Hidalgo and the Blue Child

Eric Northman keeps reminding me of Aragorn/Viggo Mortensen, despite Eric being a blond and Aragorn being dark-haired. (Not sure what's VM's natural hair color...blond I suspect?) Ah, Nordic men. So /devastatingly/ good looking. /dreamy sigh

Anyway, years after it came out, I finally watched Hidalgo.

Good points:
1. Viggo Mortensen!
2. Main female character (Jazira) did not end up with the male lead (Hopkins). Woot.
3. The horses are beautiful. Hopkins' relationship with Hidalgo is also beautiful.
4. Gunfights and stuff, yay.
5. Hopkins is very subdued in comparison to a lot of the American heroes we have come to expect. No swagger in this one (nor desperation once we get past the first part), which is refreshing to see. Good man. Salt of the earth and all that. AND DID I MENTION HE IS PLAYED BY VIGGO MORTENSEN?

Not so good points:
1. Really cheesy in parts.
2. I'm not sure how believable are the main characters' backstories, especially Jazira's.
3. Villains kinda two dimensional.

Now I really want to watch A History of Violence....