THE MASK OF ZORRO and THE LEGEND OF ZORRO [1998 / 2005 / 2021] [2 Movie Collection] [UK Release] Zorro Rides To The Rescue with High Romance, Pure Ideals and Dashing Heroism!
With this 2 Movie Collection it features two swashbuckling adventure movies.
In ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ [1998], Don Diego de la Vega [Sir Anthony Hopkins] is a swashbuckling legend, adopting the moniker Zorro and donning a mask in his fight against Spanish despots in Alta California. Twenty years after hanging up his sword, he needs to find a successor to gain revenge on Don Rafael Montero [Stuart Wilson], the tyrant who stole his wife and daughter Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones] two decades ago. Don Diego de la Vega [Sir Anthony Hopkins] selects the swarthy Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro [Antonio Banderas] as his protégé, but the unruly bandit needs some rough edges smoothed out before he can wield his blade on his teacher’s behalf.
‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ [2005] having spent the last ten years fighting injustice and cruelty, Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro [Antonio Banderas] is now facing his greatest challenge: his wife Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones] has thrown him out and found comfort in the arms of Count Armand [Rufus Sewell], a dashing French aristocrat. But Zorro knows something she doesn’t: Count Armand is the mastermind behind an evil plot to destroy the United States. And so, with his marriage and his country’s future at stake, it’s up to Zorro to try to save two unions before it’s too late.
THE MASK OF ZORRO [1998] In 1812, Spain’s three hundred year domination of Mexico was about to come to an end. A People’s rebellion, led by General Santa Anna, spread from the arid mountains of the south of the rich and fertile Northern Province known as California. Peasants gathered in the streets, calling for the blood of the last Spanish Governor, Don Rafael Montero. Although under the orders to return to Spain, Don Rafael Montero refused to relinquish power without one final reckoning, but who will win in the end?
FILM FACT: James Horner was hired to compose the film score in September 1997. The soundtrack, released by Sony Classical Records and Epic Soundtrax, was commercially successful and propelled by the rising profile of the Latin heartthrobs of Marc Anthony and Australian singer Tina Arena. Their duet, "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" and plays in the closing credits of the film and was released as a single in Europe. The song went #3 on the French singles and #4 on the Dutch singles charts.
Cast: José María de Tavira, Diego Sieres, Emiliano Guerra, Yolanda Orizaga, Paco Morayta, William Marquez, Tony Amendola, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Pedro Altamirano, Luisa Huertas, María Fernández Cruz, Mónica Fernández Cruz, Julieta Rosen, Antonio Banderas, Raúl Martínez, Victor Rivers, L.Q. Jones, José Pérez, Tony Cabral, Tony Genaro, Iván Rafael, David Villalpando, Matt Letscher, Maury Chaykin, Paul Ganus, Sergio Espinoza, Conrad Roberts, Abel Woolrich, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Moisés Suárez, Humberto Elizondo, Fernando Becerril, Alberto Carrera, Eduardo López, Gonzalo Lora, Rudy Miller, Manolo Pastor, Diego Sandoval, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Enrike Palma, Erika Carlsson, Manuel de Jesús Vásquez Morales [Guitar-Playing Soldier], Óscar Zerafín González, Vanessa Bauche, Kelsie Kimberli Garcia [Baby Joaquín], Kaylissa Keli Garcia [Baby Joaquín], JD Roberto (uncredited), Eduardo Roman (uncredited) and Taso N. Stavrakis (uncredited)
Director: Martin Campbell
Producers: David Foster, Doug Claybourne, John Gertz, Laurie MacDonald, Steven Spielberg, Tava Sofsky and Walter F. Parkes
Screenplay: Johnston McCulley (character Zorro), Randall Jahnson (story), Ted Elliott (story/screenplay), Terry Rossio (story/screenplay) and John Eskow (screenplay)
Composer: James Horner (music)
Costume Design: Graciela Mazón
Cinematography: Philip Méheux, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Color by CFI)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Italian: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Spanish: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Português and Swedish
Running Time: 137 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: TriStar Pictures / AMBLIN Entertainment / SONY Pictures Home Entertainment
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THE LEGEND OF ZORRO [2005] The original caped crusader is back! Antonio Banderas and Academy Award®-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (2002 for Best Supporting Actress in “Chicago”) return for more swashbuckling action, adventure and excitement in the explosive cinematic thrill-ride, ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO.’ Having spent the last ten years fighting injustice and cruelty Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro [Antonio Banderas] is now facing his greatest challenge: his loving wife Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones] has thrown him out of the house! Eléna de la Vega has filed for divorce and found comfort in the arms of Count Armand [Rufus Sewell], a dashing French aristocrat. But Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro knows something Eléna de la Vega does not, that Count Armand is the evil mastermind behind a terrorist plot to destroy the United States. And so, with his marriage and country's future at stake, it's up to Zorro to try and save two unions before it's too late.
