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The Main Characters
--Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) is basically the only character we care about in this movie. He is a famous racer who has competed and won thousands of cross-country races in America. His horses’ name is Hidalgo.
The Setting
1890’s America to start, then off to Saudi Arabia.
The Plot
Frank Hopkins was a courier for the Pony Express. On a recent trip, he delivers news to an army that is guarding some Native Americans. Somehow, things get mixed up and Frank witnesses the entire reservation get slaughtered. This sends Frank, who is later revealed to be half-Indian himself, to transcend to the depths of alchohol to ease his pain. He stops riding in the Pony Express and instead goes to work for Buffalo Bill Cody in his traveling show. One of these shows has a Saudi Arabian who is runs a famous race in Saudi Arabia. He comes because he is slightly troubled by Frank’s reputation as the greatest long distance racer in history. He has won so many times in US that everyone there thought it was warranted. The Arabian wanted him to not be called that anymore, since he hasn’t won any real races, like the thousand year old, 3000 mile race across the Arabian desert. Frank takes him up on this challenge and goes to Saudi Arabia to compete in this race. He goes on the race to win, but gets sidetracked a bit when he starts talking to the Sheikh’s daughter. This is seen as a major no-no to them and they threaten to castrate him but things plans are derailed when The Sheikh’s daughter is kidnapped, along with his horse breeding book. The Sheikh tells Frank to find her before sundown and bring her back and he can keep his you-know-what. So he has to find her, then go back to compete in the race.
My Review
I usually write these a few days or a week after I watch the movie just to let it sink in. The more I think about this movie, the more I like it. Watching it I got really into the movie. It just DREW me in. From start to finish I was interested in this movie. Maybe it’s the fact I am biased towards Viggo Mortensen and his role as Aragorn in the LOTR trilogy, or maybe the movie was just that good. I really liked the story. There was enough action to keep the LOTR fans liking it, enough of a story to keep the general audience interested and enough of everything for people to enjoy. Of course, with every positive, there must be negatives, because hey, nothing is perfect. First, my main gripe is when Disney says it’s “based on a true story.” Ok, so you think that the movie is true right? Except the fact that Frank Hopkins, though he did exist, never was in the Pony Express, never worked for Buffalo Bill, and never raced in the race across the desert for two reasons, one is that the race never existed, and two is that if it did, Frank never left the US! Also, since I work at the theater, I notice that most of the audience is male. Don’t bring your girlfriend or female friend to see this if you’re out on a date. Definite no-no. Unless she likes these types of movies. Overall though, I’d say that this movie is worth the price of admission. You wouldn’t know it because of poor box office numbers so far, but nothing is really doing well due to the Passion. In final, if you want to see an action movie that actually delivers a very good story, there is nothing better out right now.
Overall Rating
**3/4
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