The Mask of Zorro

"The Mask of Zorro" lives up to the memory of its predecessors, the pulpy, swashbuckling films of the 1920s–those clear-cut, heroes versus heavy, adventure and romance packed silent classics, often featuring stars like Douglas Fairbanks. The requirements for this genre are costumes and choreography, namely lavish, acrobatic sword-fighting sequences. Not only does this movie, released in 1998 and directed by Martin Campbell, have plenty of those genre essentials, it sparkles with some sharply charismatic performers, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

In "The Mask of Zorro," Don Diego de la Vega (Hopkins) has had a successful run as the masked vigilante Zorro, the fox. He has avenged the helpless, aided the oppressed, and foiled the plans of power-mad politicians. But now he plans to leave his dangerous life as an outlaw in the frontier states of the 1820s, known as Las Californias. His intent is to settle down with his wife and raise their newborn child, Elena.

Unfortunately, the villainous governor, Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson), discovers De La Vega's secret identity, consequently apprehending and imprisoning him, accidentally killing his wife and adopting his infant girl.

Twenty years later, Elena (Zeta-Jones), now a grown woman, has no knowledge of her real father. And De La Vega escapes from prison to avenge his wife and reclaim his daughter. He does this by training an apprentice avenger, the Robin Hood-like bandit Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas). Murrieta will be a new masked vigilante, the reincarnation of Zorro.

Probably the most gratifying parts of this film are the thrilling fight sequences performed by real people (and real horses) rather than their computer-animated counterparts. The Olympic fencer and renowned fight choreographer Bob Anderson is greatly responsible for these scenes full of heroics, wit and sex.

Though this film has a new 4K release, any visual pleasure in this scan does not come across in the on-demand version. It may be 4K but the colors are compressed with blotchy overexposed areas, obfuscating shadows and murky blacks. In order to receive the benefit of this release you will need the Blu-ray.

"The Mask of Zorro"
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