notes a small green godong

After the first few minutes of “the Legend of Zorro” it became apparent that the film should have been titled “the Legend of Sorrow”. The acting is terrible, the plot is retarded and the action sequences are as believable as the Bush administration. While watching the first scene where Zorro snatches back a chest from the evil priest I was awe-struck with the unrealistic physics relating to a movie. I couldn’t understand what sort of Director would think that an audience would be ignorant enough to believe that a horse and carraige could so easily take out a brick pilar but in turn be so easily destroyed by a piece of rope. I found it to be most insulting to my intelligence that I am supposed to believe the character of Zorro (Sorrow) could be able to keep up with a carraige drawn by two horses while running atop a wall as wide as two bricks. I found the evil priest character to be insulting to religious people, and have not ruled out the fact that the cast must have been devil worshippers who probably started each day with a Satanic ritual before starting filming. That would certainly explain Sorrow’s supernatural ability to be able to pull off the incredible (and most unbeliavable) acrobatics in this film, the dark lord must have granted him the power. Needless to say that I do not recommend this film to anyone unless they want to experience the feeling of having your brain cells melted away by a piece of cinematography that is guerunteed to lower your IQ. Disgusting, they have ruined the prospects of a Zorro franchise with this load of garbage, and the Director was obviously unaware of the fact that the character of Zorro is supposed to be more like an old-days James Bond that can get out of sticky situation using realistic solutions rather than the far-fetched overblown disaster that we have here before us.
Rating: 1 / 5

this has to be one of the worst movies i have ever seen. it has no logic whatsoever. very boring. horrible dialogue. this movie needed to be pg 13 to be even the least bit good.I cant tell you how much i wanted to be and the theater across from me seeing saw 2.the action is absolutely mindless and stupid.you would have to be completely out of your mind to enjoy this film. zorro has turned into spy kids.which i might add is way better than this. sony need s to make more movies like stealth,and spider man.if they keep making crap like this, we may be looking at a stinker with spider man 3.zorro’s son is so retarded.avoid this trash and go see stealth:the best movie ever made.
Rating: 1 / 5

`The Legend of Zorro’s starts with brilliant action sequence, in which Antonio Baderas’ hero fights the villains with acrobatic stunts. He does a somersault on a wall, ducks under a rushing horse cart, and lightly jumps on the scaffold. Director Martin Campbell, however, suddenly stops this fast and good pace, throws away the simplicity of the good vs. the bad, and opts for more complicated, heavy-handed storytelling.

What you see after the hair-raising opening action is this. Zorro comes back from his `work.’ His wife Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is waiting for him at home, but soon she begins to complain that he is not spending enough time for their son. Zorro talks back, saying people need Zorro. Elena would not listen. Zorro leaves the house, again to do his work.

I know, the film is making fun of our accepted hero image. But do you still find it funny when Zorro really receives a divorce paper, and starts to act like a child before Count Armand (Rufus Sewell) Elena’s new friend, and gets drunk too? I know there will be explanation, but hearing explanation (and waiting for it to come) is no fun. After all everything depends on what you want to see in this sequel to `The Mask of Zorro,’ which, I thought, was full of tongue-in-cheek actions, but always put stress on actions. The sequel has good actions, but they are with something else like bickering Mr. and Mrs. Zorro.

But what I didn’t like about `The Legend of Zorro’ is the way they treat a new character – a kid. Zorro has a brave and clever boy Joaquin, who doesn’t know his father’s identity. Sorry, but I don’t believe it. Why not make him Zorro’s partner? (That’s more interesting and probably more likely to happen if Zorro beats his enemies like everyday). Though the acting of the child actor Adrian Alonso is very good (perhaps better than Banderas and Zeta-Jones), Martin Campbell misses every chance to make use of his talent. Why silly sword-fight in schoolroom (with his teacher)? Only at the end of the story Campbell finally allows him to do something better, but not enough.

I don’t write about the principal actors. I only say that they are still both good-looking, but look less radiant and fresh than in the first `Zorro.’ That’s inevitable, you might say.

Yes, I agree, that is inevitable, and the original was made seven years ago. According to the inevitable rules of Hollywood films, the sequel is made with bigger budget and bigger concept, but except the well-made action sequences (editing by Stuart Beard) and gorgeous productions, I am afraid that the money spent is nowhere to be seen, and the confusing story is far from the concept of family picture.
Rating: 2 / 5

Zorro is a myth and myths should not be revisited. We have never been more creative in hundreds of fields and the cineme, week after week, film after film, revisits the myths it has already explored. Too many remakes. What’s more the myth is rewritten in the most manipulative way possible to make us believe that the USA were created by the will of God and that their trail was a boulevard of light and hoorays. Such rewriting of history is dangerous because no one believes in history any more and any fable becomes as true as the steps I use every morning to get down to my kitchen. Unluckily they are false and they create a frustration at the very moment when they try to compensate the frustration coming from the fact that the absolute leadership of the USA on the planet is going to fall if it has not already fallen. I must say I do prefer the old versions and even the TV version we had in France in the 1960s.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Université Paris Dauphine, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne

