Hidalgo hits the familiar spots

There's little about the Viggo-Mortensen-vehicle-horse-race-adventure flick Hidalgo to inspire strong objection. Mostly, this is because there's little about Hidalgo to inspire any kind of strong reaction at all. Hidalgo trots, occasionally exerting itself into a mild canter, amiably down well-traveled action-adventure paths, incorporating a spectrum of predictable plot devices into a decently entertaining story.

Hidalgo is a one-man show: There's a reason only Mortensen's name is mentioned in the trailer and none but his rugged features beam dashingly down from the film's promotional poster. Mortensen plays Frank T. Hopkins, a legendary long-distance horse-racer recruited from alcoholism and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1890 to compete on his mustang Hidalgo in the Ocean of Fire: a 3,000 mile horse-race across the Arabian desert. Along the way, he is confronted by and must triumph over sand, bullets, and a lot of Hollywood clichés.

Will arrogant natives and evil cheaters strew the way with unnecessary obstacles? Absolutely. Will an intelligent, oppressed woman seek to prove her worth through defiance of social convention? Of course. Will Hopkins fall defeated on the cusp of death time and time again, only to rise, stagger onto his swaying horse and rally against impossible odds for one more winning sprint? You betcha.

These sequences and other budget-heavy special effects (including a sandstorm of tidal wave capacity and a swarm of locusts to challenge the tenth plague) imitate to tolerable success the Indiana Jones thrills and Seabiscuit spills that make up all underdog/action films. As expected as it is, watching Hopkins and his beloved mount sprint to safety through a rain of bullets with the rescued not-quite-helpless princess at his back is exciting, but similar adrenaline rushes are not induced often enough.

The movie's claim to be a true-to-life tale is somewhat dubious though in the end irrelevant. Within the general framework of the story are enough physically, not to mention historically impossible cinematic flourishes that any real pretensions to realism are abandoned at the gate. But reality is not left far enough behind. Director Joe Johnston should have enhanced the fantasy feel of the movie and spared viewers a few details that, while perhaps true, slow down Hidalgo's pace and cause long stretches of little action. The main problematic factor of the film: as romantic as they sound, long-distance horse races are really, really boring.

You can't run a horse for 3,000 miles, and I'm no equine expert, but I'm pretty sure you can't run a horse for 10 miles across the Arabian Desert. After an initial sprint through a crowd of excited spectators, Hopkins and the other racers reign in their mounts, and Hopkins explains to Hidalgo, "What did I tell you, boy? It's all for show." Johnston then unwisely spaces out the action with long montages of horses walking across the desert and extreme close-ups of Mortensen's weary face. If he's going to allow Hopkins to depopulate an entire Arabian village with a six-shooter historically famed for its inaccuracy, Johnston can afford to speed up the race without losing much of his "true-to-life" credentials.

Mortensen is better suited to the role of Hopkins than he is to Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. His vocal expressions are characteristically gruff and monotonous, less appropriate for a kingly leader, but perfect for a haunted man of the American west. Mortensen's devotion to his character and his subtle vocal inflections makes Hopkins' personal journey and reconciliation of his half-white, half-Native American ancestry more interesting than the main plot itself. Supporting actors, including Omar Sharif as proud Sheikh Riyadh and Zuleikha Robinson as his confined daughter with a bad Disney-princess complex sort of fall by the wayside- none leave much of an impression.

As a Mortensen's follow-up to Lord of the Rings, Hidalgo is underwhelming, but then again, what movie wouldn't be? Hidalgo takes few risks even as it incorporates the most unbelievable and illogical action-movie ploys to boost the often flagging pace. It keeps pace with the genre but in the end, unlike the title horse, doesn't quite have the spirit to surpass competitors.

Hidalgo is rated PG-13 for adventure violence and some mild innuendo.