Despite keeping a steady line of work, with voiceover gigs on cartoons and video games, you have to wonder if it all went a bit wrong for Mark Hamill.

Star Wars was the most successful movie of all time. Hamill was the leading man in an ensemble cast. The hero. The character that brought balance to the universe he inhabited. But after Return Of The Jedi, the final instalment of the trilogy, Hamill had Slipstream.

And subsequently, a career in voiceover work.

Viggo Mortensen's in a similar position. The Lord Of The Rings is now but a memory, and so his career and life must move on, thus, Hidalgo is Mortensen's chance to show he is more than just the sum of Tolkien's parts.

Mortensen clearly relishes the opportunity to play a character much detached from Aragorn.

But despite the short hair, the drink problem and the southern drawl that occasionally becomes indecipherable, Frank Hopkins is a chiselled-jaw hero, who will defy odds and even death - while riding a horse.

Character traits, you may think, Mortensen would have done well to avoid.

For this movie is an Indiana Jones meets Seabiscuit style adventure, based on 'real' events.

Frank Hopkins is a cowboy capable of riding his horse Hidalgo over long and difficult distances, while the horse itself is a mustang - an underdog in the horse world.

We are led to believe that Hopkins' entry into the Ocean Of Fire race across the Arabian desert is an effort to escape his personal demons.

Despite being pro-Indian, Hopkins found himself inadvertently in the middle of a tribal slaughter. Unable to stop the violence that enveloped what amounts to his own people, Hopkins races to find himself.

And if you buy that, you'll probably love the film.

For an action movie, it has plenty to attract. Typecast or not, Mortensen makes an excellent hero and even though his action sequences are written into the story with a heavy hand, they are justified by being so well executed.

The horse racing however is minimal - a 3,000 mile race is hardly a sprint, but when the horses are forced to hit top speed, the camera moves alongside them beautifully - you find yourself engaged in the action.

But the plot isn't watertight. You may find yourself asking exactly why a man not particularly motivated by money would risk it all as Hopkins does.

Why would he risk the life of a horse he appears to love so much?

And this is the film's key problem. For all the sub plots, comedy moments and visually stunning scenery, if you can't accept Hopkins' motivation the whole thing is redundant.

Yet the relationship between Hopkins and his horse is surprisingly subtle too - Jumanji director Joe Jackson refuses to allow Hidalgo to be Lassie of the horse world, much to the film's benefit.

The supporting cast is equally as strong. Omar Sherif cranks up the ham factor as the Sheik who somewhat befriends Hopkins, while Brit Louise Lombard holds her own whilst surrounded by heavyweights.

It's a solid affair with a few schoolboy errors in the plot, probably born from last minute editing to bring the running time down - but nothing that could detract from what is quite a fun ride.

The amount of enjoyment you get from this movie, clocking in at over two hours, really depends on how much you want to invest in it emotionally.

Richard Phippen