MASK OF ZORRO - Cliched Fun
I had my cliche book out for this one. Opening on December 26, I got to see the Mask of Zorro on a giant screen at Hoyts Wetherill Park. The picture quality on this screen was awesome - Was it the print - or the fact that since the place was new, their projection was at its peak. Sword fighting is very hard to film in a good way - you have to build tension by changing from close shots to wider shots - and the rhythm of the cutting must also be in line with the rhythm of the music. Sword fighting hasn't featured that much in films (Under Siege use kinves - a more contemporary and realistic use of modern weapons) - and often it seems wierd that they use swords, when guns are readily available. The Mask of Zorro is set in the 1800s USA, where gun technology was obviously bad, and hence sword fighting could be used. The plot, I won't even go into because it has been done many times in other films. The music I found was at times annoying because, lets face it, James Horner seems incapable of getting away from those Titanic sounds that he used in Deep Impact and now this film. Someone tell him the meaning of originality. This contrasted to the spanish feel of other parts of the score - as if he was writing in Titanic mode, and then inserting original and interesting music. There's one part where the sword fighting works in tandem with the background music and that scene is shot very well. The sword fights in this film were all executed very well, though not as well as in the classic "Adventures of Robin Hood". Caterina Zetta Jones, the lead female in this film has a great presence on the screen and adds much to the film even though her character is really a cardboard cutout. Sir Anthony Hopkins redeems his character. He can turn any role into a fine performance. Antonio Banderas as the new Zorro executes his role well enough. However, maybe I've seen too many of these types of movies - but I felt like this was so familiar that a great cast couldn't get around it. I don't see why it got such high praise when it is just an above average movie, filled with those cliches that make what could have been an excellent film into something less than that.
68/100