The Mask of Zorro is very much a Superhero film. You wouldn't think to even associate
Zorro in the same field of
Superman, Spider-Man and the
Hulk from the looks of it. Yes, it's a Western, but it's also about a
"Cape Crusader" fighting for the less fortunate. If you don't know your ABC about
Batman and its creator
Bob Kane, it's no secret that when he was creating
Batman, he based the look and iconography off of
Zorro himself.
As for
The Mask Of Zorro, this is still one of my all-time favorite films. The movie itself is a throwback to classic Hollywood films visually and in storytelling. I wish more movies would use this template in creating films today. The market would be so much better because of it. The cast in this one is phenomenal.
Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and
Stuart Wilson were amazing. Even though
Banderas is the 'Star' of this one, the one person that makes this a film for the ages is
Hopkins. Every scene he is in, he owns it.
I love this movie for so many reasons. I own the DVD and even though the 'barebones' version (the first release) is old by todays standards, it STILL has one of the greatest sounding audio tracks. It's ridiculously insane with both the Sound FX editing and music score. It doesn't get any better than this. The fight sequences, especially the sword play choreography is awesome. And you wouldn't think that a Western would have explosions, but this one does and some of the best ever.
I highly recommend this as a
Buy, just for the movie alone. Pick up whatever copy you can get your hands on, be it DVD, Blu-ray or whatever the next gen format comes its way.