FILM FACT: An alternate ending, included on the DVD, shows a grown-up Joaquin de la Vega putting on the costume and riding off into the sunset, following his father's and maternal grandfather Diego de la Vega's (portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins in ‘The Mask of Zorro’) footsteps as Zorro, while the elderly Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro and Eléna de la Vega watch proudly. This was changed to the theatrical ending in order to allow for future sequels with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, something that never happened. A deleted scene on the film's DVD features a short discussion on a magic lantern presentation. The use of the Henry repeating rifle by Jacob McGivens is a mistake; it was only introduced in the early 1860’s and produced throughout 1866.
Cast: Alberto Reyes, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Adrian Alonso, Nick Chinlund, Giovanna Zacarías, Carlos Cobos, Antonio Banderas, Michael Emerson, Shuler Hensley, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Mary Crosby, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mauricio Bonet, Fernando Becerril, Xavier Marc, Pepe Olivares, Alexandra Benedetti, Tony Amendola, Brandon Frenkiel, Alejandro Galán, Rufus Sewell, Leo Burmester, Tina French, Rayo Rojas, Raúl Méndez, Mar Carrera, Pedro Altamirano, Silverio Palacios, Alfredo Ramírez, Juan Manuel Vilchis, Antonio Gallegos, Phil Meheux, Matthew Stirling, Pedro Mira, Michel Bos (uncredited), Rowley Irlam (uncredited), Sol E. Romero (uncredited), Simon Shelton (uncredited), Steve Tartalia (uncredited) and Valarie Trapp (uncredited)
Director: Martin Campbell
Producers: Amy Lescoe, Gary Barber, John Gertz, Laurie MacDonald, Lloyd Phillips, Marc Haimes, Mark Cartier, Olimpia Quintanilla, Roger Birnbaum, Steven Spielberg and Walter F. Parkes
Screenplay: Alex Kurtzman (story/screenplay), Roberto Orci (story/screenplay), Ted Elliott (story) and Terry Rossio (story)
Composer: James Horner (music)
Costume Design: Graciela Mazón
Cinematography: Philip Méheux, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Color by DeLuxe)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
Spanish: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
Czech: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Russian: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Hindi, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Swedish and Turkish
Running Time: 130 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / SONY Pictures Home Entertainment / SPYGLASS Entertainment / AMBLIN Entertainment
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Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ [1998] When a power-crazed despot schemes to buy California from Mexico, it takes two Zorros, the legendary Don Diego de la Vega [Sir Anthony Hopkins] and his chosen successor Alejandro Murrieta [Antonio Banderas], a dashing bandit-turned-hero, to defeat the tyrant's unscrupulous plans. But can even their combined skills, bravado and derring-do be enough to achieve Don Diego de la Vega's ultimate goal: revenge against the man who killed his wife, kidnapped his daughter and held him prisoner for twenty years?
Steven Spielberg is only an executive producer of ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO,’ but the film bears his mark as vividly as Zorro's enemies bear the fiery Z he carves as a sign of his power. The action is explosive, the romance is sentimental, and the message is a Steven Spielberg blend of "love conquers all" and "might make it right."
