(Credit: Amazon.com)
Directed by
Martin Campbell
Cast:
Alberto Reyes …. Brother Ignacio
Julio Oscar Mechoso …. Frey Felipe
Gustavo Sanchez-Parra …. Cortez
Adrian Alonso …. Joaquin
Nick Chinlund …. Jacob McGivens
Giovanna ZacarÃÂas …. Blanca
Carlos Cobos …. Tabulador
Antonio Banderas …. Zorro/Alejandro
Michael Emerson …. Harrigan
Shuler Hensley …. Pike
Pedro Armendáriz Jr. …. Governor Riley
Mary Crosby …. Governor’s Wife
Catherine Zeta-Jones …. Elena
Mauricio Bonet …. Don Verdugo
Fernando Becerril …. Don Diaz
Xavier Marc …. Don Robau
Pepe Olivares …. Phineas Gendler
Alexa Benedetti …. Lupe
Tony Amendola …. Father Quintero
Brandon Wood …. Ricardo
Alejandro Galán …. Constable
Rufus Sewell …. Armand
Leo Burmester …. Col. Beauregard
The Movie:
Zorro ranks as one of the most enduring characters of pop culture. Many have worn the mask of Don de la Vega, but when Antonio Banderas took the sword and the whip in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro, audiences cheered as loudly as they ever have for the character. The movie was a wonderful throwback to the days of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks, featuring enough great stunt work and choreography to perhaps make it the best Action film of that year.
Fast-forward to the present and the sequel, The Legend of Zorro looks to be able to carry the character into this new century. With leads Antonio Banderas and the rapturous Catherine Zeta-Jones returning to the screen along with the original’s director, Martin Campbell, this next installment should be a sure-fire smash. Instead, The Legend of Zorro is a film that show’s an occasional spark of life, but can’t nearly come up to its predecessor’s quality.
The first problem with the film is the dynamic between its two stars. Bickering lovers can be very funny if handled right. Take True Lies or The Incredibles for instance. Unfortunately, the situation here is not handled very deftly. Apparently, after 10 years of marriage, Zeta-Jones’ Elena is tired of staying up nights waiting for Zorro to come home. She wants Alejandro (Banderas) to quit his superhero lifestyle or he’s forbidden to ever come home.
Far be it for me to argue here, but wasn’t Zorro who she fell in love with in the first place. Doesn’t he save lives and take up for peasants that would otherwise be dead at the hands of brigands? It seems she’s being a little rash here and when she completely files for divorce, the film takes the role a step too far. We fell in love with Elena because of her adventurous nature and now she’s become a nagging wife? Talk about betraying a character.
It ends up being all part of the plot, but it’s these types of disappointments along the way that keep the film from reaching its true potential. The film should have been non-stop daring-do with Elena and Zorro fighting side by side to save California. Film makers alternatively take away the actors’ chemistry by making them constantly hassle each other and showing their pettiness. We do get some nice heroics towards the film’s end, but by that time it’s too late.
Another misstep by film makers was the emphasis placed on the character of Joaquin (Adrian Alonso), the de la Vega’s young son. This messes up the dynamic Zeta-Jones and Banderas had in the original as the sequences featuring Joaquin tiresome at best. Do we really need to see the kid beat up his teacher by sword fighting with a ruler? Wouldn’t this have gotten him expelled? Not since Jurassic Park has a child tried this hard to single-handedly to destroy a good movie.
Also not helping are the plot and villains which borrow heavily from the Bond series (not surprising from the director of Goldeneye), and from Once Upon a Time in the West. Rufus Sewell’s Armand is a horribly cartoonish villain that really doesn’t give us any sense of dread whatsoever. He, along with the movie’s henchman heavy, Jacob McGivens (Nick Chinlund), never really even seem to pose a real threat to our hero’s safety at all.
For his part Banderas does give his action sequences enough gusto to make the film fun when he’s in the mask and cape. There’s just not enough of it during the picture. Similarly, Catherine Zeta-Jones looks as beautiful as ever here, but isn’t given any good materiel to utilize until 2/3rd’s of the movie is already over. These two should stay hot for each other the entire film, while kicking some major tail up to the closing credits.
The Legend of Zorro squanders nearly everything that made The Mask of Zorro so great. Aside from some decent, but not overly great action, there’s nothing here that adds significantly to series whatsoever. Seeing another might not be so bad, but they would need to get rid of Joaquin right away, and then just have Zorro start taking out the baddies. Perhaps making even more of a revenge movie than the first film would give the film the dramatic weight that The Legend of Zorro sorely lacks.
Score: 5.5/10
The DVD:
The Video
The copy I saw was actually the Fullscreen copy of the film, so its hard to give a total review of how the film looks. The print seemed to be ok, but I’m sure it would have looked beautiful in Widescreen. Again I saw the film in Fullscreen with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
The Audio
The audio here was pretty nice, bringing out the nice score from James Horner and Eduardo Gamboa. The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 4 featurettes, Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Two multi-angle scene deconstructions
Commentary from Director Martin Campbell and Cinematographer Phil Meheux – This is a pretty decent commentary, with Meheux trying harder to stay on task as he discusses the art of cinematography and how many pains he went through to try get the film’s look. Campbell brings up Bond again as he discusses how Zorro is able to escape time and again due to careless villains.
Deleted Scenes with Optional Director’s Commentary – These aren’t too bad, but really don’t add too much to the picture either. You can really see why they were cut even without listening to the commentaries. A scene that looks to be in an opium den gives a little darkness to the film that may have actually helped in the long run, but the film drags as it is.
Stunts – This Featurette focuses on all on the really good stunt work done in the film. Everyone here seems to really take pride in the fact that there are no CGI Zorros flipping around in the film and the movie is better for it.
Visual Effects – This goes over what special effects that do take place in the film. This goes over the train sequence and the work done in a fight scene taking place in a burning barn.
Armand’s Party – This is pretty cool as the Featurette takes a look at the design work done for Armand’s garden party as well as the costumes and makeup.
Playing With Trains – This goes over the film’s Train sequences, including the underwhelming finale.
Two multi-angle scene deconstructions – This is an interesting look at two scenes in the movie. The better of the two is a look at the fight scene from the trailer with Zorro and Elena. The scene is shown from the rehearsal stage, behind the scenes, and the final product.
Score: 7.5/10
