The Legend of Zorro

The Legend of Zorro is a 2005 American Western swashbuckler film directed by Martin Campbell, produced by Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Lloyd Phillips, with music by James Horner, and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the sequel to 1998's The Mask of Zorro; Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reprise their roles as the titular hero and his spouse, Elena, and Rufus Sewell stars as the villain, Count Armand. The film takes place in San Mateo County, California and was shot in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with second-unit photography in Wellington, New Zealand. The film was theatrically released on October 28, 2005, by Columbia Pictures (instead of TriStar due to Columbia holding the sequel rights to TriStar's pre-1999 film library), and earned $142.4 million on a $65 million budget.
Plot
In 1850, California voted on whether to join the United States of America as a state. Zorro, formerly Alejandro Murrieta, now known to the public as Don Alejandro De La Vega, foils a plot to steal the ballots. During the fight, he loses his mask, and two Pinkerton agents see his face. Alejandro's marriage with his wife Elena becomes strained after he refuses to stop being Zorro when the election is over. They have a fight and Alejandro moves out. The following day, the Pinkertons confront Elena. Soon after, she divorces Alejandro.
The separation from Elena and the feeling the people no longer need Zorro take a toll on Alejandro. His childhood guardian, Father Felipe, takes him to a party at the vineyard of a French Count, Armand. Alejandro discovers Elena is dating Armand, an old friend from her time in Europe. After leaving the party, Alejandro witnesses a huge explosion near Armand's mansion and becomes suspicious of him. Gunman Jacob McGivens leads an attack on Cortez, a farmer who is Alejandro's friend, to seize his land. Zorro rescues Cortez's wife and son, but Cortez is killed.
While Elena is at Armand's mansion for a date, she slips away and investigates his secret study, discovering information about a plot involving explosives and a group called Orbis Unum (One World in Latin). Zorro sneaks into the mansion and overhears Armand's discussion with McGivens about his plan to build a railroad through Cortez's land.
The next day, Alejandro's son Joaquin sneaks out of a class field trip and hides on McGivens’s cart. Joaquin is caught by McGivens's bandits as they receive a shipment of cargo in a cove. Zorro saves Joaquin from the bandits and sees the cargo consists of bars of soap, with the phrase Orbis Unum printed on the crates. Father Felipe tells Alejandro it is the symbol of the Knights of Aragon, a secret society Armand is a member of, which has secretly ruled Europe for a thousand years. The Knights have deemed the United States a threat, and plan to destroy it.
Alejandro is captured and imprisoned by the Pinkertons. They reveal they confronted Elena with knowledge of Alejandro's identity as Zorro. They blackmailed her into divorcing him and forced her to seduce Armand and learn of the Knights' plans, without the aid of Zorro, whose vigilante ways they dislike. Because California is not yet a U.S. state, they cannot search Armand's home themselves. Joaquin frees Alejandro from captivity.
At Armand's mansion, Zorro finds Elena. They spy on Armand as he gives a speech to the Knights, revealing the soap bars contain an ingredient for nitroglycerin. The vineyard is a cover for the production of the weapon, which will be given to the Confederate army, with the help of Confederate Colonel Beauregard, to launch a sneak attack on Washington, D.C., and destroy the Union. Zorro and Elena reconcile while he prepares to destroy the train carrying the explosives. McGivens arrives at Felipe's church to look for Zorro. Unable to find him, he shoots Felipe and kidnaps Joaquin. Armand discovers Elena's deception and takes her hostage with Joaquin. Zorro is captured and unmasked in front of his son. Armand takes Joaquin and Elena away on the train and orders McGivens to kill Alejandro. Felipe, saved from the bullet by a cross he wears, rescues Alejandro, who kills McGivens.
Zorro catches up with the train on horseback and fights Armand. Elena helps Joaquin escape, then fights Armand's henchman Ferroq and throws him from the train with a bottle of nitro, near Colonel Beauregard at their prearranged meeting point, killing them all. Further along the tracks, the governor prepares to sign the bill to make California a Union state. Joaquin rides Tornado, Zorro's horse, off the train and diverts it onto another track, away from the bill signing ceremony. Zorro sees the track is a dead end, ties Armand to the engine, and escapes with Elena. The train crashes, setting off the nitroglycerin and killing Armand.
