What a waste of my time!!!

Disturbing yet enthralling

An action-packed slog

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

After watching the 1918 Kentucky Derby, run in the rain on a muddy track with near to 20 horses, I needed more horse-racing and remembered Hidalgo, which I had seen and loved. I rented it, and started watching it, and then checked in with IMDB to get more background. To my amazement I had in the past only rated Hidalgo 7/10. As you can see, I now rate this a 10-star movie. I've also read many of the reviews posted here. I agree with those who give credit to Joe Johnston for putting together a truly fine movie--for bringing together a whopping good story with excellent cast, fine cinematography and editing, and a rhythm that makes Hidalgo easy for me to watch four times in a row--gallop, rest, passionate contenders, fierce obstacles, nasty villainess, lovely heroine, bugs! It is a real treat to see Omar Sharif and Viggo Mortensen work together--playing two strong personalities with a fundamental conflict that is less important than their shared interests. Two gentlemen, by golly--but passionate, witty, and very intelligent in conflict and reconciliation. I am tracking other cast members as well to see in other films they've made. Hidalgo is a movie-lover's movie.

Of course, a Spielberg's Indiana Jones wanna be.I like Viggo so much, I could watch his movies with closed eyes. He doesn't have a impressive (read very expressive) play, but he is pleasant to watch and has a rather constant play.The set up, the photography are beautiful if clearly exaggerated with postal card overwhelming 'reddish' looking images. This could have been a beautiful adventure movie, but it lacks a single item. Because of this, it's a dish not only without salt, but also without spices.The missing item is called directing. Not that it doesn't have it, it's just awful. Joe Johnston was a poor choice for this movie. It makes it look like a b series movie with the actors moving slowly, saber fight scenes poorly directed than Power Rangers fights, slow image change in action takes, and so on.Because of this, the movie lacks pace. There are action/adventure movies with slow pace, but that's another level of mastering the art of directing.

I'm a big Viggo fan, if he's there I'm there (except for the remade Vanishing Point), I think he is right up there with my current favorite movie heroes. I enjoy the way he modestly underplays his action characters. I also enjoy Omar Sharif as the Arab leader with mixed feelings about Viggo in this tale of an American cowboy with a painted mustang engaged in a long distance horse race across Saudi Arabia. Pretty much anything that could happen happens. The action keeps coming but you still get a few magic moments of the beautiful scenery of the open desert. So I really continue to struggle with the Disney machine. Their labeling of this as "based on a true story" is pretty disingenuous in light of the internet material I've read on the subject. It sounds like Frank Hopkins was one major bull-you-know-what. I don't like the "based on a true story" line unless the movie is essentially grounded in the real deal. Kind of like where "Fly Away Home" was "based on a true story" when the only connection was a guy made a plane geese might follow. But it's just like Disney to sneakily give veritas where no veritas is due. If they were really creative and not this antiseptic corporate blockhead, they would have had fun with the whole Frank Hopkins tall tale thing. Make it clear at the beginning that this is a story told by Frank Hopkins and whether it happened or not is up to the viewer. And at the end, just say "Frank Hopkins claimed to have....". Sometimes it's not so bad to just tell the truth.

However far-fetched this ripping yarn may be, it is undeniably clever, moving and enjoyable. Other reviewers for this have missed the key point, that the hero's horse is a brilliant metaphor of himself. Hidalgo is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a Spanish aristocratic naming convention, meaning 'The son of', while Mustang is most likely ultimately etymologically tied to the Latin word for 'mixed'. Both rider and horse are half-breeds, taking on the finest Arabian thoroughbreds. I watched this film with a class full of Saudi male students of English. Apart from the whiskey, there was nothing I felt to be too strong for Islamic conventions here. The students were charmed by the classical Arabic of Omar Sharif, and the respect shown by the hero for the Arab world.