Weather Tonight: 4°c Partly Cloudy Night Morning: 8°c Cloudy

Film

London,

The Legend Of Zorro

Cert: certPG

Not rated Evening Standard rating
Not rated

Reader rating

Your rating

one star two star three star four star five star

Click on a star to rate

Country: US.

Duration: 130mins

Showing at

The missus messes up Zorro

The Legend of Zorro

Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard 27 Oct 2005


It's nice to see Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones again as Zorro and Elena. Age has not withered their charms, even if Martin Campbell's film spends almost as much time with their stunt doubles as he does with them. This is an action movie remember, and not to be treated seriously for a moment.

Zorro is now married to Elena and possessed of a 10-year-old son (Adrian Alonso). She thinks he's deserted them in favour of swashbuckling and serves divorce papers on him; he hits the bottle, along with his steed.

Fortunately, he recovers himself when a corrupt robber baron (Nick Chinlund) and nasty French aristo, Rufus Sewell, start intimidating the honest people of California. He jumps over roofs and battles on moving trains as well as imitating Errol Flynn or Burt Lancaster with the sword. In the end, of course, he beats the lot of them and wins back Elena's love.

Campbell gives too much time to Zorro's boy, who looks a bit like a stunt double for Tom Cruise, and too little to the on-off romance between his two stars - amid the frenetic action, they hardly have time to act as if they even know each other. He also extends the film at least a quarter of an hour beyond its proper measure, so it flags badly halfway through.

But the action suffices if you like that sort of thing, and the stunt doubles are excellent. I liked the drunken horse too.

Otherwise the humour is elementary, the storyline simple to the point of daftness and the whole is not nearly as satisfactory as the first episode.

"We literally shot the final draft of the script," says Campbell, "and that's a rare thing indeed in movies." Unwise, too, as it transpires.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

Reader views (0)

 Add your view

No comments have so far been submitted.


Add your comment

 

Terms and conditions Make text area bigger You have  characters left.

We welcome your opinions. This is a public forum. Libellous and abusive comments are not allowed. Please read our House Rules.

For information about privacy and cookies please read our Privacy Policy.