"Zorro! The Legend has Returned!"

The Mask of Zorro is easily one of the best action films that I have seen in a long time! It is filled with a great deal of emotion, lots of action, nice music, and fantastic characters. It's another one of those movies where I could watch it five times a week and never tire of it. I don't watch it five times a week if your wondering, though. The thing that's so ironic about my opinion of this movie is that I never really got into the show that much. The film was an entirely different story!

The movie took place a long time ago in California, and began with the hero known as Zorro (Anthony Hopkins) as a young man. He sought to right the wrongs which had been done to the people of California. Don Raphael Montero (leader of his Spanish tyrants) was once the governer of California, but later sought to buy it from Santa Ana. In the beginning, however, two little boys named Alejandro and Wakeem (brothers) did everything they could to help the "masked man" save the day! Alejandro and Wakeem were given a silver-like medallion as thanks for their help. However, Zorro's secret identity was discovered by Don Raphael, and Diego's wife was killed and his child Elena (later played by Katherine Zeta Jones) stolen from him. Diego (Zorro) spent many years in prison until one night when he escaped and was determined to get revenge upon Raphael for killing his wife and stealing his child. When Diego escaped from prison, twenty years had passed, and the little boy named Alejandro was now a grown man (Antonio Banderas) whose brother was killed by the spiteful Captain Love. As it seemed, both Alejandro and Diego (now an older man) wanted revenge upon another for the murdering/decapitation of loved ones. That said, Diego took the energized Alejandro under his wing and taught him how to fight and get his revenge with honor and dignity. Later on, Alejandro became Zorro and the legend of the hero had returned. During the course of the movie, Alejandro and Elena (also grown up) fell in love with each other and married after the death of her real father Diego. Both Captain Love and Raphael got what they deserved by the end, however Zorro's rides and battles were far from over!

Obviously, one of the most important parts of this film were the characters themselves and their developments. Most of the main characters had their own stories, and it's fascinating to see how each of those stories is combined to make the film. For instance, Diego had a difficult past because he spent so many years away from his wife and child. Alejandro's past seem to lead into his future as Zorro. Elena didn't even find out about her past until the movie was more than half over. As much as it was difficult to believe, it was quite interesting to see how her allegiance immediately changed to Diego when she found out that he was her real father. After all, she had been raised by Don Raphael for almost her entire life so far. However, one could believe that there was still a real connection of family between her and Diego no matter how long they were apart from one another. For instance, when Elena came onto the shores of California for the first time (since she was a baby), she recognized the flower called "Romania" even though she was told that it was her very first visit. Somehow, that scent was very familiar to her.

Each of the characters had various types of emotion, whether it came from their pasts, the discovery of their pasts, or their destiny in Alejandro's case. These different types of emotions added a wonderful effect to the movie and made it that much more enjoyable to watch.

Although the music wasn't terribly important to the plot or to the characters, it still served its purpose. It brought out the life of each of the surroundings from the movie.

The action and excitement factor of this film became very high during much of the movie. There seemed to be a constant battle between "good and evil," and right and wrong. By the time Alejandro had become Zorro, the action really started to heat up between he and Captain Love, and between Diego and Raphael by the climax.

Overall, The Mask of Zorro is a fabulous action film. It has just the right amount of action! Plus, it's not too violent and there are no special effects to compensate for the plot, unlike many movies created today. The Mask of Zorro blends tons of action, lots of emotion, great characters, nice music, and even a little bit of a love story into a five star flick! I would highly recommend this film to anybody who wants a good action movie. Take my advice and watch this movie on a Friday night. It's definitely worthy!!