Nobody can keep a Hollywood hero behind bars forever, of course, and Zorro eventually leaves his cell. But two decades have passed, and he's a little old for the swordplay that used to be all in a day's work. What he needs is an apprentice, and if candidates aren't exactly lined up for the job, he'll have to make do with the material at hand: a dashing young bandit who needs a few lessons in technique, discipline, and charm. Soon teacher and pupil are an unbeatable team, determined to wreck Don Rafael's new scheme to build an independent California on the backs of its ruthlessly exploited population.
In a sea of CGI-filled blockbusters, ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ burst forth in 1998 with a mix of adventure and humour that had long been absent from the silver screen. Sir Anthony Hopkins is the sprightly but aging Zorro. Imprisoned for years after humiliating those in power once too often, he makes a daring escape to exact his revenge upon the despicable Don Rafael Montero [Stuart Wilson], who presided over the death of his wife, and stole their new-born child.
What Zorro doesn't know is that Don Rafael Montero raised the baby girl as his own. When she returns 20 years later in the form of Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones], Zorro decides to train-up the foul and scruffy Alejandro de la Vega [Antonio Banderas] into a new young Zorro, to defeat the evil Montero.
The training sequences alone are very funny, and there's witty humour laced throughout the entire film. Director Martin Campbell is a master of marrying story with action, and creates a thoroughly modern adventure film, made up of distinctly old-fashioned ingredients.
The swordplay and fight choreography is a joy to watch, with impressive sets providing a fantastic backdrop to the film. There are no clever ground-breaking effects, just lashings of good clean fun with desperately devilish baddies, and good guys so fantastic, so clever and witty, that they make you want to weep with pleasure.
‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ rises above the banal Hollywood action film due to the fine performances of Sir Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas as the old and young Zorro’s. The overall plot is very engaging and offers the traditional fun of watching heroes vanquish the evil villains.
Antonio Banderas may have an unrivalled grasp upon female lust that we lesser mortal males can never hope to match, but it's impossible not to be swept up in his rousing performance as the masked swordsman, Zorro and is totally brilliant as the masked hero.
‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ is proudly old-fashioned in every way except the often excessive violence that director Martin Campbell splashes across the screen. Sir Anthony Hopkins demonstrates his versatility as the older hero; and Antonio Banderas keeps up nicely as his protégé. To sum up Sir Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas performance in ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ was totally superb and they worked really well together and created something truly special. But equally superb was Matt Letscher as Captain Harrison Love, who was of course totally opposite as the naïve misguided evil ruthless killer and one you love to hate.
THE MASK OF ZORRO MUSIC TRACK LIST
I WANT TO SPEND MY LIFETIME LOVING YOU (Music by James Horner) (Lyrics by Will Jennings) [Performed by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena]
QUIERO VIVIR LA VIDA AMANDOTE (Music by James Horner) (Lyrics by Emilio Estefan Jr. and Angie Chirino) [Performed by Jon Secada and Ana Gabriel]
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Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ [2005] It is 1850 – The People of California – Poor and desperate – are on the verge of joining the Union as its Thirty-First State . . . Under proclamation of the Governor, an historic vote holds the key to their fate . . . and the promise of Freedom!
In 1998 ‘The Mask of Zorro’ was released to critical success and moderate box office numbers. It was considered one of the best portrayals of the fictitious, heroic vigilante ever seen. That's probably why seven years later the sequel, ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ made its way to theatres. On top of all that, Antonio Banderas was excellent casting choice and his chemistry with co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones was brilliant. The young boy who plays their son, Joaquin [Adrian Alonso] is rather cute and handles his scenes very well. Rufus Sewell plays an excellent villain as Count Armand and this role is no exception. His facial features just naturally lend themselves to think of him as evil and he also really pulls it off.
