BEFORE: This is the last film set in the indistinct American West - after this, it's only specific cities or countries for the rest of the year. This film ALMOST made it into the World Tour as a film set in Mexico, but then a little research revealed that the adventures of Zorro take place in the Spanish territory that would eventually become California. Aha! That made this film the perfect lead-in to my Virtual World Tour, which will kick off tomorrow with a film set in San Francisco. Why San Francisco? Well, it's a city I recently visited for the first time, and when I was plotting out the virtual tour, I was also planning the trip to S.F. in the real world. I could start the tour anywhere, but once I earmarked my two films set in San Francisco as the start and the finish, the rest of the order just kind of fell into place.
Linking from "The Quick and the Dead", Sharon Stone was also in the 2006 film "Bobby" with Anthony Hopkins (last seen in "Nixon").
THE PLOT: The elder Zorro trains his replacement to fight the enemy Montero.
AFTER: First off, no one in this film was hanged or threatened with a noose. Thank God, that was a strange week-long trend that I'm happy to see end. If you've linked to my blog from some strange fetish web-site that's all about choking or asphyxiation, you're welcome to stick around, but really, that's not what this project is all about. Anyway, the Mexican soldiers much prefer firing squads over the gallows.
Maybe it was me, or the fact that I spent much of my Saturday at the office instead of at home, but I found it hard to follow much of this film. The plot seemed to be going off in ten different directions at once, without a clear focus. If I have to check Wikipedia after a film to figure out what each character was trying to accomplish, then perhaps the film failed to make things clear. There should be a clearly defined set of goals for each character, and "become Zorro" shouldn't be one of them - that should be seen as a method to accomplish something else, not a goal on its own.
Oh, right - revenge for his brother. And the elder Zorro (who knew it was a profession, not just a guy?) has his own goals, to get out of prison and reunite with his daughter. Still, it's all just a bit fuzzy and not well-defined. What was up with the villain's master plan, something about buying California? I don't know if that's such a great plan - it's going to get filled up with liberals, hippies and movie stars someday...
By having two Zorros, the whole film seemed kind of split anyway - which one is supposed to be the main character? Having Don Diego train his replacement is kind of a neat idea, but while you can teach swordfighting, horse riding, etc., how do you teach heroism? Someone's either a hero, or he's not, and I'm not sure the younger Zorro's transition from thief to heroic renegade is fully warranted or supported here.
What happens if Zorro picks the wrong guy to replace him? Can he take back the franchise rights? What if that guy turns out to be really clumsy, or can't do that thing with the sword where he cuts a "Z" pattern in something? I've just got a lot of questions about the logistics of this thing.
I'll give the film credit for having an action-packed last act - a bit hokey with the Rube Goldberg-style mechanisms all around, but I think sword fights are a lot more interesting when the participants move around a lot, and incorporate whatever random items are nearby into the fight.
The obvious follow-up here would be "The Legend of Zorro", but for some reason the premium channels don't seem to run that one (don't you just hate that?). But that's fine, because the big year-end movie chain around the world starts tomorrow, so rest up.
Also starring Antonio Banderas (last heard in "Shrek Forever After"), Catherine Zeta-Jones (last seen in "Death Defying Acts"), Stuart Wilson, Matt Letscher, with a cameo from Maury Chaykin (last seen in "Cutthroat Island").
RATING: 5 out of 10 haystacks
No comments:
Post a Comment