The Mask of Zorro film review

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THE MASK OF ZORRO

It has been 20 years since a masked man swept through Alta California, and the legend has grown cold. Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) is released from prison only to discover to his horror that former nemesis Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) has returned, intent on buying California from Mexican president Santa Anna. El Zorro must also return, but de la Vega is too old to gallop about having tricksy sword fights and narrow escapes. And so he turns to sexy bandit Alejandro Murieta (Antonio Banderas), schooling him in the artistry of being an outlaw folk-hero, equipping him with the skills required to rejoin the struggle against the scheming Rafael.

That this latest Zorro is a triumph is not just down to Hopkins' noble and silvery veteran, or Banderas' charismatic hothead, or Catherine Zeta-Jones' proud voluptuosity (and if that's not a word, it should be), or clashing swordplay, sun-drenched locations or hectic, thrill-packed action. It's all of the above, boiling away in a superbly judged adventure which holds fast with tradition and doesn't sully it with attempts at modernisation. So much heaving bosom and razor-sharp steel in a full-blooded, barnstorming romp of yore. Superb.