Director Martin Campbell is back, along with returning stars Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones — though Sir Anthony Hopkins as the original Zorro is sorely missed, along with the thrills, wit, and romance. After the high standard set by the original film ‘The Mask of Zorro, ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is back with a vengeance and really keeps the adventure on track once again for a brilliant roller coaster ride.
‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is really even more family-friendly and certainly the filmmakers are courting family audiences in a new way this time around. We also now get to see Zorro’s horse burps, swigs wine, puffs on a pipe, and even gets CGI-enhanced reaction shots in which his eyes widen at impending danger.
The swordplay is just as dramatic this time around, though characters are killed in other ways, notably involving nitro-glycerine explosions. And certainly there’s nothing like the original’s gross-out scene with a decapitated head in a jar of wine in ‘The Mask of Zorro.’ Though one bad guy watches wide-eyed as a drop of “nitro” falls toward his face; and the actual explosion makes you cheer from the rafters in getting this nasty villain gets his due comeuppance.
Although Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro and Eléna de la Vega each seem to think that the other is at least partly at fault, the filmmakers, as far as I can tell, seem basically to agree with Eléna de la Vega. Only Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro wrestles with self-doubt. Only Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro is rebuked by the Padre Felipe [Julio Oscar Mechoso], who tells him not to bother coming to confession until he goes back to Eléna de la Vega. Only Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro is repeatedly humbled, from to the drunken brawl at the soirée culminating in Eléna de la Vega slapping his face, to a crucial scene in which, held at knifepoint and forcibly stripped of his mask in front of his enemies and family, Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro solemnly tells Eléna de la Vega on his knees that “Family is my life.”
A large explosion near Count Armand [Rufus Sewell] hacienda arouses Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro’s suspicions. Time for Don Alejandro de la Vega to don his Zorro persona one last time to protect the people, his family, the new state of California, and the United States of America, from evil Count Armand’s evil European plot to conquest America and eventually the world.
‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is filled with exciting action, lots of humour and American patriotism. It also has a very strong Christian worldview with very strong moral values. For example, a Cross saves a man’s life, the Holy Trinity is affirmed, a priest quotes 1 Cor. 13, there are many visual references to Jesus, His sacrificial death and the Cross, evil is rebuked, and Zorro is a good role model for his young son, Joaquin. Ultimately, Zorro and his family discover that, although his family is his life, being a hero and fighting evil and injustice in their community is also their family’s moral duty. In this way, the family reconciles two conflicting Christian duties. As such, their story here serves as a great role model for us all.
‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ goes way beyond that, giving us what to expect from this masked super-heroic legend. The film’s big set pieces are totally brilliant and really edge of your seat enjoyment, especially with the dramatic action sequences on the train and the of course the train’s end of its journey, where the evil villain gets his due comeuppance.
‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is to me just as good as ‘The Mask of Zorro,’ despite all the negative comments about the film, which to me is also a very watchable film. Because it was great to see Antonio Banderas as the masked swordsmen again and Catherine Zeta-Jones is stunning as ever. Because it is a film that illustrates how a hero is trying to help individuals who cannot defend themselves against injustice that they had been enduring for past several centuries in the hands of elite groups. At the same time, Eléna de la Vega joined him to bring down the rouge element, but Eléna de la Vega could not tell him what she was doing to keep Zorro from harm.
On top of all that, I felt the film ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is a great sequel to ‘The Mask of Zorro,’ and all those negative comments about the film ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is totally out of order and unjustified criticism. More precisely, ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is definitely a “funny family action film” and it is a film that is definitely a qualification as a children’s entertainment and is even good enough for all you grown‑ups out there.