Rating: 4 / 5

Zorro (Antonio Banderas) places his vote in favor of California joining the Union only moments before Harrigan (Michael Emerson), a religious zealot arrives and wants to place his vote. The Polls have just closed and he is informed that he will not be able to vote. This doesn’t stop him and he decides to steal the box of ballots because he claims that if California joins the Union, the half breeds will take over. Naturally, Zorro can’t let this man stop the democratic process and he swings into action. Harrigan, the henchman, is a small cog in the nefarious plan of a master criminal. Is this master criminal trying to destroy California? Will he set off a nuclear bomb in the San Andreas Fault and allow half of the state to fall into the ocean? Will he send a select group of people into space to start a new colony while every living creature on Earth is killed by poisonous orchids? Is this a James Bond film or “Zorro” set in California in 1850?

At various points throughout the film, it is difficult to tell.

If you think the story for a film like “The Legend of Zorro” is going to make sense, you are in for a rude awakening.

Director Martin Campbell and the screenwriters do manage to paint this preposterous story against a real historical timeframe in the history of California, but beyond that, the film smells like bad James Bond. Actually, the analogy is more than a little appropriate. Campbell directed “Goldeneye”, one of the better Bond pictures, and will direct the upcoming “Casino Royale”, starring newly minted Bond Daniel Craig (“Layercake”). If “Legend” is any indication, the new Bond will have an uphill battle.

As the story unfolds, many of the trademarks of the Bond genre become evident. The `Pre-credit’ sequence involving great stunt work and a character who will later prove prominent in the “mad villain’s grand scheme”. The mad villain’s attempt to take over the world. Seriously. The villain isn’t intent setting his sights on California, he has designs on the world. When a Count (Rufus Sewell) moves to California, from France, to open a winery, he is either a man with a great deal of foresight, or a man with a diabolically clever plan. I say the former. No French winemaker is going to move to California, in 1850, to make wine. When it is revealed that the Count is developing nitroglycerin to prevent…

Whoops. I’m doing it again. Putting too much thought into the story. But really, all they needed to complete the picture was to shave Sewell’s head and give him a white cat completing the parody of the famous Bond villain, Blofeld. He is already the head of a large, villainous group intent on world domination. Just go the extra few steps, Martin. You’re almost there anyway.

One of the things that made the first film so much fun was the chemistry between Banderas and Catherine Zeta – Jones. “Legend” picks up ten years later. Alejandro and Elena, their character’s names, although that is unimportant, have long since married and now have a young son who “doesn’t know who his father is”. Both a wink, wink nudge, nudge reference to his father’s secret identity as Zorro and a foreshadowing of life for kids in modern day California. Naturally, because the two leads fell in love in the first film, the filmmakers came up with the great idea of breaking them up in the sequel. They actually get divorced! Who in the hell came up with this brilliant idea? The last thing we want to do in an action sequel is to watch the two sexy leads fight and glower at each other. Bad move.

Their son, who I’ll venture is about eight years old, is easily one of the most precocious children to appear in film in some time. He always sneaks out of the house or runs away from his school mates during a field trip, and naturally, he always ends up in the middle of trouble.

The “Zorro” films were initially conceived as an homage to the Saturday afternoon serials which used to play, along with a cartoon and newsreel, before the main feature. Kids like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas grew up admiring the adventures of these heroes, eventually leading to the creation of Indiana Jones. Later, Spielberg’s company developed the first “Zorro”. Apparently, they had little to do with the sequel, and it shows throughout. The first film was more successful because it worked harder to make everything seem legitimate. The acting was good. Anthony Hopkins was in the original. His character was killed in the first film, so unless he appears as some sort of ghostly apparition, he can’t be in the sequel. So the sequel falls on the shoulders of Banderas and Zeta – Jones. Banderas is a handsome man but he has never been a good actor. In the sequel, his emotions seem to flick on and off like a light switch. He walks around glowering, or drunk, or both, slurring his words, making most of what he says unintelligible. Zeta – Jones is a better actor, but this is not the type of film that will showcase her ability, allowing her to get a second Oscar. In the first film, the story was exciting and the action thrilling. In “Legend”, both suffer. The James Bond – like story even goes so far as to create a henchman with false, scary teeth, ala Jaws in the Roger Moore Bond films. Both Banderas and Zeta – Jones have great difficulty making us care for their fighting `lovers’.

The one place the film almost succeeds is in the action scenes. The finale set aboard an out of control train is fun. But even this seems clichéd and overdone. Any finale featuring a train is going to be an “out of control train”; it would be pretty boring if Zorro could walk up to the engine and calmly put on the brakes. But even these sequences are marred by the many instances when you can tell Banderas’ double is riding the horse or, worse yet, they used CGI to complete a stunt. Both are pretty bad, but the whole point of CGI is to create something that we wouldn’t be able to see otherwise, to make it believable. If we can tell CGI is being used, it isn’t working. Spend a little more time, a little more money to make it work.

Catch “The Legend of Zorro” on DVD. If at all.

Rating: 2 / 5