A beautiful maiden living within the walls of the enemy. A dashing young hero. An old master, skilled at the art of swordplay.
Such are the familiar ingredients of a classic adventure film, and such are the ingredients of "The Mask of Zorro." Such, too, however, are the ingredients of a parody of the classic adventure films, farcical in their familiarity. These elements are handled in "The Mask of Zorro" with an undecided mixture of seriousness and camp-like melodrama, creating a film that falls short of being a gripping adventure story yet also does not fully allow itself to enter the realm of self-conscious comedy. "The Mask of Zorro" is, unfortunately, a parody of itself.
Anthony Hopkins, in his first action-hero role to date, is an aging
Zorro, imprisoned by a Spanish ruler that he helped to oust from power in a Mexico fighting for independence. When the ruler returns to Mexico with the hope of taking Californian land from Santa Anna to create his own republic, Zorro escapes and knows he must do battle once again. He is now, however, close to 60 years old.
Enter Antonio Banderas as Alejandro Murrieta, a bumbling bandit whose brother was killed by a Spanish soldier. The elder Zorro, recognizing Murrieta's passionate desire for revenge, takes him as a disciple, training him to be quick, skilled and, most importantly, charming. In short, he makes him another Zorro.
Banderas, the quintessential Latin romantic lead, is better suited to the part of the dashing young Zorro than Hopkins, who seems to not know what to do with himself when portraying a man in his 40s with the stature of a superhero. However, once settled into the role of the aging master, Hopkins returns comfortably to a role better suited for him, and one which he plays with ease. The old English charm and grace resurfaces.
The film's action begins quickly with Hopkins' first entrance as Zorro
in an introduction set 20 years prior to the central events of the film. This introduction serves to characterize Zorro and his fame among the Mexican people for whom he fights, presenting the viewer with a Zorro almost superhuman in his abilities. The masked man dances and prances and flips around an army of hundreds, elegantly slaying them with his shiny sword while a crowd of Mexican peasants look on and cheer.
The entire opening scenario carries an air much like that of a football game. Or, more appropriately, a basketball game played by the Harlem Globetrotters, as the uneven battle between the casual Zorro and the trained army who cannot seem to stop him from bounding and leaping away grows comical in its over-exaggeration of Zorro's abilities.
Although this swordplay and gymnastic display is entertaining to watch, it is unclear as to whether it intends to be a heightened action sequence or a comic parody. Following titles that attempt to present the viewer with historical information, the style of the sequence seems strangely misplaced. And when Zorro rides off on his black steed, the painted sunset serving as the background for a slow-motion shot which creates a frame that resembles the cover of a supermarket checkout romance novel; the film thus mirrors another medium which seems not to know if it is drama or melodrama.
"The Mask of Zorro" also contains that which any steamy paperback romance needs: a beautiful young woman to fall in love with the hero and fall ever-so-slightly out of her dress. Catherine Zeta Jones portrays Elena Montero, the unknowing daughter to the elder Zorro who was raised by his sworn enemy. Elena is beautiful and lustful and makes a perfect counterpart to the fiery Murrieta who has been trained, above all, to be captivating.
Yet the romance once again adds to the vague farce of "The Mask of
Zorro," with Elena and Murrieta exchanging looks that last forever and dancing with a campy passion that puts Patrick Swayze to shame. A climactic showdown between the two reaches the realm of the ridiculous, as the young Zorro swashbuckles his way around the half-clothed Elena, fending off her sword with slashes from his own that, without harming her, cause her robe to fall to her knees.
The sequence is amusing and clever, and Banderas' Murrieta is verbally playful and skilled. The film, though, has not given enough clues that it is to be taken as comedy, and thus the humor of the sequence falls short of full development. The film is not decidedly laughing with the viewer; the viewer, then, is left at a distance to laugh at the film.
"The Mask of Zorro" seems symptomatic of its own development. With a script that traveled through the hands of three separate writers and one uncredited rewrite, the film is a hodgepodge of style. Action, comedy and farce are all done well at times, but the overall vision is unclear. Hollywood has thus created an entertaining film with "The Mask of Zorro," but it is not certain that the film is entertaining on its own terms.