THE LEGEND OF ZORRO MUSIC TRACK LIST
RONDO (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by The National Chamber Orchestra of Mexico]
ELENA’S FANFARE (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by The National Chamber Orchestra of Mexico]
FIREWORKS (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by The National Chamber Orchestra of Mexico]
WALTZ & QUADRILLE (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by The National Chamber Orchestra of Mexico]
OLD MARIACHI SUITE (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by Mariachi Santa Rosa]
CALIFORNIA DIANAS (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by Banda De Tlayacapan]
CANTINA’S POLKA (Written by Eduardo Gamboa) [Performed by Ensamble Mocorito]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – SONY Pictures Home Entertainment presents the two films ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ and ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ with an absolutely stunning and sharp 1080p image and of course the 2.40:1 and the 2.35:1 aspect ratios really enhance the films presentations. On top of all that, the brilliant crisp contrast of each film gets a very pleasant depth of field and dimensionality. Brightness levels are totally perfect, and sometimes the interior settings might be slightly dimly-lit, but for most of the film's runtime, blacks are deep and true, providing some beautiful shots both in night-time and daylight sequences. Again, the image presentation in both films is highly-detailed, and you definitely get total sharp clarity and strong visibility with the distance views. Viewers will also make out plenty of fine textures and lines in various articles of clothing and the Spanish architecture. There are a few moments of pure joy with the image. Primary colours are truly flamboyant and energetic while secondary hues are accurately rendered and vibrant and facial complexions appear totally natural and revealing throughout. Overall, both Blu-ray discs of the action-adventure blockbuster offers a first-rate and fantastic truly awesome image presentation.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – SONY Pictures Home Entertainment brings us presents the film ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ with 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience and ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ with a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD experience and both audio tracks are absolutely stunning and give all of your speakers a good workout. The front speakers also give you a good audio experience, displaying a great deal of clarity and presence. Again the audio experience feels vast and encompassing sounds, especially during action sequences, seem to appear suddenly out of nowhere in the room and pans are flawless and convincing. Discrete effects, like the noises of birds, echoes in interiors or the dripping of water, are clear and accurate, generating some amusing ambience and a pleasing sound field. James Horner's film musical score enjoys a satisfying and stable soundscape that not only fills the room with excitement, but also you get to hear some awesome adventurous surround sounds that really engages the listener with stunning audio experience. Also with both films, vocals remain precise and intelligible, even during the film's loudest segments, but with the higher-frequencies are broad and sharply rendered without any loss in detail. The low-end is equally persuasive and responsive, effectively adding weight and depth to the music as well as the explosive action. All in all, both of the swashbuckling films are a thrilling listen experience with both of these amazing Blu-ray discs.
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THE MASK OF ZORRO Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director Martin Campbell: Here director Martin Campbell introduces himself and informs us he directed the film ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO.’ Martin Campbell thinks the composed film music by James Horner with the credits is really wonderful, and when you see Zorro walk on and causes the Z in flames, it is in fact Antonio Banderas and it was the idea of SONY Pictures. When you hear the six Spanish dancers heal hitting the floor, they were in fact flown over from Spain especially for the recording session for the soundtrack. All the extras you see at the start of the film were in fact local people from the surrounding villages and had never seen a film camera before and Martin Campbell told them to yell and shout at the top of their voices for that scene and loved doing it and really got into the spirit of filming that scene. When you see the Undertaker [Paco Morayta] talking to the two young boys, well in fact this actor was originally one of the two young boys who appeared with Peter O’Toole in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ who gets sucked under the quick sand and dies. Stuart Wilson who plays Don Rafael Montero is in fact a long standing British actor and Stuart Wilson felt he was totally ideal for the part as the nasty evil villain. ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ was mostly shot at Estudios Churubusco Azteca, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico and unfortunately production was stalled for four days in February 1997 when director Martin Campbell, was hospitalized for bronchitis. Filming resumed in Tlaxcala, three hours east of Mexico City, where the production crew constructed the Montero hacienda and town set pieces. Other locations that were used were Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, Durango, Mexico, San Blas hacienda, Lopez Mateos, Tlaxcala, Mexico, Santa Maria Regla, Hidalgo, Mexico, Atotonilico de Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, Tetlapayac, Hidalgo, Mexico, Hidalgo, Mexico, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico and Pachuca, and Hidalgo, Mexico. Most of the main filming was done at the Montero hacienda and was about a two hour drive from Mexico City where they used it as a base and the roads were very prehistoric and was a very rough ride and they had to import everything in and of course even worse was the horrendous heat they had to endure. When you see the three Mexicans who are about to be shot and suddenly Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro appears to save the day by having his bull whip attach to the guns, pulls them around and shoots the Squad Leader instead and this scene was suggested by Steven Spielberg, which Martin Campbell thought this was a totally brilliant idea. With the first appearance of Zorro played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, a lot of the action sequences at the start with Sir Anthony Hopkins were actually done by the actor, but the really hard physical action sequences were done by a stunt double, because they were concerned about the age of Sir Anthony Hopkins at the time of filming. When Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro puts the Z scar on Don Rafael Montero [Stuart Wilson neck, this was of course done digital. When you see Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro riding back to his home in the mountain behind the waterfall, Martin Campbell informs us that the water was 100% polluted. When you see Sir Anthony Hopkins being arrested in his home by the nasty Don Rafael Montero, Martin Campbell wanted the big sword fight between these two character actors to be like Errol Flynn like in the film ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ and especially seeing the large shadows on the wall to give the scene an atmosphere and outright tension. At first Martin Campbell was reluctant to film in Mexico, but once there, really loved the place and could see why the other American directors like John Huston and Sam Peckinpah always wanted to shoot their western films in those locations in Mexico. Apart from the oppressive heat they had to contend with, the other nasty problem they had to endure were loads of dangerous rattlesnakes and they had to hire special wranglers to seek these dangerous snakes out and of course they had round them up before any filming could be started. When you see the prison scene where Don Rafael Montero is seeking to find Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro and unbeknown to him, throws Zorro into one of the cells, but of course they think Zorro is dead, so you see him being buried, but of course he really was alive and you see him escape the grave he was put in and to seek the ultimate revenge on Don Rafael Montero, well while filming these scene, they had to contend with 50 bats roosting in the rafters. When you see Don Rafael Montero arrives on the beach and as he walks up the beach and does his speech to the Mexican people, well Martin Campbell informs us the crowd were local extras who lived in that area by the sea and were slightly more sophisticated with the film crew and Martin Campbell says they were very co-operative, especially as it was extremely hot and everyone was profusely perspiring and the make-up started to run and again Martin Campbell thought the actor Stuart Wilson was totally perfect as the nasty evil Don Rafael Montero who for 20 years have kept the Mexican people in poverty and of course hate everything about this person and have no respect for him. When we see Alejandro Murrieta [Antonio Banderas] at Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro [Sir Anthony Hopkins] burnt out home, this is where Martin Campbell says the upcoming comedic sword fight between the two actors is one of his favourite film sequences and also got a good reaction from the preview audience. When you see Antonio Banderas doing press-ups over a lot of lighted candles, Martin Campbell says he stole this idea from a Jackie Chan film. When you see Antonio Banderas trying to ride his out of control black horse, well they had to do a re-shoot all over again, because someone messed up the film’s first take and Martin Campbell was not very well pleased by what happened. Also with action stunt scenes where Antonio Banderas is leaping about, swinging from the chandelier to avoid the guards who are after him, and also when he fires the cannon at them, Martin Campbell says that sequence filming was in homage to the actor Douglas Fairbank and the filming sequences took 10 takes and they used 5 cameras to do continuous filming. When you see Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas in the confession scene in the church, Martin Campbell was very ill at the time and had to be filmed at night and originally Martin Campbell wanted this scene to be very comedic, But Steven Spielberg suggested that the scene should be more romantic and felt it would work better in the end and Martin Campbell agreed it did work better. Martin Campbell also informs us that the filming in the church was very challenging, not only with the fact it took all night long just to do those scenes, but also as you see it had hundreds of candles alight in the main part of the church and said it was a total nightmare, as