SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

rpvanderlinden In the old west, Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), a half-breed American, is dispatched with a message to the military brass that orders the massacre of a tribe of native Americans at Wounded Knee, if necessary. It becomes apparently necessary. Hopkins takes to drink and joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show which dramatizes, with flash and fury, and guns a-blazing, the triumph of the noble white man over the pernicious savage. Strange to think how this idea was perpetuated by popular culture (the movies) until the 1950's and beyond. Anyway, fate intervenes - an Arab Sheikh (Omar Sharif) has taken an interest in long-distance horseman Hopkins and his wild mustang, Hidalgo, and soon the two are crossing "the great water" to compete in a prestigious horse race across the Arabian desert, against a different breed of horse – and horseman – altogether.In "Hidalgo" breeding is everything. In Arabia Hopkins encounters a world in which the privileged few – princes and sheikhs – hold sway over the multitudes, and lesser races are relegated to slavery (Hopkins was born in 1865, during the demise of American slavery). Hopkins and his mustang are sneered at by the breeders of generations of Arabian thoroughbreds, and the valiant riders of these princely animals are not above cheating and engaging in other forms of deadly chicanery in order to win the race. Mortensen plays Hopkins as a particular breed of man – one with honour, integrity, self-reliance and the ability to take care of himself – and this "infidel" eventually endears himself to Sheikh Riyadh who holds similar ideals (a little hokey, I admit, because this type of laconic American hero, the likes of Gary Cooper, has been so prevalent in American movies).I liked the "breeding" angle, which carries well throughout the movie, and I liked Viggo Mortensen's performance. Most of all, I liked the horse, Hidalgo, who pretty much steals the show. I found the race sequences to be a bit sketchy, and I had trouble believing that the participants actually covered the great distance we're told they did. It's an amiable adventure movie with stock action scenes, though not always that rousing. Writer John Fusco is purportedly a great fan of Hopkins whose claim to have participated in the Arabian horse race is held in question, according to my minimal research. But it's a good tall tale.

manateegrey I loved this film. It was incredibly well done - the cinematography, direction, and writing were so great. And the acting! Viggo Mortensen is so great.They did a great job in making the star horse emote and 'give opinions' as well. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for a good animal flick (within reason) if it's done well and not cheesy. This is just a good story.The imagery across the desert are beautiful, although I think someone was a little overzealous (not that I can blame them) with the sun in the background on a horsey shadow. But it was all goodVery few movies these days (I know, I know, this movie is nearly a decade old now but bear with me!) get me to the point at which I'm actively rooting for the protagonist, on the edge of my seat.This film was exceptional, I can highly recommend it!

marcshank-388-582372 How strange the infidels give this classic a rating below, oh, 8. A fabulous movie, full of adventure and honor. Thanks, Joe and Vergo. IT would be easy to call this the American against the Muslims. And you may be right. But there is something about this movie that speaks to the American spirit. Something about the old west, too. Every scene is significant. Every scent an adventure. How could you not love it and how could the droids give it a numerical rating like that. There are only movies and anyone who doesn't recognize the great ones should stick with "Saw." The only movie besides "Little Big Man" that salutes the American Indian. The only movie that gives credit to our true heritage.

johnnyboyz What on Earth did Viggo Mortensen do wrong that meant he had to spend two and a half hours in the scorching desert talking to horses and eating bugs? Whatever it was, it must have been pretty damned evil of him. We expect to see the likes of Viggo Mortensen in roles such as these: confident, rugged men atop steeds and pretty handy in conflict; a post-Aragorn role for someone who seeks adventure and isn't the man to panic in the face of danger. But come the end of the film, we're surprised at how well he's done NOT to look like his "Carlito's Way" character; a tired, withered man beaten up by life and the absurd challenges he decided to take on therein it. In a directorial sense, this meek 2004 action/romance hybrid is precisely the sort of episodic nonsense we've come to expect from director Joe Johnston, the man responsible for the likes of Jumanji and Jurassic Park III, but here running out of luck with an often excruciated, almost certainly overly long, race film about respectable Westerners heading off to the untamed Arab world to prove his superiority.Viggo Mortensen plays Frank Hopkins, a Sioux Native American with the most un Sioux-like of names. He is a long distance rider/racer in this, the 1890s; a man who's attained fame for such things out of his skills in being a courier during the wars between indigenous Native Americans and white, European invaders. With his horse, the titular Hidalgo, they form what is considered the greatest long distance riding partnership of all time. They're racing on the American frontier in the very first scene, Hopkins established as a man unafraid of gamesmanship if it means winning against an arrogant rival; a man who's able to saddle up in the face of adversity before charging on ahead and pulling off a sensational win versus someone who was assured of victory. With a strong tie to his horse, cool in conflict and a hard bodied characteristic to boot, Hopkins is your man.Burying the pain of a massacre bestowed upon his people some years ago, and away from being in his element on the race circuit, Hopkins bites his lip and works with his horse on a cheesy, politically incorrect stage show – one that is tacky and phony on top of the fact it talks down Native American Indians. A release arrives in the form of a chubby, arrogant Arab who's over from the Middle East with his aides, one of whom looks suspiciously like that sinister looking chap decked out in black from Raiders of the Lost Ark, to lay down to Hopkins the challenge of competing in his annual endurance race having observed the title bestowed upon Hopkins and Hidalgo that they are "the world's greatest distance horse and rider". The race itself is across a few thousand miles in the searing desert heat, a grueling contest against some of the best long distance riders in the world; most of whom will be locals feeding off the home advantage.Accepting, Hopkins suddenly finds himself in the firing line of slurs; intimidation and that of being demeaned when amongst these established racers, people who find the presence of this American and his show pony about to undertake this endurance race quite amusing. Before anything along these racing lines actually begins, Johnston bogs us down with a sub-plot involving the race organiser's daughter, Jazira (Robinson), and the fact that he who wins the race will have her as his wife. This, of course, relegates the lone female presence is relegated to that of being a prize awaiting the champion - although, this IS the Arab world circa. the late nineteenth century, so should the film be pulled up on its gender politics, or indeed hailed as a realistic depiction of hardships in a specific place at a specific time. Since the film has zero faith in the race itself being a dramatic enough entity, one of the local Arabic riders partaking in the race wants Jazira himself anyway, champion or otherwise. This will, of course, induce the later required conflict. To an extent, you cannot blame the film for such an approach; previous pieces of its ilk, such as Rat Race or The Cannonball Run, have called upon comedy to see it through its racing segments so as to keep us occupied. Hidalgo likes to think it's based on true events, and heading down the comedic passage would be, you would think, detrimental to the legacy of they who it is that's being depicted.The race itself is a curiosity, a contest wherein the participants ferociously duke it out over first place during the very early stages of the competition before all catching up with each other anyway come the evening when they arrive at a checkpoint. As things roll on, we're left sitting there waiting for some sort of sabotage to rear up, some kind of cheating – sure enough, there is. Then, there's a sandstorm; also, a rivalry with a British trainer rears up, but oddly enough they do not suffer the resentment from the Arab hosts that our lead does in spite of the fact they're pompous and Western and female. Even though there is fierce racing across great distances, the likes of this trainer magically appear at the next rest stop ready to give Hopkins more verbal grief – but how did they get there so quickly? The earlier nonsense to do with Jazira and the suitors she desires; those who desire her and those of whom her father would like her to marry, rear up on cue and cause the film to just come across as a completely different entity. The horse is too anthropomorphic; the film is no fun and to keep yourself occupied, you have to wonder just what in the world it was that those behind this were thinking.