came out in 1997), it wasn’t looking like cinema was going to offer something out of the ordinary. When Zorro came out in 1998; a swashbuckling action movie based on a popular mask vigilante not reliant on CG focusing on a disputed historical figure and period within Mexican and Spanish culture, it was definitely something refreshing, daring and incredibly welcoming from the norm. In the early 1820s during the Mexican War of Independence, the only hero that the Mexican people have against the treacherous Spaniards is Don Diego de la Vega, who masquerades as Zorro (played by Anthony Hopkins), a masked swordsman who defends the peasants against the corrupt rule of Governor Don Rafael Montero (played by Stuart Wilson). Things go wrong when Zorro is found by Rafael, who kills his wife, abducts his daughter, and throws him in jail for 20 years. After escaping and realizing his daughter, Elena (played by Catherine Zeta Jones) has grown up completely unaware of her real parents, Diego finds his chance for redemption in Alejandro Murietta (played by Antonio Banderas), a rogue thief who wishes revenge on Montero’s right-hand man, Captain Love (played by Matt Letscher), who killed his brother. Joined together by revenge, the torch will be passed to the next generation as Alejandro prepares to find Rafael, confront his brothers’ killer, and earn the title of the Zorro. Being a critical and commercial success upon release, The Mask of Zorro was praised as a summer blockbuster that managed to stand out from the crowd at the time and delivered something with the high-spirited nature of a movie that came out during the classical age of cinema. With fantastic action, passionate acting and a movie that felt more practical than most at the time, it was bound to leave an impact.

Zorro, as a name, has been around for a very long time, starting back in the early 1900s when writer, Johnston McCulley,  began to write a series of novels around the sword-fighting hero who was known for his black outfit, horse, sword skills and his signature calling card (a ‘Z’ slashed into the clothing, or flesh, of his foes). Though Zorro himself wasn’t real, his actions and almost ‘Robin Hood’ attitude was inspired from several different bandits and rogue thieves that fought injustice during the country’s civil war (most specifically Joaquin Murrieta, who was the brother within this movie) and other masked heroes of pop culture (mainly the Scarlett Pimpernel). It also includes elements of history like the political conflict that resulted in Mexico earning its independence from Spain and even hints at the Mexican American War of 1846-48. All of these elements add a nice unique atmosphere to the film; one that feels grittier and recalls to a more classical portrayal of movies like the Errol Flynn days as opposed to the typical 90s action movies of the time. The director of the movie, Martin Campbell, who had already proven his ability to revitalize an old character like James Bond in Goldeneye manages again to take a character that has existed in the public domain since the 1920s (with its first silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks), and directs a movie that exhibits a goofily energized environment that balances its light-hearted adventurous spirit with enough morbid and intense imagery to make it never feel too mean-spirited or too juvenile either, very similar to how Indiana Jones balances its tone. You can draw a lot of comparison between the two films as both a popcorn-esque flicks that are drawing from an older style of movie-making with a tone that juggles grim and giddy nicely together with characters that, while cartoony, are so passionate and into the material that you can watch them do anything and go along with whatever strange situation they find themselves in. Where the movie fails in being close to that level is its storytelling; the basic revenge set-up probably fit much better when these stories operated within a serial format, but during the 90s, this premise was already pretty stale for action movies and the film wasn’t treated smart enough to bring something new or that engaging to counter-act it. Although two of the screenwriters for this film (Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio) would prove later on they could handle this kind of tone and create a simple yet engaging narrative with Pirates of the Caribbean, they seem to not have quite gotten it right here, with fellow story and screenwriters, John Eskow and Randall Jahnson not helping things . Its more grounded approach to its world and its logic means it can’t go too overboard with what the conflict is (unlike Indiana Jones which go as overboard as it wanted to) and despite being appreciated for going more serious in place, it does show how it can hold back a property like this at times. This also comes from the movie being a little too long and outstretching what’s already a pretty blanket plot out far longer than it needs to be.

