The Legend Of Zorro (DVD)

Ten years after the events of "The Mask of Zorro" Elena and Alejandro are happily married with a nine year-old son. With the Republic of California set to join the United States, it looks like Zorro will finally be able to hang up his mask for good. But things are never that simple and in the course of a few confusing days, Alejandro finds himself estranged from his family and competing with the dashing Frenchman Armand for his wife's affections ...
...of Zorro" was one of the most unselfconsciously enjoyable swashbuckling romps of recent times. With its tongue firmly in its cheek and sword in hand, it cut a swathe through the dour faced blockbusters that surrounded it. It was silly, fun and even sexy. But in seven years a lot has changed; director Martin Campbell has directed a Bond film and leading lady Catherine Zeta-Jones has won an Oscar. Sadly this seems to mean that both are taking ... more

Ten years after the events of "The Mask of Zorro" Elena and Alejandro are happily married with a nine year-old son. With the Republic of California set to join the United States, it looks like Zorro will finally be able to hang up his mask for good. But things are never that simple and in the course of a few confusing days, Alejandro finds himself estranged from his family and competing with the dashing Frenchman Armand for his wife's affections and the safety of California.

"The Mask of Zorro" was one of the most unselfconsciously enjoyable swashbuckling romps of recent times. With its tongue firmly in its cheek and sword in hand, it cut a swathe through the dour faced blockbusters that surrounded it. It was silly, fun and even sexy. But in seven years a lot has changed; director Martin Campbell has directed a Bond film and leading lady Catherine Zeta-Jones has won an Oscar. Sadly this seems to mean that both are taking themselves much more seriously and relying on their bankability to make this sequel a success, instead of allowing the scriptwriter and stunt choreographer to have fun. It wasn't as if the franchise was crying out for a sequel, but Campbell has certainly put paid to any further outings for the masked man. He's gone with a nonsensical script that lacks any of the charm or witty banter of the original; it starts well enough, commencing mid-adventure with Zorro defeating another villain through a sequence of good old-fashioned cowboy stunts and chases. Sadly it goes downhill after that. As soon as Don Alejandro's family is introduced we're mired down in soapy melodrama as his marriage falls apart almost instantly and we're left as bemused and bewildered as the man himself. The pacing is all over the place, with Campbell trying to make up for the torpor of the family drama with choppily edited action sequences, seemingly thrown in at random moments and in which he can't even be bothered to disguise Antonio Banderas' younger, whiter stunt double. It feels like the second unit shot most of the film and Campbell merely sat in the editing room, stitching it together like some filmic Frankenstein's monster. Despite the bigger budget, the sequel has much lower production values and has been knocked out between the stars' other projects. Everyone seems to be going through the motions instead of chewing the scenery, so there's no oomph to the performances. The backdrops look stagy to say the least (the worst offender being the clapboard town clearly built on an outside movie lot) and the special effects are far from it, with much of the digital compositing sticking out like a sore thumb. To give credit where it's due, there is some lovely cinematography, showcasing any number of breathtaking vistas, but I can't help thinking we'd have been better off with fewer lingering landscapes and more action. I know the film is set ten years later than the original, encompassing a period of great change (social and industrial), but the transition from swordfights to gunplay reduces the sense of danger considerably and robs many of the face-offs of a sense of excitement. In fact the only truly inventive fight occurs between a schoolboy and his teacher and is played out with rulers instead of rapiers. Perhaps if Campbell had focussed more on the son of Zorro than the man himself, we would have had a funnier, feistier outing. There are many abrupt shifts in tone and the rather distressing sight (in a PG movie) of a couple of bloated corpses doesn't make this feel like a family film. There's none of the abundant sexual tension of the original and the tacked-on references to the Bush administration (crates marked WMD and overstated bigotry and religious zealotry) feel out of place. Then there's the cheesy ending and the schmaltzification of Alejandro and Elena's relationship that's enough to make you hurl because it jars so badly with the preceding action. There's no winking towards the camera that made the first film such fun, making a leaden second outing for the character. But once more a director proves that by trying to please all of the people, he ends up satisfying none.

The screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (plus another two men responsible for the story) is a prime example of what happens when sequel-itis kicks in. Where the first movie thrived on the conflict of its' central characters, the follow-up relies on contrived marital disharmony, convoluted plot twist upon convoluted plot twist and a villain that feels like he's escaped from "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". The storyline is laboured and downright nonsensical, pillaging everything from Illuminatus-driven conspiracy theories to spy films and slapstick in the bid for a few cheap laughs. The dialogue is lumpen and uninspiring, missing the fast-paced banter of the original. Part of the problem is foregrounding the character of Elena despite the fact she is really only a plot device in a frock and a clumsy one at that. Another issue is the scope of the movie, with the villains wanting to take over not only California, but the world, therefore thrusting Zorro into superhero rather than local hero territory. Juxtaposing this with family drama doesn't work because saving your marriage pales into insignificance when faced with saving the world; especially when your wife is portrayed as a whining harpy. The whole divorce storyline feels like a "Fathers for Justice" plea for clemency in custody cases and seems like a bizarre concession to modern audiences and out of place in an alleged swashbuckler. And why does everyone appear to have a secret underground lair? Why would anyone living in an area that straddles the San Andreas Fault build anything underground unless they had a death wish and some serious insurance? And in an area seemingly riddled with them and prone to large-scale horseback chases, wouldn't the ground simply cave in on them?

The performances throughout are somewhat disappointing. It's a shame Antonio Banderas didn't break into Hollywood earlier in his career, as he's now getting too old to convince as an action hero. His looks are starting to go and the joints are beginning to be a bit creaky. He's still suave and makes a tolerably dashing hero but it feels as though is heart's not in it anymore. I suspect he saw the pay cheque and decided to do it for the money. His comic timing's still pretty good, but he doesn't have many decent lines to deliver and his relationship with his leading lady is painfully chemistry free. To quote Nick Park's Wallace "The bounce has gone from his bungee."

Catherine Zeta-Jones is clearly comfortable with her position in the Hollywood hierarchy because she has become complacent in her career. She now lacks the spark that characterised her earlier performances and she isn't helped by the inch-thick layer of make-up that has been caked onto her face, thus reducing her range of expressions. She does little more than hit her marks and say her lines and those without any emotion or sense of joy. Rufus Sewell continues his run of low-rent villain roles as the allegedly dastardly Armand. Sadly he's another cast member who seems to be doing it for the money rather than the love of acting. He does bug-eyed foppishness okay but the scariest thing about him is the terrible wig he's been saddled with. The sad thing is that he is generally a charismatic (if not always likeable) actor, who is capable of playing the panto villain really well (see "A Knight's Tale"). But he fails here through a combination of poor scripting and a lack of energy. The only actor in the film that brings the right amount of vim and verve is the young Adrian Alonso, who play's Zorro's son Joaquin. He's clearly enjoying his on-screen shenanigans and is throwing himself into the part. It's such a shame he's sidelined for much of the movie.

The score by James Horner is yet another of his epic-sounding works that is heavy on the strident horns and underlying strings. He keeps to the spirit of the original with his use of flamenco guitar and drums with added pan pipes and mariachi brass to keep the Hispanic flavour. He reprises themes from the first movie so it feels familiar and in keeping with the franchise.

The stunts throughout are accomplished, but for a swashbuckler, it feels like there are too few of them. The swordsmanship is confident though it suffers from the director's insistence on excessive editing and it feels like the combatants are never really allowed to let fly. There's also a lack of humour in these confrontations that could have pulled them up a notch. That being said, there is some violent slapstick that is well done. The horsemanship is self assured and the horses themselves are exceedingly well trained, whether rearing up on the roof of a moving train or having a sly bottle of beer. The special effects are anything but, as Campbell seems to prefer low-end CGI that doesn't take into account the subtleties of texture or motion and thus sticks out like a sore thumb. Sometimes you can't beat miniatures or even blowing stuff up for real.

"The Legend of Zorro" is a disappointing and unnecessary addition to the franchise that destroys in one fell swoop all the good will and fondness created by the first movie. It is poorly written, over-long, badly directed, over-edited and sloppily acted. It's a sequel that does a disservice to the original and sequels in general because it shows the sort of tripe that screenwriters can produce and still get into production, thus lowering the bar and giving hope to the useless hacks that live on Hollywood's lowest rung.
 

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