The Legend of Zorro
| Year: | 2006 |
| Studio: | Columbia |
| Director: | Martin Campbell |
| Cast: | Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta Jones |
Karl Rove has a lot to answer for. It's so interesting that Hollywood is traditionally a hotbed of left-leaning, anti-authority liberalism, yet so many production line studio movies stick so religiously to the pro-US line of extreme patriotism. Even more amazing considering they're talking about a Spanish folk hero, but every character follows the Disney worldview that Everyone is an American.
Somebody put this script through the wringer, making sure all the check boxes were filled; precocious kid? check. Plenty of fights? Check. Spectacular explosions wherever possible? Check. Wry, winking jokes about the trials of married life (according to 21st century mores, amazing again considering it was set in a time of comparable sexual repression and clear cut gender roles)? Check.
Otherwise, it's a nothingness of flimsy plotting, castrated family-friendly gags and fluff as Banderas' Zorro has the grapple with devotion to his family versus the fight for justice. I never saw the original, but it was supposedly pretty sexy and edgy. This one is a hack job.
Somebody put this script through the wringer, making sure all the check boxes were filled; precocious kid? check. Plenty of fights? Check. Spectacular explosions wherever possible? Check. Wry, winking jokes about the trials of married life (according to 21st century mores, amazing again considering it was set in a time of comparable sexual repression and clear cut gender roles)? Check.
Otherwise, it's a nothingness of flimsy plotting, castrated family-friendly gags and fluff as Banderas' Zorro has the grapple with devotion to his family versus the fight for justice. I never saw the original, but it was supposedly pretty sexy and edgy. This one is a hack job.