The Legend of Zorro
Review by Clint Morris
Just because you’re a loud, eye-catching, larger-than-life
bragger doesn’t mean people are going to want to spend
much time around you.
In the case of The Legend of Zorro, it’s palpable
self-assurance and haughtiness hurts its chances to be head-of-the-class
from the get-go.
But unlike an over-the-top class clown, you will be able
to take more than a few minutes of it - and quite easily.
It’s been seven years since Antonio Banderas first carved
a Z into the threads of Catherine Zeta Jones’s cossie,
but now “Zorro” is back - as equally bloated as
the re-emergence is belated.
Granted, the holes and hiccups are only more visible because
the first was such a near-perfect quiet achiever, and this
one’s seemingly certain that it’s won the race before
the pistol’s even sounded. So it deserves to be bought
down a couple of notches, right?
Set ten years after the last instalment, The Legend of
Zorro sees the veiled avenger, now married and with a
son, attempting to keep the mask-on-ice for a while in an
effort to save his nuptials.
She eventually does part ways with her man and runs into
the arms of - yep, you guessed it - a closet nasty.
Needless to say, Zorro rides again - this time to catch the
rogue that’s snatched his wife, and to foil the villain’s
plans to destroy California.
There’s something a little off-kilter with the sequel.
Whilst the first seemed intent on being simply a serious-enough
adventure jaunt with three amazing performers out front, this
one seems intent on using for padding what so many Hollywood
films are using these days: awful computer effects, cheesy
one-liners and yawnable first-half’s.
Replacing Anthony Hopkins - who’s not back for this
one - with the output of an iMac? Never a good idea.
Still, there’s enough here to please fans of the first
film. The cinematography looks sublime at times, Banderas
is as good as ever in his trademark role, and though it seems
a little too-much ‘Warner Bros.Movie World Wild West
Stunt-show’ at times, the well-staged action sequences
are a hoot, especially the final sequence aboard a moving
train.
It’s also good to see a film that the whole family can
enjoy together - something that’s low on body count,
and steers away from the sexually suggestive or dirty natter
that so many action-fests incorporate these days.
With the inclusion of Zorro’s kid this time around,
it seems the producers are leaving the gate wide-open for
a Son of Zorro sometime in the future. Something tells
me that might never come to fruition though - there just doesn’t
seem to be enough hot air in this franchise balloon to keep
it flying.
3 out of 5
The Legend of Zorro
Australian release: Monday the 26th of December, 2005.
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rufus Sewell,
Adrian Alonso, Nick Chinlund, Julio Oscar Mechoso.
Director: Martin Campbell.
Website: Click
here.
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