The Legend of Zorro

The Legend of Zorro is a 2005 American Western swashbuckler film directed by Martin Campbell, produced by Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Lloyd Phillips, with music by James Horner, and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the sequel to 1998's The Mask of Zorro; Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reprise their roles as the titular hero and his spouse, Elena, and Rufus Sewell stars as the villain, Count Armand. The film takes place in San Mateo County, California and was shot in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with second-unit photography in Wellington, New Zealand. The film was theatrically released on October 28, 2005, by Columbia Pictures (instead of TriStar due to Columbia holding the sequel rights to TriStar's pre-1999 film library), and earned $142.4 million on a $65 million budget.

Plot
In 1850, California votes on whether to join the United States of America as a state. Zorro, formerly Alejandro Murrieta, now known to the public as Don Alejandro De La Vega, foils a plot to steal the ballots. During the fight, he loses his mask, and two Pinkerton agents see his face. Alejandro's marriage with his wife Elena becomes strained after he refuses to stop being Zorro when the election ends. The couple fights and Alejandro moves out. The following day, the Pinkertons confront Elena, who later divorces Alejandro.

The separation and the feeling the people no longer need Zorro take a toll on Alejandro. His childhood guardian, Father Felipe, takes him to a party at the vineyard of French Count Armand. Alejandro discovers Elena is dating Armand, an old friend from her time in Europe. Leaving the party, Alejandro witnesses an explosion near the vineyard and becomes suspicious of Armand. Gunman Jacob McGivens leads an attack on Guillermo, a farmer and friend of Alejandro, to seize his land. Zorro rescues Guillermo's wife and son, but Guillermo is killed.

While at Armand's mansion for a date, Elena surreptitiously investigates his secret study, discovering information about a plot involving explosives and a group called Orbis Unum (One World in Latin). Zorro sneaks into the mansion and overhears Armand discussing his plan to build a railroad through Cortez's land with McGivens.

The next day, Alejandro's son Joaquin sneaks out of a class field trip and hides on McGivens’s cart. Joaquin is caught by McGivens's bandits as they receive a shipment of cargo in a cove. Zorro saves Joaquin from the bandits and sees the cargo consists of bars of soap, with the phrase Orbis Unum printed on the crates. Father Felipe tells Alejandro it is the symbol of the Knights of Aragon, a secret society Armand is a member of, which has secretly ruled Europe for millennia. The Knights have deemed the United States a threat and plan to destroy it.

Alejandro is captured and imprisoned by the Pinkertons. They reveal they confronted Elena with knowledge of his identity as Zorro and blackmailed her into divorcing Alejandro and seducing Armand to learn of the Knights' plans without the aid of Zorro. Because California is not yet a U.S. state, they cannot search Armand's home themselves. Joaquin frees Alejandro from captivity.

At Armand's mansion, Zorro finds Elena. They spy on Armand as he gives a speech to the Knights, revealing the soap bars contain an ingredient for nitroglycerin. The vineyard is a cover for the production of the weapon, which will be given to the Confederate army, with the help of its colonel Beauregard, to launch a sneak attack on Washington, D.C., and destroy the Union. Zorro and Elena reconcile while he prepares to destroy the train carrying the explosives. McGivens arrives at Felipe's church to look for Zorro. Unable to find him, he shoots Felipe and kidnaps Joaquin. Armand discovers Elena's deception and takes her hostage with Joaquin. Zorro is captured and unmasked in front of his son. Armand takes Joaquin and Elena away on the train and orders McGivens to kill Alejandro. Felipe, saved from the bullet by the cross he wears, rescues Alejandro, who kills McGivens.

Zorro catches up with the train on horseback and fights Armand. Elena helps Joaquin escape, then fights Armand's henchman Ferroq and throws him from the train with a bottle of nitro near Beauregard at their prearranged meeting point, killing them all. Further along the tracks, the governor prepares to sign the bill to make California a Union state. Joaquin rides Tornado, Zorro's horse, off the train and diverts it onto another track, away from the bill signing ceremony. Zorro sees the track as a dead-end, ties Armand to the engine, and escapes with Elena. The train crashes, setting off the nitroglycerin and killing Armand.

The governor signs the bill, and California becomes the 31st U.S. state. Alejandro remarries Elena and apologizes to Joaquin for his secrecy, recognizing Zorro's identity should be a family secret. With Elena's support, Zorro rides off on Tornado to his next mission.

Cast

 * Antonio Banderas as Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro, a masked vigilante and warrior
 * Catherine Zeta-Jones as Elena de la Vega, Alejandro's wife
 * Rufus Sewell as Count Armand
 * Nick Chinlund as Jacob McGivens
 * Adrián Alonso as Joaquin de la Vega, Alejandro and Elena's son who doesn't know his father's secret
 * Julio Oscar Mechoso as Padre Felipe
 * Shuler Hensley as Pike
 * Michael Emerson as Harrigan
 * Leo Burmester as Colonel Beauregard
 * Tony Amendola as Padre Quintero
 * Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as Governor Riley
 * Giovanna Zacarias as Blanca Cortez
 * Raúl Méndez as Ferroq
 * Alberto Reyes as Padre Ignacio

Music

 * Track listing

Reception
The Legend of Zorro currently holds a rating of 47 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes, 28% of 141 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critics consensus states, "Zorro can survive a lot of things, but it looks like he can't survive marriage". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a below-average review, awarding it one and a half out of four stars, commenting that "of all of the possible ideas about how to handle the Elena character, this movie has assembled the worst ones." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave The Legend of Zorro two out of four stars, saying that "the action is routine", "the chemistry between the two leads, which was one of the highlights of The Mask of Zorro, has evaporated during the intervening years", and that the movie "fails to recapture the pleasure offered by The Mask of Zorro."

Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised the film, calling it "entertaining, bold, and self-effacing at once", noting the civic and parental questions it raises. Slate Magazine critic David Edelstein also praised the film, in particular the action scenes, villains, and chemistry between Banderas and Zeta-Jones. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film was "watchable – not remotely enjoyable, but watchable." Nathan Rabin of The Onion's A.V. Club gave the film a lukewarm review, saying that "director Martin Campbell doles out action sequences stingily", and added that "The Legend of Zorro still feels like a half-hearted shrug of a sequel." Brian Lowry of Variety said that The Legend of Zorro is "considerably less charming than The Mask of Zorro", but added that the film "gets by mostly on dazzling stunt work and the pleasure of seeing its dashing and glamorous leads back in cape and gown." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly awarded the film a "B−" score. Schwarzbaum said that "too many scenes emphasize gross butchery over the elegance of the blade", but added that the film is "well-oiled" and praised the "fancy fight sequences".

Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post reacted negatively, calling The Legend of Zorro "a waste of talent, time, and money" and "stupid and boring". Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle was also not impressed, remarking that "there are precious few things for a Zorro fan – or a film fan, for that matter – not to loathe about The Legend of Zorro." The film did reasonably well at the box office, grossing $142,400,065 internationally, but did not match the success of its predecessor.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and VHS on January 31, 2006. It was later released on Blu-ray on December 11, 2007.

Potential crossover sequel
In June 2019, Quentin Tarantino had picked Jerrod Carmichael to co-write a film adaptation based on his crossover comic book series, Django/Zorro which was a crossover with Django Unchained. Tarantino and Jamie Foxx have both expressed interest in having Antonio Banderas reprise his role as Zorro from The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro in the film in addition to Foxx returning as Django Freeman. In a 2022 interview with GQ, Carmichael revealed that the film had been cancelled.