It's a good thing that I didn't buy anything sweet at the concession stand before watching this film. I think the eye candy in The Legend of Zorro - both Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones - was enough. I suppose I should write something about the film, because no one just goes to the movies for the eye candy alone. Or do they?
About the film - the opening action sequence was amazing. The music - was it flamenco - along with the acrobatics of whoever was Antonio Banderas' stuntman were breathtaking. He dove gracefully through the air as if he would land safely in water. He danced on timber beams while sword fighting four men. Zorro was super-human, or at least he seemed to be so in this scene and was to the people of California. The other action sequences paled in comparison to this one.
A couple other things in general about the film - the fact that the women in the movie, and the little boy, were able to fight and defend themselves was an added bonus. It was interesting how one thread of the story revolved around tension between Alejandro and Elena's relationship. It was actually quite unexpected to find them fighting and divorced in the first act. Some of the later scenes between them were right out of a screwball comedy. Their divorce was just a sham, and we knew it the whole time, but it made things more interesting for Alejandro/Zorro. Us being privy to that little bit of information also helped to make us more sympathetic to Alejandro and his struggle to understand why Elena left him.
The most fascinating aspect of this film is its use of history - or misuse, I'm not sure. On occasion during the film, the film makers would insert shots of Californian culture, or their interpretation of it. Crowd shots showed the ethnic make-up of the population. There was one shot of a group of women sitting in a circle making tortillas. There is another shot of a baby lying in a box suspended from the ceiling instead of in a cradle on the floor. These are just a few examples of little tidbits of 19th century Californian culture that were thrown into the film. I am always intrigued when literature and film use historical events as part of the story. Isn't truth stranger than fiction after all? I'm no historian so I cannot tell you if the historical and cultural aspects of Californian life portrayed in the film are accurate. Did the wine industry in California really begin around the 1850s? Was nitroglycerin actually invented around this time, too? I don't know but I hope so. I don't mind when history is used in the story, but when it is misused, not so much.
I have two complaints about this film. First, it was a bit long. After they discovered the secret society that was trying to take over the world, did we have to go through the whole train sequence at the end? I realize that Zorro's family and the whole of California had to be in danger, but could we have gotten to the part where everyone is saved a little faster? I do have to give them credit for how Zorro escapes the clutches of the enemy (i.e. the scene where the knife is at his throat), but I didn't need to see that horrible special effect of the horse diving through the ceiling of the train car, then the train fight, then the son jumping the horse out of the train, then more train fight and then the bad guy's horrible death. Just rescue your family and blow up the train for goodness sake! Second, how many secret societies are there? I guess we'll never know since they are secret, but does there have to be one in every movie? That seems to be the fad in Hollywood. The old take-over-the-world-ploy should be used wisely, in my mind. In this film, I don't think it was. It probably would have been enough for the bad guys to be thwarting California's attempt to join the Union.
at November 6, 2005 9:31 PM