The Mask of Zorro (1998)

"When the student is ready, the Master will appear." (Don Diego De La Vega)
"Kill him."  (Nameless mexicali goons)

Swashbuckle is such a cool word.  It's an even cooler movie genre.  Google defines "swashbuckle" as: to engage in daring and romantic adventures with ostentatious bravado or flamboyance.  (Now, that is a definition!)  Now, I know why I totally want to be a swashbuckler.  

The Mask of Zorro is for all intents and purposes the last great swashbuckling movie of the last 20 years.  (That's a big statement.)  I mean it.  The Mask of Zorro has all the hallmarks of the great Errol Flynn, Gregory peck as Horatio Hornblower, and Indiana Jones movies that came before.  I place the Mask of Zorro in such prestigious company.  (It's not the top, but it belongs in the pantheon and is way way way better than Zorro: The Gay Blade)

While all swashbuckling movies are action movies, not all action movies are swashbucklers.  I specifically state that for myself, an action movie cannot hope to achieve swashbuckling status without having all of the following:  A swords, B a hero on the side of right and justice, C contemptible villains, D No to extremely little CGI, and E palpable on screen chemistry between our hero and a suitable love interest.  Without these, you have no buckle to swash.  

The Mask of Zorro has all of these in spades strung together by a passable and above all fun story.  -"His sword sparkling in the sun."  The sword fights are spectacular.  Capt. Love and Don Raphael are beyond contemptible.   All the stunts are real and flashy, but not ridiculous.  And, Catherine Z Jones and Antonio Banderas have insane chemistry as actor and actress -their dance scene is an amazing sequence.  

Ratings

Those who drink from their pickled enemies to gain their power:  See it

Sword fighters:  See it

Love Catherine Zeta Jones?:  See it

Matt Letscher:  You are awesome!  

CGI hype-men:  Skip it.  There is and always will be a place in the industry for classic film making and story telling.  

On a scale from the man behind the curtain to the man behind the mask, I give The Mask of Zorro 3.8 stars out of 5.