The Legend of Zorro is a 2005 American superhero 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, and earned $142.4 million on a $75 million budget.
Plot[]
In 1850, California votes on whether to join the United States 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 with a gunman named Jacob McGivens, 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 demoralizes 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 Spain. Drunk and angrily leaving the party, Alejandro witnesses an explosion near the vineyard and becomes suspicious of Armand. The next day, 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. McGivens's bandits catch Joaquin as they receive a cargo shipment 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.
The Pinkertons capture and imprison Alejandro. They reveal that they confronted Elena with knowledge of his identity as Zorro, blackmailed her into divorcing Alejandro, and seduced Armand to learn of the Knights' plans without Zorro's aid. Because California is not a U.S. state yet, 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 barscontain 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 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 after killing the Pinkertons. 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 by riding his horse 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. Seeing the track as a dead-end, Zorro overpowers and 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