The Legend of Zorro (2005)

Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Alejandro de la Vega (Banderas) -- and his wife, Elena (Zeta-Jones) -- to take action.

Director:

Martin Campbell

Writers:

Roberto Orci (screenplay), Alex Kurtzman (screenplay),

Stars:

Alberto Reyes, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alberto Reyes	...	Brother Ignacio
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Frey Felipe
Gustavo Sánchez Parra	...	Guillermo Cortez
Adrian Alonso	...	Joaquin de la Vega
Nick Chinlund	...	Jacob McGivens
Giovanna Zacarías	...	Blanca Cortez (as Giovanna Zacarias)
Carlos Cobos	...	Tabulador
Antonio Banderas	...	Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro
Michael Emerson	...	Harrigan
Shuler Hensley	...	Pike
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	Governor Riley (as Pedro Armendariz)
Mary Crosby	...	Governor's Wife
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Elena de la Vega
Mauricio Bonet	...	Don Verdugo
Fernando Becerril	...	Don Diaz

Storyline

The Legendary Zorro goes off on another adventure to protect the future of California and its citizens. This time, he fights against evil-doers with the help of his beautiful wife, Elena, and their precocious young son, Joaquin. Alejandro De LaVega is torn between two worlds: his life as Zorro and his life as a family man. After Alejandro once again breaks his promise to stop wearing the mask, Elena leaves him, and soon begins seeing Armand, a haughty French Count. But a mysterious explosion in the desert leads Zorro to believe that there's more to Armand than meets the eye, and our hero is intent on finding out what that is. Little does he know, there are others working to uncover certain truths as well.

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Plot Keywords:

zorro | california | hero | fight | mask | 

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Taglines:

This Fall, adventure begins with a Z.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sequences of violence/peril and action, language and a couple of suggestive moments

Details

Official Sites:

Columbia Tristar [fr] Sony Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

28 October 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mask of Zorro 2

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$406,196 (Australia) (6 January 2006)

Gross:

$2,226,902 (Australia) (6 January 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Tornado Productions Inc., Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (8 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tony Amendola, who played "Don Luis" in The Mask of Zorro, plays "Father Quintero" in this movie, its sequel.

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Goofs

On the train engine, as Zorro and Armand are fighting, Elena is holding on to the boiler with her bare hands. Her hands would have been burnt to a crisp!

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Quotes

Elena: Follow me!
Zorro: Always.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #34.9 (2005)

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Soundtracks

"California Dianas"
Written and Produced by Eduardo Gamboa
Performed by Banda de Tlayacapan

User Reviews

Decent follow up is at least old-school cool

As a more than passing fan of the Zorro movies that span the decades, I had been waiting since 1998 for a sequel to Martin Campbell's 'Mask of Zorro.' That movie took much (though not everything) of the best of the various Zorro films, serials, and series and then stole from other sources (such as Dumas 'Monte Cristo', etc) to concoct a sexy, swashbuckling action adventure that had great pacing and strengths, with high production values and actors. Mr. Campbell and those high standards at last return to the story begun, and we now follow our heroes and their son as California fights to join a struggling Union. Zorro's character is not quite so impulsive and cool as he once was, but simply comfortable and ultra-capable, while his wife Elena complains that the man behind the mask knows not who their son is growing up to be. None of these character 'upgrades' felt wrong to me; it was natural extensions of them from the first film, despite how adventurous Elena claims to still be (and for the most part isn't), but it does make the first act of this movie a bit tiresome after the initial (awesome) action sequence. This time, though, as the story and its many plot-points begin to move, the writers borrow heavily from Hitchcock to keep things interesting. It doesn't always work, as there's a lot going on but never QUITE coming perfectly, cohesively together, but ultimately it makes sense and spins a good yarn for the fighting to take over. Meanwhile the stunt coordinators take what has already been done in the best Zorro flicks and then go wild with it, giving us stunts and action of old-school-cool caliber, such as stage-coaches, leaps and horses jumping on to explosive-laden locomotives. Unfortunately there is not quite enough action, and while I do like the over-all story - with its subtle bits of murk and dirty grays underneath the battle of white and black hats - it doesn't actually pace perfectly, giving us bickering Vega family exploits and Zorro failures for a rather large portion of the picture. The sword fights are fewer and more far-between than I would have liked, sometimes degrading to fisticuffs instead of proper dicing, but then the explosions almost make up for it all. The humor is a bit silly, provided mostly by the horse(!!) and the sometimes-annoying kid, but the audience ate it up. The villains are good, if never entirely fleshed out, and the themes are handled well. It's the lag caused by the idea (which I never understood) that 'once a couple gets together they're not interesting anymore' that slows things. Regardless of my small issues, the movie DOES deliver as a Zorro film, (with a good ending, for certain) and while it doesn't completely live up to its predecessor, it is a worthy sequel - just not entirely the direction I would have gone.