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Legend of Zorro, TheOf all the sequels mooted in Hollywood, a follow-up to The Mask Of Zorro was not a particularly exciting prospect. The 1998 blockbuster was a thoroughly entertaining swashbuckler that had charm and box office appeal, but a sequel seemed in severe danger of the law of diminishing returns. The Legend Of Zorro proves this, and despite reuniting two of the original stars with director Martin Campbell, there are only echoes of the first movie's energetic fun.
The story picks up the action in 1850, 10 years after Alejandro de la Vega (Banderas) first donned the mask of the mysterious renegade Zorro, and finds him starting to feel surplus to requirements. His native California is on the verge of voting to become America's 31st state, and the people may soon no longer need him to fight injustice. Also his wife Elena (Zeta Jones) insists he is neglecting his 10-year-old son Joaquin (Alonso) as a result of his secret identity.
This disagreement soon leads to Elena divorcing him, and while Alejandro's life plummets off the rails, she attaches herself to wealthy French nobleman Armand (Sewell). Naturally suspicious, Alejandro starts to investigate Armand's life, but the true reasons behind Elena's divorce are soon revealed to be far more complicated and dangerous. A shadowy group of politicians and aristocrats are determined to stop California from becoming part of the United States, and are more than happy to use a revolutionary new explosive to reinforce their aims.
At first glance, The Legend of Zorro seems to have the necessary levels of daring action, romance and intrigue, but the loss of original screenwriters Terry Elliot and Ted Russo (the men behind the scripts for Pirates Of The Caribbean and Shrek) leaves the film stumbling in confusion. Their replacements are ex-TV scriptwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and the hackneyed and overwritten results bear many unfortunate similarities to their less-than-satisfactory screenplay for Michael Bay's expensive flop The Island.
Their biggest mistake is in shifting the tone of the material, with The Legend of Zorro abandoning the darker edges of the original in favour of broad comedy (particularly in Zorro's relationship with his unpredictable horse Tornado). This move towards family entertainment is embodied by Joaquin, the plucky child constantly challenging adults to fist-fights and landing himself in jeopardy at every opportunity. Tedious and overplayed, it's an uninspiring plotline that feels borrowed from a children's film, or a Son Of Zorro spin-off.
Also, the film lacks a decent bad guy to go up against the heroes. The politicians and aristocrats aiming to destabilise America are little more than a ridiculous, James Bond-style secret organisation in period costume. Rufus Sewell reprises his panto villain from A Knight's Tale with the added silliness of a daft French accent. Even the secondary villain is immensely unsatisfying, with the bible-quoting McGivens (Chinlund) an annoyingly overplayed adversary.
Elena and Alejandro's relationship is ripped apart so quickly (virtually within the space of one scene) that it's difficult to care whether or not they'll get back together, especially when the conclusion is so painfully obvious. As a result, the characters' verbal duelling rapidly grows tiresome, a factor that isn't helped by the lacklustre performances - while Banderas tries hard but overplays the comedy, Zeta Jones further sinks into becoming an unintentionally funny caricature of herself, thanks to the seemingly endless shots of her gazing longingly into the distance as if she's just forgotten her lines.
Without a believable emotional depth to the adventure, all we're left with is plenty of fast-moving but empty action sequences, and stunts that rapidly leave any connection with the real world far behind. There may be superficial fun to be found in the less bombastic fight scenes, and the script manages the occasional funny line, but in the end, you'll have already started to forget this overlong disappointment moments after the credits start rolling.
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