Hidalgo (DVD)

...best long distance rider and Hidalgo the best long distance horse in the world.

An Arabian Sheik contests this claim however. He claims to have a far superior horse and demands that Hopkins and the show drop the title of worlds greatest. They refuse and that leads to the rest of the story, Hopkins is challenged to take part in the Ocean Of Fire race, a 3000 mile race against a number of Arabian riders including the Sheiks horse. He ...
...race. It turns out that Hopkins doesn’t just have to race to get his title, he also needs to make sure he stays alive against the elements.

The film wasn’t what I’d expected at all. I’d only seen the adverts before I sat down to watch it and they made it out to be a pretty fast paced movie that delivered it’s fair share of action. Instead it is quite a slow paced movie, with brief glimpses of action, all of which were used in the films ... more

When you’ve starred in one of the most successful film series since Indiana Jones and Star Wars, then there must be any number of film roles available to you. For Viggo Mortensen however it seemed having become one of the stars of Lord Of The Rings he returned to choosing dodgy films. His track record before LOTR wasn’t exactly inspiring with films including G I Jane and the remake of Psycho. I thought that after this he would have had better judgement picking roles and for this reason decided that I wanted to see Hidalgo.

It’s based on the true story of Frank T Hopkins (Mortensen) and his horse Hidalgo. He is the best long distance rider in North America and when he’s not racing across the country he is employed by the US Army as a dispatch rider. After the senseless slaughter of a camp of native Americans, which he delivered the orders for he left the army and joined a travelling show. It was claimed that he was the best long distance rider and Hidalgo the best long distance horse in the world.

An Arabian Sheik contests this claim however. He claims to have a far superior horse and demands that Hopkins and the show drop the title of worlds greatest. They refuse and that leads to the rest of the story, Hopkins is challenged to take part in the Ocean Of Fire race, a 3000 mile race against a number of Arabian riders including the Sheiks horse. He accepts the challenge and agrees to take part in the race. It turns out that Hopkins doesn’t just have to race to get his title, he also needs to make sure he stays alive against the elements.

The film wasn’t what I’d expected at all. I’d only seen the adverts before I sat down to watch it and they made it out to be a pretty fast paced movie that delivered it’s fair share of action. Instead it is quite a slow paced movie, with brief glimpses of action, all of which were used in the films advertising. I found this to be a real disappointment as they had made it quite appealing in the adverts I’ve seen for it. It is quite clear to see why this didn’t seem to be in the cinemas for much longer than a week.

It comes from director Joe Johnston, who also brought us Jurassic Park 3 and Honey I Shrunk The Kids, which should speak volumes for this on its own. He worked with writer John Fusco to brink Frank Hopkins story to the big screen and although it may appeal to a few people the film doesn’t turn out that great. I don’t really have a problem with Johnston’s direction of the film, it just seems to lack something from the plot. There isn’t too much they could do about that though as it was based on a true story. I couldn’t help but feel however that maybe it was a story best left untold.

As I mentioned his direction wasn’t too bad. They didn’t use any unnecessary camera tricks, which seem to make an appearance in so many films recently. He seems to just stick to straight forward directing without any real surprises included, so from that point of view the simple solution is the best. The special effects are amazing but to be honest I wouldn’t have expected much less considering the director’s earlier jobs had included designing Yoda and Boba Fett for the Star Wars films. The inclusion of the Sandstorm and the swarm of locusts looks fantastic and rather real as well.

The main star and probably the only real name of any note is Viggo Mortensen. He raised the bar in terms of his performances in the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and really falls way short of repeating that here. It doesn’t help him that the character isn’t one you really take to, but I felt that Mortensen was completely the wrong choice for this sort of role. He looks the part but doesn’t really steal the show. The casting is disappointing on the whole and apart from Omar Sharif the rest of the cast are really there just to fill the other roles.

It seems that the budget was blown on landing a big name star and the other roles filled with whoever they could get. As the sheik I thought Omar was quite good but just kept remembering him in the Parole Officer and how much better he was in that. The rest of the cast are pretty average and play their parts in the story really well. I just didn’t seem to feel for any of the characters and normally with this kind of film I’d have thought it best to at least make the lead character someone people can take to. Instead the characters don’t seem very interesting or worth caring about and this lets the whole film down.

The soundtrack fits in nicely but by the time I heard the first piece of music I’d given up caring about the film. The direction was pretty reasonable but the story, characterisation and casting really let down the tale of Frank Hopkins. There is the basis of a pretty good film here but it ends up being a massive let down. Id really feel guilty recommending this to anyone. I’m just hoping Mortensen has made a few better choices with his next few films.

Available on DVD from Amazon.co.uk: £11.99 

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