While the 1997 Antonio Banderas vehicle The Mask of Zorro was a neat old-fashioned swashbuckler that introduced the luscious Catherine Zeta-Jones to a wider audience - much as Banderas' Desperado similarly brought Salma Hayek to Americans - its long-time-coming sequel, The Legend of Zorro, manages to take the formula of bringing back the stars and director that made for a winning combination and end up with an annoying and dull shadow of its prior self.
It's 1850 and the residents of California are voting to ratify their constitution and join the United States as the 31st state. Marking his ballot with a "Z" is Alejandro de la Vega (Antonio Banderas), a mild-mannered don by day, but the black-masked defender of the people, Zorro, later in the day. When McGivens (Nick Chinlund), a goon with a wicked cross-shaped scar and his gang try to steal the ballots, Zorro swings into action to save the day and the election.
When he returns home, we find that life with his wife Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has grown tumultuous and she's become a nag about his Zorro activities. She apparently has forgotten that marrying a hero means that he's on call 24/7 and harps at him to ditch the people and pay more attention to her and their bratty son, Joaquin (Adrian Alonso).
After she is menaced by a pair of men who witnessed Zorro with his mask off, she abruptly files for divorce - something that 19th Century Catholics would never do so casually - and within a few months has taken up with an oily French noble, Armand (Rufus Sewell), much to the displeasure of Alejandro. As the jealous ex-husband tries to find out why she has run off, we see that she's snooping around Armand's hacienda and sending carrier pigeons to the men who seem to be behind the events.
The underlying conspiracy involving Armand is another tired trip to the well of secret societies that want to either rule or destroy the country; unfortunately this is so poorly explained and historically impossible - not to mention pilfered from the likes of Fight Club, of all films - that it makes the resolution barely worth a shrug of recognition. We don't know what they're up to and we don't know how they plan to do it, but ultimately, we don't care if they're stopped or not.
If you haven't seen the first Zorro, there is nothing here that explains that he and Elena were ever anything but a Mexican version of the Bickersons; their constant squabbling is grating and repetitive at best. What happened to the lovely, lusty couple from before? Their son, unaware that Dad is Zorro, is a little punk whose tacked-on scenes of action make seem less like him being a chip off the old mask and more like a setup for a Robert Rodriguez-helmed Zorro Kids franchise. And the only things missing from Sewell's Armand are a Snidely Whiplash mustache and a white Persian cat.
With the exception of the climatic battle on a speeding steam train, the action sequences, while bigger, aren't really an improvement and feel stilted as if they're really, really trying to wow us instead of just relaxing and impressing us with daring feats and slashing swords. As Zorro literally flies across rooftops in pursuit of the bad guys and balances on poles over a river, I wasn't thinking "Douglas Fairbanks, Jr." but "digital wire removal." (Also, for a PG-rated movie, there are many scenes of knifeplay and intense danger - necessitating at least a PG-13 rating.)
As if the mediocre plot wasn't bad enough, the historical inaccuracies that underpin the plot are inexcusable. While the education system may be a wreck and the public's general knowledge of history shamefully lacking, the gaffes in Zorro go beyond the nitpicky into the realm of plain lazy and stupid (as anyone who has seen Jay Leno quizzing pedestrians has noticed).
While the movie is set in 1850, we're supposed to believe that Armand is colluding with the Confederacy (not founded until 1861) and that his train full of nitroglycerin could be taken back to Alabama when the transcontinental railroad wasn't completed until 1869. I didn't spot Abraham Lincoln's appearance, but according to the credits he was there - which would be an odd spot for an Illinois railroad lawyer to show up. Anachronistic acting and language is one thing, but this is ridiculous. I'm surprised that they didn't have Cleopatra arrive on the Titanic to deliver photon torpedoes, for all the historical care they took.
The pity of The Legend of Zorro is that the formula for success was right there all along: Take a pair of attractive stars and dress them in fine costumes and place them in exotic locations. Add a plausible, but not-too-heavy, villain and some thrilling spectacle and then shake it up and serve with a side of salsa. Entertain audiences and go to the bank. But after a seven year wait, the makers apparently thought we wanted to see our couple argue and split up, and that - as the meager box office take showed - is a formula for failure.
Score: 3 out of 10
The Video
The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is very nice with a lustrous golden glow - no desaturated and blah modern colors here - and it provides an extra dose of richness to the image. Fine detail is very good into the distance, black levels are exceptional and dark, shadowy areas - which are frequent with Zorro's black outfit in darkened environments - are excellent and not marred by crushing.
A few instances of overdone edge-enhancement or softer shots were noted, but weren't particularly distracting - if you're not critically looking for flaws, you probably won't notice them, particularly on smaller displays.
Score: 9 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Audio choices are English Dolby 5.1 Surround or French 2.0 with subtitles in English and French.
The soundtrack is nicely dynamic with good low-end resonance for the thundering of hooves and booming of explosions. Dialogue is clear and well-balanced with the effects and music and free of distortion. Surround activity is most prominent during the action scenes, but street and party scenes have nice ambience.
Score: 8 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
The disc comes in the standard keep case with an insert advertising other Sony DVD releases. The previews are skippable by hitting the menu key.
The Director and Cinematographer Commentary is with Campbell and Phil Mayhew tends to stick to the more technical side of the story with much discussion as to how and where it was shot. One trick revealed is how they got Tornado, Zorro's horse, to lean against a wall, since horses don't lean in real life, by building the set on a slant and then tilting the camera to hide the illusion. Taped after the film's release, they occasionally respond to critic's complaints that they thought were unfounded and what got good audience reactions.
Moving to the Featurettes section we get a quartet of features with a Play All option starting with Stunts (9:21), which reveals how the action scenes were done practically with stuntmen instead of CG effects and praises Antonio for his swordsman skills. Playing With Trains (12:25) discusses the climactic fight scene and the challenges of executing the scene safely. Much of the time is dedicated to the miniature train constructed by the Weta Workshop of The Lord of the Rings fame and Richard Taylor will be a familiar face to those who viewed that series' supplemental materials.
Armand's Party (12:02) shows the work that goes into shooting a scene with nearly 500 extras in period formal garb and makeup. Complicating the already complicated shoot is a rain storm that sends everyone scurrying for cover and construction crews scrambling to finish the cover set - a set used as an alternate shooting location if weather prevents exterior shooting. Visual Effects (5:49) shows how some of the sequences were enhanced to amp up the action without calling undue attention to themselves.
The quartet of Deleted Scenes (with optional director's commentary and Play All feature) totaling about ten minutes were cut despite Campbell's fondness for them because they contained redundant information and slowed the movie down. One scene had many extras and took a couple of days to shoot, yet finally revealed itself to be too long with too little new info within it.
There is a pair of Multi-Angle Scenes that allow you to use the Angle button to cycle between rehearsal, behind-the-scenes and final footage. The default view has all three angles up together and it is the best way to watch.
Seven anamorphic previews - for Open Season, Monster House, The Pink Panther (2006), Memoirs of a Geisha, Sue¿o, The Gospel and The Mask of Zorro - conclude the extras.
Score: 6 out of 10