The governor signs the bill, and California becomes the 31st U.S. state. Alejandro remarries Elena and apologizes to Joaquin for his secrecy, recognizing Zorro's identity should be a family secret. With Elena's support, Zorro rides off on Tornado to his next mission.
Cast
Antonio Banderas as Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro, a masked vigilante and warrior
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Elena de la Vega, Alejandro's wife
Rufus Sewell as Count Armand
Nick Chinlund as Jacob McGivens
Adrián Alonso as Joaquin de la Vega, Alejandro's son who doesn't know his father's secret
Julio Oscar Mechoso as Padre Felipe
Shuler Hensley as Pike
Michael Emerson as Harrigan
Leo Burmester as Colonel Beauregard
Tony Amendola as Padre Quintero
Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. as Governor Riley
Giovanna Zacarias as Blanca Cortez
Raúl Méndez as Ferroq
Alberto Reyes as Padre Ignacio
Music
Track listing
Reception
The Legend of Zorro currently holds a rating of 47 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, 26% of 138 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critics consensus states, "Zorro can survive a lot of things, but it looks like he can't survive marriage". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a below-average review, awarding it one and a half out of four stars, commenting that "of all of the possible ideas about how to handle the Elena character, this movie has assembled the worst ones." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave The Legend of Zorro two out of four stars, saying that "the action is routine", "the chemistry between the two leads, which was one of the highlights of The Mask of Zorro, has evaporated during the intervening years", and that the movie "fails to recapture the pleasure offered by The Mask of Zorro."
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised the film, calling it "entertaining, bold, and self-effacing at once", noting the civic and parental questions it raises. Slate Magazine critic David Edelstein also praised the film, in particular the action scenes, villains, and chemistry between Banderas and Zeta-Jones. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film was "watchable – not remotely enjoyable, but watchable." Nathan Rabin of The Onions A.V. Club gave the film a lukewarm review, saying that "director Martin Campbell doles out action sequences stingily", and added that "The Legend of Zorro still feels like a half-hearted shrug of a sequel." Brian Lowry of Variety said that The Legend of Zorro is "considerably less charming than The Mask of Zorro", but added that the film "gets by mostly on dazzling stunt work and the pleasure of seeing its dashing and glamorous leads back in cape and gown." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly awarded the film a "B−" score. Schwarzbaum said that "too many scenes emphasize gross butchery over the elegance of the blade", but added that the film is "well-oiled" and praised the "fancy fight sequences".
Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post reacted negatively, calling The Legend of Zorro "a waste of talent, time, and money" and "stupid and boring". Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle was also not impressed, remarking that "there are precious few things for a Zorro fan – or a film fan, for that matter – not to loathe about The Legend of Zorro." The film did reasonably well at the box office, grossing $142,400,065 internationally, but did not match the success of its predecessor.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and VHS on January 31, 2006. It was later released on Blu-ray on December 11, 2007.
Potential crossover sequel
In June 2019, Quentin Tarantino had picked Jerrod Carmichael to co-write a film adaptation based on his crossover comic book series, Django/Zorro which was a crossover with Django Unchained. Tarantino and Jamie Foxx have both expressed interest in having Antonio Banderas reprise his role as Zorro from The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro in the film in addition to Foxx returning as Django Freeman. In a 2022 interview with GQ, Carmichael revealed that the film had been cancelled.
References
External links
The Legend of Zorro at Moviemistakes.com
Slant magazine film review by Keith Uhlich
2005 films
2000s action adventure films
2000s superhero films
2005 Western (genre) films
American action adventure films
American Western (genre) films
American superhero films
Fictional depictions of Abraham Lincoln in film
Films about families
Films about terrorism
Films set in 1850
Films set in California
Films set in Mexico
Films set in New Zealand
Films set in San Francisco
Films set in the San Francisco Bay Area
Films shot in California
Films shot in Mexico
Films shot in New Zealand
Films shot in San Francisco
Films about Mexican Americans
Pre-statehood history of California
American swashbuckler films
Zorro films
Columbia Pictures films
Spyglass Entertainment films
Amblin Entertainment films
Films directed by Martin Campbell
Films scored by James Horner
Films with screenplays by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci
Films with screenplays by Ted Elliott
Films with screenplays by Terry Rossio
Films produced by Walter F. Parkes
Films based on works by Johnston McCulley
Spanish-language American films
2000s English-language films
2000s Spanish-language films
2005 multilingual films
American multilingual films
2000s American films