THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998)

[Xenorama ™]

José María de Tavira ... Young Alejandro Murrieta Diego Sieres ... Young Joaquín Murrieta
Emiliano Guerra ... Boy Crying
Yolanda Orisaga ... Woman Crying
Paco Morayta ... Undertaker
William Marquez ... Fray Felipe
Stuart Wilson ... Don Rafael Montero
Tony Amendola ... Don Luiz
Anthony Hopkins ... Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro
Pedro Altamirano ... Squad Leader
Luisa Huertas ... Nanny
María Fernández Cruz ... Baby Elena de la Vega
Mónica Fernández Cruz ... Baby Elena de la Vega (
Julieta Rosen ... Esperanza de la Vega
Raúl Martínez ... Heavyset Lieutenant (as Raul Martinez)

Diego de la Vega fights his last fight as Zorro, and then his wife is killed and he is jailed for 20 years. Don Rafael returns to Mexico with Elena in tow, trying to set up an independent Californian Republic.

meanwhile, Alejandro Murrieta is trying to avenge his slain brother when he runs into Diego, who decides to train him to be the new Zorro.

excitement abounds in this excellent Zorro movie- this is how to do swashbucklers! all the actors are excellent, as are the touches to previous Zorro movies. the use of real historical personages such as the Murrieta brothers, 3-Fingered Jack and Captain Love is an excellent idea.

[Gwangi]

This worked out quite well, and I wasn't a fan of Banderas beforehand, but he did a great job (and I believe he was the first Latin to play Zorro, though Guy Williams may have had some Latin heritage himself, but I'm not really sure on that).

Zorro has been one of my favorite characters and have seen many great stars from Fairbanks to Tyrone Power, Guy Williams and Alan Delon (my favorite by the way) playing the hero.

I guess the one thing that took me aback, was Zorro reveling himself in front of a lot of people towards the end, but since they did to a sequel (which I never saw), I guess many forgot who he was or how he looked like.

[Xenorama ™]

the star always has to have his face out there- same as Tobey taking his mask off every ten seconds in Spidey 2. i look at it now as artistic license. those people Zorro saved were running for their lives with dust and explosions going off, i'm sure the last thing on their mind was "let's see who Zorro really is"- and besides, by then, they wouldn't even have known Alejandra Murrietta aside from his scruffy looking thief face.

the sequel is sadly, a sequel, and not as good. still fun, but a little too long this time.

i love the Delon version as well, i sure wish someone would bring the uncut version out over here.

[Zone Fighter]

Every Zorro film I've seen ends with Zorro unmasked. Seems to be normal for Zorro.