Date: Tue 14-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Zorro-Playing-Hopkins-Banderas

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: Star Power Propels "Zorro" Into Winning Entertainment

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Anthony Hopkins is a marvel. The man can play just about any character in any

type of genre you can name. Just look at his resume. He won an Oscar for

playing a heinous villain named Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. He was

nominated for roles as a proper English butler ( Remains of the Day ), and as

two American presidents (in Nixon and Amistad ). Now, he takes to the screen

in an action-adventure as the Spanish hero Zorro in The Mask of Zorro ,

recently the No. 1 film in the nation.

The film opens in 1821 in the California territory with Zorro intervening in

the planned execution of some local rebels by a Spanish governor. His dashing,

successful rescue of the prisoners and subsequent ride into the sunset burrows

under the skin of the governor who retaliates by later capturing Zorro amid

dreadful circumstances and throwing him into prison where he remains until 20

years later, where the movie picks up the action.

Hopkins is smooth and suave in the role, playing the aging hero, also known as

Don Diego de la Vega, who is intent on training his successor, a hotheaded

young thief named Alejandro (Antonio Banderas). At a crucial stage in the

disciplining of his student, after Alejandro has proven his fighting skills

worthy of the master, de la Vega lifts a spoon and declares that in his final

lesson he will impart a gift that remains ever elusive to his young, impetuous

charge... a flair for charm. Yet, the irony is that Banderas, in this role,

has already won his audience over with his charm, and as comfortable as

Hopkins appears to be in this vigorous tale, his charisma is more than matched

by the effusively energetic Banderas.

Indeed, star power -- and not that generated by falling stars, comets,

asteroids or the like -- is precisely what propels Zorro into thoroughly

winning entertainment. As directed by Martin Campbell ( Golden Eye and No

Escape ), with a nice touch of humor but thankfully avoiding campiness, the

movie features its share of slick stunts, derring-do and spirited swordplay.

But it rests not on those aspects, as many summer flicks depend on their

pyrotechnics, and instead puts its stock on its performers, who all deliver

fabulously.

Stuart Wilson, used by Campbell as the villain in No Escape , is again a

suitable baddie, this time as the oily, cold-hearted Don Rafael Montero,

arch-rival of de la Vega. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a delight as Elena, a

beguiling beauty with brains and blade-wielding brawn. Newcomer Matt Letscher

is sure to draw boos and hisses for his on-the-mark portrayal of Montero's

right-hand man, a soulless killer with whom Alejandro has a debt to settle.

The Mark of Zorro is refreshingly old-fashioned in its reliance on interesting

individuals and their journey through a simple, yet solid storyline. In fact,

the competence of its storytelling and our concern for the characters masks

the breadth of the canvas on which Campbell and company paint. Filmed entirely

in Mexico, the movie has a grandness about it but its scope never threatens to

overwhelm the actors; it simply complements them and enhances the mood of the

piece, which fairly bubbles over with classic themes of chivalry, justice,

revenge and romance.

The Mark of Zorro is rated PG-13. It contains scenes of intense action and

some violence, but is fairly restrained for its rating.