Hildago Movie Review

Yes, I actually saw a screening of this in a suburb of Vancouver last week. It never occured to me to post a review.. that is, until tonight!

Let me say that I wasn’t expecting much with this movie. The trailer seemed formulaic and predictable. It was with pleasure that I actually found myself enjoying the film. The movie ran at about two hours and the group I saw it with were contest winners and media types. The cinema was about 3/4 full and I would say that people seemed to think that it was okay by the end.

***SPOILER ALERT*** ***SPOILER ALERT*** ***SPOILER ALERT***

The film feautures quick snippets of the Battle of Wounded Knee, Buffalo Bill Cody, maybe Annie Oakley (it liked like it could have been her) before moving the action to the Middle East. The race itself was not bad. I did enjoy the relationship between Frank Hopkins (the main character who is played by Viggo Mortensen) and his horse. Those two often provide the funniest moments. I also found that Viggo played a like-able American who was enthusiastic and energetic without the bravado and over-the-top triumphalism that is often injected into representative Americans in action flicks. He was cheeky without being a smug loser.

The pace of the flim was decent. Yet you know that Viggo was going to win the race all along. Of cousre he did! Numerous references are made in the film to Islam. Some come across as cheap shots. Others seem contextually accurate and full of respect for the religion. Mind you, by intimation, there is some Christian bashing (though in the form of Anglican Christianity). Not cool, Disney.

The film features some truly stunning shots of the Middle East. If you are looking for an entertaining flick without any weird or esoteric stuff (unlike Being John Malkovich or Adaptation, both being great films), then you may enjoy this one. That is about all I have to say.

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