|
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
In Martin Campbell's action-filled film about the legendary
masked swordsman and outlaw:
- the scene in a training circle inside a cave where
nobleman and master Don Diego de la Vega (aka Zorro) (Anthony Hopkins)
was training Mexican thief-outlaw Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas)
to duel and be his apprentice or successor as the new Zorro, to
seek revenge against his rival and corrupt enemy, governor Don
Raphael Montero (Stuart Wilson), for the killing of his wife: ("Do
you know how to use that thing?...This is going to take a lot of
work. This is called a training circle. The master's wheel. This
circle will be your world, your whole life. Till I tell you otherwise,
there is nothing outside of it....There is nothing outside of it!...As
your skill with a sword improves, you will progress to a smaller
circle. With each new circle, your world contracts, bringing you
that much closer to your adversary, that much closer to retribution")
- the humorous confessional scene, in which Don Diego's
beautiful grown-up daughter Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who was
taken as a young child by Montero and raised as his daughter, thought
she was confessing her sins to a padre in the "house of the
Lord", although Alejandro was posing inside the booth and listening
to her 'impure thoughts' about himself: ("Forgive me, Father,
for I have sinned. It has been three days since my last confession....I
have broken the Fourth Commandment, padre...I dishonored my father...Well,
I try to behave properly, the way my father would like me to. But
I'm afraid my heart is too wild...I had impure thoughts about a man.
I did. I think he was a bandit or something. He wore a black mask...His
face was half-covered, but something in his eyes captured me....I
felt warm and feverish...Yes, lustful. Forgive me"); Zorro assured
her: ("Senorita, you have done nothing wrong. The only sin would
be to deny what your heart truly feels. Now, go")
- the scene of the provocative dance at Montero's hacienda
between Elena and Alejandro (posing as visiting nobleman Don Alejandro
del Castillo y García), and afterwards, his words to an apologetic
Don Raphael Montero: ("Well, that is the way they are dancing
in Madrid these days. Excuse me, Don Rafael, I need to catch my breath.
Your daughter is a very spirited dancer...She is young and impulsive,
but her beauty is beyond compare. And she has her father's commanding
presence")
- the action-packed sword-play scene in the hacienda
between Alejandro - dressed as Zorro (who was attempting to steal
a gold-mine map), Montero, and many of his guards, including right-hand
man Captain Harrison Love (Matt Letscher)
- the classic moment that Alejandro/Zorro, during his
escape from the hacienda, used his sword to seductively duel against
and undress Elena, who was attempting to acquire Montero's map for
him; before they began their duel, she bragged about her sword prowess:
("I have had the proper instruction since I was 4"); after
some swordplay, he stripped her of her top with a few swipes of his
sword after warning:
"Don't move" - and then after she covered herself, he asked: "Do
you surrender?"; when she replied: "Never, but I may scream" -
he joked: "I understand. Sometimes I have that effect"
- and she hungrily accepted a kiss from him as his reward for winning
Swordplay to Undress Elena
|
|
|
|
- the conclusion, in which Alejandro/new Zorro and
Diego/old Zorro both found their revenge against their enemies:
Alejandro defeated Love by impaling him through the mid-section
with his sword and then showering him with heavy gold bars, while
Diego killed Montero by causing him to be dragged behind a wagon
off a tall mining platform to his death, but then he found himself
mortally wounded
|
Don Diego de la Vega (aka Zorro)
(Anthony Hopkins)
Training Circle
Apprentice Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas)
Confessional Scene of Elena's Impure Thoughts
Provocative and Spirited Dance
Seductive Swordplay with Elena
Impalement of Captain Love
|