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Drop your thinking cap The Legend of
Zorro, with its special effects folks working overtime, provides ideal escapist entertainment, observes
Ervell E. Menezes
From
the 1970s onwards Hollywood specialised
in sequels with The Godfather and The French Connection cashing
in on the marketability of the parent film. Now the strategy seems to
have changed and sequel has probably become a dirty word. They call it
by another name. So, seven years after The Mask of Zorro we
have The Legend of Zorro that has the same star pair of Antonio
Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But the irreverence is greater and
so is spoofing. He also has a 10-year-old son to add to the action and
his horse not only drinks liquor but also smokes a pipe. But basically
it is the megalomaniacal Count (Rufus Sewell) he has to contend with.
That Zorro’s wife (Zeta-Jones) flirts with the Count only adds to
the tension with a triangle of sorts, but it is more
tongue-in-cheek. So, for action-film aficionados you have all the
thrills of yore plus some new ones, like Zorro on horseback jumping on
a running train and what does he do when they approach a tunnel? Well,
director Martin Campbell has a string of gags and the special effects
folks work overtime to provide super entertainment but remember to
keep your thinking caps safely locked in your cupboard (like Old
Mother Hubbard) at home. "Piety is a long-standing
tradition in our family," says the suave who doesn’t hesitate
to cut his employees’ tongues and feed it to the dogs. But the sunny
state of California is an apt locale with its picturesque outdoors for
all the action. It is the mid-nineteenth century and it is about to be
inducted into the Union. But Zorro has his own following and though
his disguise isn’t complete, he misses no chance of daring his
opponents. With his whip as a prop and his trademark Z as effective as
ever, our oldest (probably) hero is once again at it, a regular
one-man army, getting in and out of trouble like a cat with nine
lives. Equally at home jumping from one hacienda balcony to another or
defying the laws of gravity, he takes on the dirty rotten scoundrels
and restores peace and tranquillity… sorry I’m telling the end but
who would doubt it? Banderas is much more relaxed as in the last
seven years he has really gone from strength to strength. In Mask
he was just stepping into Zorro’s stirrups. Now he’s really
digging them into his horse, the villains and at times the audience,
ably supported by Catherine Zeta-Jones whose oomph becomes her
seductive character and a rather good-looking Rufus Sewell rounds up
the acting talent. Ideal escapist entertainment, The Legend of
Zorro is quite sumptuous. Have a dekko. |
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