Review

Review Date: 7-March-04
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Hidalgo (2004)

"Hidalgo" has the distinction of being the only movie that ever made me feel like a 13-year-old boy circa 1932. A midsummer flick released last week to capitalize on Viggo Mortensen's "Lord of the Rings" fame, it's an old-fashioned film that seems intended to occupy Tommy and Jimmy until the next Hardy Boys or Tom Mix installment arrives. Unfortunately, this intention is clouded by other, more modern obligations, so that while "Hidalgo" does transport the viewer to a world of fantasy and adventure, it's not surefooted enough to stay on course.

Mortensen stars as Frank T. Hopkins, an Old West wrangler who earns a living as an army courier and winner of numerous long-distance races on his beloved mustang, Hidalgo. (Hopkins really existed, but the veracity of events depicted in the film is suspect.) Much like Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai," Hopkins descends into drunken degradation after witnessing a vicious slaughter of American Indians and then finds salvation by being snatched away to a foreign land. Specifically, he and Hidalgo are invited by an Arab sheik (Omar Sharif) to participate in a 3,000-mile race across the Arabian desert, through Iraq, and into Syria, a race which no white man has ever entered and few Arabs have ever survived. The key to the story is blood: the Arabs and an English lady with a stake in the race (Louise Lombard) believe fanatically in the purity of ancient bloodlines, so that they view Hopkins and Hidalgo, who both hail from mixed New World stock, not merely as underdogs but inferior curs.

A pleasant atmosphere of escapism develops as soon as the heroes arrive in the Near East, but the story never gels enough to allow for any real degree of emotional investment. You would think that such a long race would provide enough drama and excitement for one movie, but shortly after the riders set out the story veers from the contest into standard action-movie territory. It's disappointing to watch the nifty love affair between man and horse interrupted by sudden attempts at roguish humor and an unwelcome tangent about the sheik's daughter (Zuleikha Robinson) (at which I join 13-year-old boys everywhere in groaning Ewwwww). Fortunately, the plot demands that Hopkins and Hidalgo finish what they started, so after their bout of swashbuckling they head off into the desert again to struggle, suffer, persevere, and triumph, as all good matinee idols should.

The old-fashioned character of "Hidalgo" derives from the traditional elements of desert romance (scorpions, sandstorms, shifty-eyed villains), an eponymous horse who always seems on the verge of talking, and an earnestness that you rarely see in action films these days. Though somewhat lackluster by nature, Mortensen makes a solid and likable loner cowboy, and director Joe Johnston pays the proper amount of attention to the gorgeous landscapes and settings of his exotic locale. However, the current demands of Hollywood box office infringe upon the enjoyable retro squareness of the film, resulting in more violence than is necessary and strained attempts at political correctness regarding the Arab woman, Hopkins' Indian acquaintances, and Hidalgo himself. This kind of split personality hinders the picture. "Hidalgo" wants to inspire innocent shavers to wrap pillowcases around their heads, grab brooms for steeds, and head outside for a day-long Beau Geste fantasy, but because of the burden of being all things to all people (Indiana Jones, The Mummy, etc.), it loses itself along the way.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.