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The Legend of Zorro

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For the anime series, see The Legend of Zorro (anime series).

The Legend of Zorro
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMartin Campbell
Screenplay byRoberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman
Story byRoberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman
Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Based onZorro
by Johnston McCulley
Produced byWalter F. Parkes
Laurie MacDonald
Lloyd Phillips
StarringAntonio Banderas
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Rufus Sewell
Nick Chinlund
CinematographyPhil Meheux
Edited byStuart Baird
Music byJames Horner
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing[1]
Release date
  • October 28, 2005 (2005-10-28)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Budget$75 million
Box office$142.4 million

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.[2] 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)

The Legend of Zorro earned $142.4 million on a $75 million budget.[3] It received poor reviews, with critics generally praising its acting, but criticizing the screenplay, special effects, tone and humor.

Plot

[edit]

In 1850, California votes on whether to join the United States 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 with a gunman named Jacob McGivens, 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 ends. The couple fights, and Alejandro moves out. The following day, the Pinkertons confront Elena, who later divorces Alejandro.

The separation and the feeling the people no longer need Zorro demoralizes Alejandro. His childhood guardian, Father Felipe, takes him to a party at the vineyard of French Count Armand. Alejandro discovers Elena is dating Armand, an old friend from her time in Spain. Drunk and angrily leaving the party, Alejandro witnesses an explosion near the vineyard and becomes suspicious of Armand. The next day, McGivens leads an attack on Guillermo, a farmer and friend of Alejandro, to seize his land. Zorro rescues Guillermo's wife and son, but Guillermo is killed.

While at Armand's mansion for a date, Elena surreptitiously 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 discussing his plan to build a railroad through Cortez's land with McGivens.

The next day, Alejandro's son Joaquin sneaks out of a class field trip and hides on McGivens’s cart. McGivens's bandits catch Joaquin as they receive a cargo shipment 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 millennia. The Knights have deemed the United States a threat and plan to destroy it.

The Pinkertons capture and imprison Alejandro. They reveal that they confronted Elena with knowledge of his identity as Zorro, blackmailed her into divorcing Alejandro, and seduced Armand to learn of the Knights' plans without Zorro's aid. Because California is not a U.S. state yet, 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 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 after killing the Pinkertons. 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 the cross he wears, rescues Alejandro, who kills McGivens.

Zorro catches up with the train by riding his horse 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 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. Seeing the track as a dead-end, Zorro overpowers and 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

[edit]

Music

[edit]
The Legend of Zorro: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by
James Horner
ReleasedOctober 25, 2005
Recorded2004–2005
Length75:34
LabelSony
James Horner chronology
Flightplan
(2005) 		The Legend of Zorro: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2005) 		The New World
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
SoundtrackNet
Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Collecting the Ballots"3:27
2."Stolen Votes"6:31
3."To the Governor's... And Then Elena"4:05
4."This Is Who I Am"3:05
5."Classroom Justice"1:50
6."The Cortez Ranch"6:35
7."A Proposal with Pearls / Perilous Times"3:58
8."Joaquin's Capture and Zorro's Rescue"5:00
9."Jailbreak / Reunited"5:36
10."A Dinner of Pigeon / Setting the Explosives"5:04
11."Mad Dash / Zorro Unmasked"3:20
12."Just One Drop of Nitro"2:40
13."The Train"11:11
14."Statehood Proclaimed"5:00
15."My Family Is My Life..."8:14

Reception

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The Legend of Zorro currently holds a rating of 47 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] It holds a 27% "Rotten" score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 139 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critics consensus states, "Zorro can survive a lot of things, but it looks like he can't survive marriage".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[6]

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."[7] 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."[8]

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.[9] Slate Magazine critic David Edelstein also praised the film, in particular the action scenes, villains, and chemistry between Banderas and Zeta-Jones.[10] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film was "watchable – not remotely enjoyable, but watchable."[11] Nathan Rabin of The Onion's 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."[12] 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."[13] 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".[14]

Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post reacted negatively, calling The Legend of Zorro "a waste of talent, time, and money" and "stupid and boring".[15] 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."[16][17] The film did reasonably well at the box office, grossing $142,400,065 internationally, but did not match the success of its predecessor.[18]

Home media

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The film was released on DVD and VHS on January 31, 2006. It was later released on Blu-ray on December 11, 2007.[19] A 4K UHD version was later released on August 22, 2023.[20]

Cancelled crossover sequel

[edit]

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.[21] 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.[22] In a 2022 interview with GQ, Carmichael revealed that the film had been cancelled.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "The Legend of Zorro". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  2. ^ "The Legend Of Zorro To Shoot In New Zealand". Scoop. December 16, 2004. Archived from the original on June 3, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Legend of Zorro". Box Office Mojo. October 26, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  4. ^ "The Legend of Zorro Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  5. ^ "The Legend of Zorro". [Rotten Tomatoes]]. Fandango Media. October 28, 2005. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  6. ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  7. ^ Roger Ebert (October 27, 2005). "The Legend of Zorro Movie Review (2005)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  8. ^ Berardinelli, James (2005). "Review: Legend of Zorro, The". Reelviews. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  9. ^ Stephanie Zacharek (October 28, 2005). "The Legend of Zorro". Salon. Archived from the original on January 3, 2007.
  10. ^ Edelstein, David (October 28, 2005). "Laugh Laugh Scream Scream". Slate. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  11. ^ LaSalle, Mick (October 28, 2005). "This guy just can't hang up his mask". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 10, 2006. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  12. ^ Rabin, Nathan (October 26, 2005). "The Legend Of Zorro". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on May 15, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  13. ^ Lowry, Brian (October 23, 2005). "The Legend of Zorro". Variety. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  14. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (October 26, 2005). "The Legend of Zorro Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 29, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  15. ^ Hunter, Stephen. "The Legend of Zorro". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  16. ^ "The Legend of Zorro - Film Calendar". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 23, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  17. ^ Savov, Marc (October 28, 2006). "Film Review: The Legend of Zorro". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 11, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  18. ^ "The Legend of Zorro (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
  19. ^ https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Legend-of-Zorro-Blu-ray/597/
  20. ^ https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Legend-of-Zorro-4K-Blu-ray/341041/
  21. ^ Sneider, Jeff (June 3, 2019). "Exclusive: Quentin Tarantino Working with Jerrod Carmichael on 'Django/Zorro' Movie". Collider. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  22. ^ Moss, Emma-Lee (July 28, 2014). "Comic-Con 2014: Quentin Tarantino on the Django-Zorro crossover". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  23. ^ Sharf, Zack (June 21, 2022). "'We Wrote a $500 Million Film': Tarantino's 'Crazy' Django/Zorro Film Hooked Antonio Banderas". Variety. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
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