The characters in the movie were originally supposed to be portrayed by a majority Hispanic or Latino cast, but as the movie went along and people were picked up and left the project (like Steven Spielberg and Robert Rodriguez), the movie strangely only featured one actor (the lead) who fit within the environment. While this isn’t too much of an issue as sometimes you do just have to give some leeway when it comes to these kind of productions at the time where a cast featuring a majority of a different ethnicity wasn’t that common in a mainstream blockbuster (its sad, but true), it’s bizarre a movie based around basically a Mexican Batman doesn’t have many Mexicans actors in the movie outside of background roles, so it is a little disheartening. What saves this is that a majority of the actors are still good names and do well in their parts. The characters themselves aren’t written that interesting as they are pretty shallow in nature, but most of the actors deliver enough conviction and passion in their roles that it can be ignored. Antonio Banderas as Zorro is a pretty good choice and he manages to make that energy and natural charisma work wonderful in a role. While Catherine Zeta Jones doesn’t have a lot to do throughout the film, she brings her own cool flair to the picture and her and Banderas work well off each other, both capturing that right balance of elegant and feisty that helps create a lot of fun interactions and they share some pretty fun chemistry throughout the film. The villains are pretty bland and are written as such, but the acting from the two is perfectly passable, just not enough to save a generic role. While someone like Catherine Zeta Jones can fit into the environment well enough, someone like Anthony Hopkins sticks out like a sore thumb. Despite how talented he is as an actor; his obvious British energy feels extremely out of place in this environment and considering he’s supposed to be the original Zorro with a name like Don Diego de la Vega, it doesn’t work at all.

One of the best parts of this movie is the physicality of the entire project; everything from the energy, the staging, the environments, the stunts, even some of the acting just screams physicality. It was something so refreshing during the CG boom of the late 90s when every action movie was solely reliant on its effects to win people over, that a movie like this was relying on classic stunt-work and slapstick to further draw people into its wild nature. With practically no CG used in the movie, the filming actually taking place in Mexico really helps give this basic fun action flick a nice sense of culture and atmosphere; while it isn’t fully explored, it’s a nice adage that provides visually different locations that action scenes could take place on. The movie does have its fair share of comedic slapstick, but that is helped out by the glorious choreography that provides excellently timed fight scenes which can range from dramatic to comical. A lot of the fantastically fast and precise sword fights are thanks to world-renowned film fight choreographer, Bob Anderson, who worked on movies like Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride, and was the one who trained Banderas, Zeta Jones, and Hopkins in fencing and proper sword-training. It allows for some great fight scenes that are nice and fast, yet never difficult to follow and feature enough fun stunts and exaggerated action to make each encounter feel unique and never the same between each encounter. It’s a movie that is brimming with enough light and color which comes from its natural environment and its larger sets, and one that doesn’t feel like it lacks effort as it feels like every single person who worked on this movie really enjoyed their time. The musical score by James Horner is portrayed as very sweeping and elegant in parts, but still contains that fun, upbeat, fast-paced action side that makes it a fun score.

The Mask of Zorro isn’t going to win any awards for its complexity or its nuanced writing and characters, but for a basic good, enjoyably fun summer blockbuster during a time when they were expected to suck, it’s definitely worth checking out. Its comparisons to Indiana Jones aren’t just surface level, it does aim to appeal to a similar demographic and captures a very similar spirit to its movies; managing to find that exact right tone which could almost come across as pretty stupid but matches it with enough decapitated heads in jars to make it work just enough. The quick impressive stunts and fight scenes, the physicality behind the actions and the locations, its timeless appeal, the old-fashioned feel calling back to classic movies and serials, and the simple yet likeable enough characters, they are pretty alike. This movie just lacks that certain grab and charmingly innocent storytelling that’s aware of its basic nature. This one has a pretty basic plot and characters yet isn’t quite as good at masquerading that with its other pretty great elements. Otherwise, venture back to a time of swashbuckling in the Mexico wilds and witness the tale of Zorro.