List Price:   $14.94 Price:   $13.49 find out more information

Buy posters from this movie

The story seems solid enough, and in line with the previous film: Armand (Rufus Sewell), a charming but dastardly member of a European secret society, seeks to stem the growing influence of the United States by sabotaging California's entry as a free state and igniting a civil war (the year is 1850; presumably a civil war ten years earlier would have been even more crippling). To make matters worse, he's romancing Elena de la Vega (Catherine Zeta-Jones), after arguments with husband Alejandro (Antonio Banderas) over how much time he spends as Zorro and how much he spends with their ten-year-old son Joaquin (Adrian Alonso) creates a rift in their marriage.

Happily, the kid isn't really a problem; the film could do without him, but since he was introduced in Mask, he therefore must be here. The problem is, I was never really able to buy Alejandro and Elena being estranged. And when we're told that they divorce - well, divorce is a bigger deal for Catholics now, 150 years after this movie is set, than it appears to be for the de la Vegas. In addition, the movie is sloppy with its history in ways its predecessor wasn't - Mask also takes place circa 1850, and while its writers (Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio) receive story credit here, most of the script comes from The Island screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and features jarring anachronisms, like a Southern general referring to "Confederate states" about ten years early (the set decorator also loses points for having a modern map of the United States appear at one point).

Despite some technically impressive set pieces - the miniature work with the train is very nice indeed - something seems to be missing. Maybe there really is something to the rumors that Martin Campbell worked from Robert Rodriguez's storyboards in the first, because he's never done anything as good as Mask of Zorro before or since (yes, I'm including GoldenEye in this statement). There's nobody around who really classes up the joint like Anthony Hopkins did, either.

Rufus Sewell's villain just isn't in the same league as Stuart Wilson's Montero from the first movie; instead of creepy obsession, we get French jokes. And his chief henchman (Nick Chinlund) is certainly no match for his predecessor, either. Rather than blowing them off the screen, Banderas and Zeta-Jones kind of settle down to their level. The whole affair doesn't have the same zing or tension as Mask.

If you can somehow put "The Mask of Zorro" out of your mind, though, "Legend" isn't so bad. It's not great, but it's an enjoyable enough adventure movie, with swordfighting and nice action scenes. You can bring the kids and they'll enjoy it plenty.

Share |

link directly to this review at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=13440&reviewer=371
originally posted: 11/17/05 14:03:57
 printer-friendly format