Just when you thought it was safe to watch another sequel, Hollywood unleashes their most outlandish one yet.
The second installment of Zorro lives up to all the negative connotations of being a sequel. While the adventure genre has had its share of quality sequels ("Indiana Jones: and the Last Crusade," "Die Hard 2"), "The Legend of Zorro" is not.
After "The Mask of Zorro," everything was going well for de la Vega. He had a beautiful wife, a son and an honorable position in society. However in the last seven years, the happiness has faded.
This is due mostly to the fact that de la Vega spends the majority of his time dressed in black, helping the poor instead of spending time with his son and wife Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Chicago").
While one of the sub-plots, and the most interesting part of the movie, revolves around de la Vega and Elena trying to settle their differences, the main plot is made up of many branching and confusing storylines.
Regardless of the uneven plot, the performances of Zeta-Jones and Banderas showcase a strong chemistry, which may be the only reason they signed on for the sequel.
When they are not on screen together, the film suffers. That happens a great deal of the time, especially when their son gets in the way of Zorro and Elena.
While the first film did a good job presenting Zorro as defender of the disenfranchised, the sequel takes a different perspective this time around.
With civil war looming, California is about to enter the Union. This of course makes the South very nervous because of California's status as a free state and the fact that California would give the north an advantage.
This aspect of American history is tied into the film in a ridiculous manner. Armand (Rufus Sewell of "Knight's Tale") enters into the story, conspiring with the South to develop a secret weapon for the war. He isn't another ordinary villain but part of a secret society that has ruled Europe in secret for centuries. Armand resembles an over-the-top Bond villain more than an enemy of the Union.
The plot alone should not be blamed for the film's downfall.
The dialogue is awful and artificial. Usually one-line jokes are funny but this film proves that they can also be as unpleasant as overhearing your parents having sex. Each scene contains at least one of these jokes and from the most absurd sources.
At one point a priest is asked if he will accept de la Vega's confession, and he responds with a cheesy one-liner.
"Hell no!" he says.
It is said that Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, was influenced by the stories of Zorro he read as a kid. It also seems that the director, Martin Campbell ("Golden Eye," "Mask of Zorro") paid tribute to this connection by manufacturing movies eerily similar to the Batman films.
All the action scenes in the film seem as if they were lifted from the cutting-room floor of "Batman Begins."
Campbell's action sequences focus more on explosions than intricate fight scenes.
However, the movie starts off with a super-human fight scene that is so utterly outlandish that moviegoers will question why they bought a ticket.
During this scene the audience witnesses some very impressive, however also very unlikely abilities. During this sequence Zorro knocks a man down from 100 yards away with his hat.
Yes, his hat.
Zorro never uses a gun. Instead his weapons of choice are his whip, sword or the aforementioned hat. It also seems Zorro is as fast as The Flash, because at one point he outruns a horse and wagon on foot. However, with that said, the conclusion of this sequence includes the best fight scene in the film, as Zorro battles three men on a bridge.
All in all, "Legend of Zorro" is a sequel to a mediocre film and it shows from start to finish. If you love the Zeta-Jones and Banderas chemistry in the first film or are just a fan of either one of them, it might be worth sitting through the mess.
