The Legend of Zorro (2005)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Martin Campbell

Writers (WGA):

Roberto Orci (screenplay) &
Alex Kurtzman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Western

Tagline:

This Fall, adventure begins with a Z.

Plot:

Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Alejandro de la Vega (Banderas) -- and his wife, Elena (Zeta-Jones) -- to take action.

Plot Keywords:

Zorro | California | Explosion | Mask | Racist Insult

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Alberto Reyes	...	Brother Ignacio
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Frey Felipe
Gustavo Sanchez-Parra	...	Guillermo Cortez (as Gustavo Sánchez Parra)
Adrian Alonso	...	Joaquin de la Vega
Nick Chinlund	...	Jacob McGivens
Giovanna Zacarías	...	Blanca Cortez (as Giovanna Zacarias)
Carlos Cobos	...	Tabulador
Antonio Banderas	...	Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro
Michael Emerson	...	Harrigan
Shuler Hensley	...	Pike
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	Governor Riley (as Pedro Armendariz)
Mary Crosby	...	Governor's Wife
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Elena de la Vega
Mauricio Bonet	...	Don Verdugo
Fernando Becerril	...	Don Diaz

Also Known As:

Zorro Unmasked (USA) (working title) (USA) (working title)
The Mask of Zorro 2 (USA) (working title)
The Return of Zorro (USA) (working title)
Z (USA) (poster title)
Zorro 2 (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sequences of violence/peril and action, language and a couple of suggestive moments.

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Germany:12 | Netherlands:MG6 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Philippines:G | Norway:15 | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:M | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-11 (re-rating) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Brazil:12 | Mexico:B | Taiwan:PG-12 | Sweden:11 | Peru:PT | Czech Republic:U | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | USA:PG (certificate #40756) | Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:12

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Directors Steven Spielberg and 'Robert Rodriguez' both passed on the project. However, Spielberg stayed on as an executive producer.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Lincoln is shown welcoming the California governor to the Union near the end of the movie. But in 1850, Lincoln was really traveling the 8th Judicial Circuit (covering over 400 miles in 14 counties in Illinois). 'Honest Abe' gained a reputation as an outstanding lawyer. December 21, his third son, William Wallace Lincoln (Willie) was born. But he certainly wasn't in California.

Quotes:

Frey Felipe: I need one vice to stay in touch with sinners.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

California Dianas

Decent follow up is at least old-school cool

As a more than passing fan of the Zorro movies that span the decades, I had been waiting since 1998 for a sequel to Martin Campbell's 'Mask of Zorro.' That movie took much (though not everything) of the best of the various Zorro films, serials, and series and then stole from other sources (such as Dumas 'Monte Cristo', etc) to concoct a sexy, swashbuckling action adventure that had great pacing and strengths, with high production values and actors. Mr. Campbell and those high standards at last return to the story begun, and we now follow our heroes and their son as California fights to join a struggling Union. Zorro's character is not quite so impulsive and cool as he once was, but simply comfortable and ultra-capable, while his wife Elena complains that the man behind the mask knows not who their son is growing up to be. None of these character 'upgrades' felt wrong to me; it was natural extensions of them from the first film, despite how adventurous Elena claims to still be (and for the most part isn't), but it does make the first act of this movie a bit tiresome after the initial (awesome) action sequence. This time, though, as the story and its many plot-points begin to move, the writers borrow heavily from Hitchcock to keep things interesting. It doesn't always work, as there's a lot going on but never QUITE coming perfectly, cohesively together, but ultimately it makes sense and spins a good yarn for the fighting to take over. Meanwhile the stunt coordinators take what has already been done in the best Zorro flicks and then go wild with it, giving us stunts and action of old-school-cool caliber, such as stage-coaches, leaps and horses jumping on to explosive-laden locomotives. Unfortunately there is not quite enough action, and while I do like the over-all story - with its subtle bits of murk and dirty grays underneath the battle of white and black hats - it doesn't actually pace perfectly, giving us bickering Vega family exploits and Zorro failures for a rather large portion of the picture. The sword fights are fewer and more far-between than I would have liked, sometimes degrading to fisticuffs instead of proper dicing, but then the explosions almost make up for it all. The humor is a bit silly, provided mostly by the horse(!!) and the sometimes-annoying kid, but the audience ate it up. The villains are good, if never entirely fleshed out, and the themes are handled well. It's the lag caused by the idea (which I never understood) that 'once a couple gets together they're not interesting anymore' that slows things. Regardless of my small issues, the movie DOES deliver as a Zorro film, (with a good ending, for certain) and while it doesn't completely live up to its predecessor, it is a worthy sequel - just not entirely the direction I would have gone.