A young thief seeking revenge for his brother’s death is trained by the once-great, aging Zorro, who is pursuing his own vengeance.
Not many people know that Zorro shares much in common with Batman; Don Diego de la Vega is a young man who is the only son of Don Alejandro de la Vega, the wealthiest landowner in California in the 1820s. With his mother dead, he uses a secret identity, Zorro, a name given to him by the people as he lives his life “to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians, and to aid the oppressed.” Dressed in a black cape, a sombrero cordobés, and a mask covering the upper half of his face, he fights for the people using a rapier, a thin, light sharp-pointed sword that he uses to carve the initial “Z” on his defeated foes.
As “The Mask of Zorro” begins, Don Diego de la Vega, aka Zorro (Anthony Hopkins), frees three innocent peasants about to be killed for no reason by the cruel and corrupt governor of the region, Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson). Having successfully freed them, he returns to his lavish home, wife Esperanza (Julieta Rosen), and baby daughter Elena. They are surprised when Don Rafael turns up with his soldiers and accuses Don Diego of being Zorro. A fight breaks out, and in the ensuing chaos, Esperanza is accidentally shot dead by one of Don Rafael’s men. Having always loved Esperanza himself, even accusing Don Diego of stealing her from him, he threatens to lock him in prison for the rest of his life and takes his baby daughter Elena to pass off as his own. Don Diego escapes his confinement and disappears, everyone thinking he is dead.
Twenty years later, Don Diego helps a young man, Alejandro (Antonio Banderas), whose brother was killed by the cruel and ruthless Captain Harrison Love (Matt Letscher), become his protégé as Harrison is Don Rafael’s new right-hand man, and now both men want vengeance against Don Rafael. Don Diego trains Alejandro in hand-to-hand combat and swordplay, so he will eventually have the expertise Don Diego possesses, but because of his age, he knows it’s time to pass the baton to a younger man. When they learn that Don Rafael is planning to buy California from General Santa Anna using gold mined from Santa Anna’s own land and that they are using forced labor consisting of peasants and prisoners and plan on burying them once the gold is retrieved, they throw Don Rafael’s plan into chaos, resulting in Alejandro fighting Captain Harrison, one-on-one, while Don Diego battles Don Rafael for the slaying of his wife and stealing his daughter. With both fights a battle to the death, only one man will remain standing.
I had seen earlier iterations of Zorro on TV when I was a kid, including George Hammilton’s “Zorro, The Gay Blade,” but even back then, I was never taken with the character or his escapades, so when “The Mask of Zorro” was released in 1998, I only went to see it because of its three stars, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and the director, Martin Campbell, who three years earlier directed the great Pierce Brosnan James Bond movie, “Goldeneye,” and would later go on to direct Daniel Craig’s first Bond outing, “Casino Royale.” To say I enjoyed myself was an understatement. Campbell imbues the film with the swashbuckling ambiance of the film’s era with contemporary flair. Hopkins, Banderas, and Zeta-Jones fully embrace their characters and aren’t afraid to have fun with them. As the film’s central antagonist, Don Rafael, Stuart Wilson relishes his wickedness and cruelty and wears them proudly on his sleeve.
Seven years later, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and director Martin Campbell all returned for “The Legend of Zorro.” While it retained some of the charm that made “The Mask of Zorro” so enjoyable, sadly, it was more of a rehash than an original idea. With Hopkins out of the picture, much of the film’s sophistication and panache went with him. I’m sure Hollywood will remake Zorro at some point, but in the meantime, have a blast with “The Mask of Zorro” and remember what going to the movies is all about.
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