starring antonio banderas and sir anthony hopkins . directed by martin campbell . running time : 2 hours 15 minutes swashbuckling adventure that can be enjoyed by both children and adults . steven spielberg may not have directed ( he only executive produced ) but his touch certainly is evident in this movie . and he knows a money making winner when he sees one . the mask of zorro has the hallmarks of a blockbuster : big action , funny comedy , and the pacing of a rollercoaster . hopkins plays don diego de la vega , otherwise known as zorro . a fighter for the people , he is eventually captured by don rafael montero ( stuart wilson ) , who also , unintentionally , kills his wife . the film cuts to twenty years later , where vega still wants to montero dead . however , he's far too old now , and trains up thief alejandro murrieta ( banderas ) to become the new zorro . banderas motive ? to avenge the death of his brother , who was killed at the hands of captain love ( matthew letscher ) who rather tastefully keeps the head in a jar , in one of the more graphic scenes in this family movie . with the scene set , the movie goes on full blast , with sword fights a-plenty and witty one liners . banderas and hopkins have a marvellous chemistry as the two zorro's , playing each other off with ease . hopkins seems to come off a little better , but banderas does some excellent work . as the bad guys , wilson and letscher seem one dimensional , but they go through the bad guy shtick in an above average way . the audience does hate them , which can't be bad . catherine zeta-jones also pops up as hopkins daughter , and although she provides little more than the usual female lead , she delivers a charming , but one note , performance . the chemistry is excellent between banderas and jones . there's a delightful little scene where banderas and jones have a sword fight , and every swipe an item of clothing gets slashed , until jones clothes fall off all together . the director , fresh from the enjoyable goldeneye ( 1995 ) handles the film perfectly . the action is well done and fast paced , the comedy put across well . the cast help a lot , but the direction is still outstanding . although the film is very long , the plot keeps chugging along , and there's barely a dull moment . however , the film is a little over indulgent , and it could have been trimmed . it manages to hold the attention , thankfully , and the adventure and charm holds right up to the last reel . screenwriters john eskow , ted elliot and terry rosio have unfortunately written an cliched and one dimensional script . although they've bought zorro up to date with big explosions and wild action , the plot itself is barely existent . there's lots of little sub plots hanging around , but there's nothing substantial to bring them all together . the main story seems to be the fact that rafael wants to 'buy' california using gold stolen from the guy he's buying the land off . this sets up for a temple of doom type plot where we see peasants slave driven into getting the gold from little mines . however , this doesn't seem to appear until nearly over a hour into the film , so the film is never quite sure where it's going . in the end however , zorro provides action and comedy in spades . it suitable for everyone , so put the guilt behind , and put some more money into spielbergs bank account . you won't regret it . 
