The Mask of Zorro

Plodding and overlong though it may be, The Mask of Zorro captures some of its hero's panache, wit and ebullience, not to mention hokum. This pleasant potboiler from Martin Campbell (GoldenEye) offers not one but two masked avengers of the downtrodden. The aging, elegant original, Don Diego (Anthony Hopkins waiting for his stunt double), is shown at the beginning getting captured by nefarious California governor Don Rafael (Stuart Wilson), who also murders his adversary's wife and steals his infant daughter. Now it's 20 years later: Don Diego has escaped, and he's training as his successor the uncouth bandito Alejandro Murieta (Antonio Banderas) in order to prevent Don Rafael from buying California from Mexico and setting up a dictatorship. The real point of the movie, however, is show us our hero somersaulting over squads of bumbling Mexican soldiers and zinging out a "Z" with his sword. That Zorro accomplishes nicely, with clever physical gags, a perky chemistry between the dour Hopkins and the bumbling Banderas, and a spirited Catherine Zeta Jones tossed in as Diego's now impressively grown-up daughter (they should give her more screen time with a saber). Cheesily atmospheric with its grungy, painterly vistas resembling a cross between a Sergio Leone Western and a Mexican restaurant, Zorro makes its mark. At the Harbour Mall, Opera House, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Peter Keough