The Legend Of Zorro

This is an absolutely stunning BluRay release. The picture is so clear that you feel you can reach out and touch the actors, or go walking down the dusty streets. If you want a BluRay picture that'll knock you sideways this is it. All the special features from the DVD release have found their way to the BluRay disc too. The film is the sequel to Mask Of Zorro (which will hopefully get a BluRay release soon) and like that film it kind of grows on you with time. The film barely gives you time to breath and is great family entertainment. According to the packaging this disc is regions A,B,C. Languages are Czech, English TrueHD, Russian, Spanish. Subtitles are Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (hard of hearing), English, Estonian, Finnish, Hindi, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish

The Legend of Zorro is actually a great movie, one which I never expected to be so thoroughly entertaining. I would have been content just looking at Catherine Zeta-Jones for a couple of hours, but this is a swashbuckling good time from beginning to end. Sure, it stretches credulity at times and plays fast and loose with American history, but it succeeds admirably in its purpose to capture the viewer's imagination and show him/her one wild, action-packed adventure. I must admit I haven't seen The Mask of Zorro, nor have I seen more than bits and pieces of old Zorro shows and movies over the years, so I can't put any of this in a proper Zorro context. All I can do is tell you how much I liked the movie - and why.

You can't complain about a weak or nonexistent storyline here, as The Legend of Zorro is packed to the gills with story; not counting the credits, the movie runs a good two hours, but it really doesn't seem that long - largely because the story never pauses long enough to start dragging. There's always a dichotomy somewhere in the mind of any masked hero, and a "when you come to a fork in the road, take it" philosophy no longer works for Alejandro de la Vega (Antonio Banderas), the man behind the mask. On the one hand, the people still need Zorro, particularly right now as the residents of California embrace the process of entering the United States as a free state. On the other hand, he has a wife and son now, and his wife Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who used to fight alongside him, is not happy when he breaks his promise to put away the mask forever. The people really do need Zorro, though, for an ill wind has blown into town in the form of a greedy, murderous preacher-man and, much more insidiously, a fancy-schmancy Frenchman who threatens to take away everything de la Vega/Zorro cares about - including Elena, who suddenly divorces him. It's bad enough when you lose your wife, your son (not knowing your secret identity) thinks you're a coward, and you feel like you've lost the edge you need to be the people's champion. It's hundreds of times worse to know that your possible downfall comes at the hands of a Frenchman.

You can't keep a good, masked legend down, though, especially when you're wooing his ex-wife. Suspicious of his motives (and clueless as to what Elena could possibly see in him), Zorro is determined to get to the bottom of Frenchie's secrets. There's a lot going on he doesn't know about at first, but it all comes together to reveal a plot of national - nay, global - importance. There are a number of things I would like to talk about in terms of the plot, but it's impossible to do so without giving too much away. Let's just say that some of it is out deep in left field - yet it does all hold together, which is what's most important. The action's important, too, of course, and there's plenty of it. Rest assured that Z's will be carved into bad guys' shirts on more than one occasion, as Zorro's trademark swordsmanship is put on display fairly often. Heck, everybody gets in to the fight at some point. All the early battles, which are rather exciting in and of themselves, are mere skirmishes leading up to the extended fight scenes near the end (in, on, and around a speeding locomotive). It's especially interesting to watch Catherine Zeta-Jones open a few cans of you know what - her mechanical fighting style isn't that impressive, but it's a hoot to watch all of her facial expressions as she fights.

Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are really terrific in their roles, but young Adrian Alonso steals the show time and again as de la Vega's son Joaquin. He's an impish little fellow who obviously has a healthy portion of Zorro blood running in his veins. His restless, action-oriented nature gets him in trouble and even puts him in danger on occasion, but the lad has all 31 flavors of spunk.

The Legend of Zorro just about has it all: swashbuckling action, adventure, gunplay, sword-fighting, explosions, romance, human drama, suspense, mystery, comedy, superb acting from top to bottom, etc. It's just a well-paced, thoroughly entertaining film that I enjoyed immensely. I daresay you'll get your money's worth with this one.

The Legend of Zorro is directed by Martin Campbell and is a sequel to the Mask of Zorro from 1998. It stars Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rufus Sewell, Michael Emerson and Nick Chinlund. James Horner scores the music and Phil Meheux is the cinematographer. Following on 10 years after the events of the first film, story sees Zorro (Banderas) looking like he is about to lose the love of his wife Elena (Zeta-Jones) as she starts questioning his commitment to her and their young son. With a shifty French aristocrat courting her, and California entering critical political discussions on if it should join the United States? Zorro has his hands full.

As any film fan will tell you, sequels to hugely popular movies are notoriously hard to get right. For every great one like Aliens or Godfather II, there are 50 to counter-act them with. Hopes for The Legend of Zorro being great were not high, where even with the publicity junket proclaiming it was to be bigger, more fun and better than the first film, nobody was seriously buying into it. Why? Firstly the gap of seven years wasn't a good sign. Secondly with Anthony Hopkins' character being killed in the first film, there was no chance of that wonderful turn being reprised. Thirdly the presence of a ream of writers involved in this sequel smacked of too many cooks spoiling the broth. As it turns out, the film isn't the stinker it was feared to be, but it still desperately lacks the zip and panache of the 1998 mentor/student take on the masked hero of the people.

Action wise, so in turn great stunt work and scene construction, Legend has much to enjoy. From the pulse raising opening as Zorro interrupts the California election, to the high speed steam train finale, film is a popcorn munching crowd pleaser. Problem is, is that in spite of Banderas and Zeta-Jones still sparking, narrative has them drifting away from the character strengths formed in the first film. The potential divorce aspect looks a good (fun) idea on the page, but with offspring sprog Joaquin (Adrian Alonso) grasping too much screen time, the family dynamic irritates where it should instead be moving up a gear. While the multitude of writers have come to the singular conclusion that this Zorro needs to get drunk, mope about and indulge in slapstick more often. Bad call. Still, the villains are strong enough, where Sewell is suitably smarmy and Chinlund dials quickly into the pantomime pulp required for such an action/adventure/comedy plot such as this.

Not as funny as it thinks or wants to be, but with such a good helping of action and adventure dotted throughout, film remains above average and worth the time of the undemanding thrill seeker. 6.5/10