there were lots of technical problems with the candles, like if a door was left open all the candles blew out, so had to keep lighting them, but despite these slight technical problems, Martin Campbell thought the finished filmed result was perfect. Martin Campbell also comments about the erotic dancing between Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Martin Campbell thought it totally perfect and very erotic, as he felt those two actors worked so well together, especially in scenes together and Martin Campbell also thought all the local extras that were used, especially with the dancing sequences, found them perfect and worked really well and felt that if professional extras were used, they would not have been as good, as the local extras were very enthusiastic. When you get to chapter 11 at around 1:15:00 and you see everyone arriving at the Gold Mine, well Martin Campbell informs us that this set was one of the most expensive set ever built for the film and took three months to build and it was located about one hour and thirty minutes’ drive outside Mexico City and had to hire a great deal of local Mexican extras and Martin Campbell assures us that the 100 feet wooden structure was 100% real totally strengthened for safety reason and was not a model or even done with CGI special effects. When you see Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro [Antonio Banderas] and Captain Harrison Love [Matt Letscher] together in the room and puts the big jar full of alcohol with the head of Joaquín Murrieta of the brother of Alejandro Murrieta in it onto the table, Martin Campbell thought this was one of the best dramatic tension scene between these two actors, especially seeing Antonio Banderas not showing any emotion seeing his brother’s head in the big glass jar. Soon we are at another pivotal part of the film and Martin Campbell comments that the up and coming action sequence in the film, where we see the big Z on fire in the distance and informs the nasty evil characters Don Rafael Montero and Captain Harrison Love that Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro is back in the area for vengeance and we also see Antonio Banderas is also around to cause total havoc, but this time we get to see some brilliant action stunts from this actor and I loved it when Antonio Banderas flicks his sword and makes the giant map fall onto the nasty guards, but throughout the filming of the brilliant action sequences, Antonio Banderas had to have 10 band aids on the palm of his hand, because of the badly designed handle of his sword, that was studied for some bizarre reason and he really had really bad cuts to the palm of his hand, even though it made the sword look good for effect of a real sword and eventually Antonio Banderas had to wear gloves to stop his hand getting injured anymore, especially with the continued dramatic and amazing sword fight scene we get to witness, especially between Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro and Captain Harrison Love, and then with Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro and Don Rafael Montero, and Martin Campbell thought this sword fight scene was one of his favourite filming of this particular part of the film, and Martin Campbell informs us that it was not filmed at 22fps, but in real time, and they had to do 22 takes of this specific scene in the film because of the very complicated manoeuvres, and was helped by the Stunt Coordinator Glenn Randall Jr. and Sword Master Bob Anderson working together in cooperation. Next up we get the amazing sword fighting scene between Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Martin Campbell really enjoyed shooting this scene, as he felt it was very sexy and balletic and also felt it was a great performance between these two amazing actors and of course the best part of this scene in the film was when Antonio Banderas uses his sword to shred Catherine Zeta-Jones clothing and luckily her long hair covers a naked part of her body and Martin Campbell thought when this happened and Antonio Banderas he gives a cheeky wry smile as he leaves, and Martin Campbell thought this was brilliant and was suggested by Antonio Banderas. When we get to the scene in the film on location where the six guards are after Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro on his black horse escaping, and Martin Campbell informs us this sequences in the film was completely storyboarded and was also very choreographed and was actually shot by Glenn Randall Jr. [second unit director] and when you see Antonio Banderas slowly gets rid of the nasty guards one by one, the majority of these action sequences were done by Richard Bucher [Antonio Banderas stunt double] and we are informed that Richard Bucher’s father was a famous circus performer with horses and the scene sequence where Antonio Banderas gets rid of all the nasty guards took ages to shoot, as in-between shoots they had to endure heavy rain fall and very overcast cloud cover, where normally at the time of filming it would always be sunny and hot in Mexico, but despite these setbacks, Martin Campbell feels the complicated stunt sequences was really wonderfully done and so very well-choreographed. When we are nearing the end of the film at the Gold Mine and with the dramatic explosion of the wooden structure, which Martin Campbell reminds us they had to double strength the wooden structure for health and safety reasons, but the whole dramatic filming leading up to the actual explosion of the wooden structure was storyboarded by Martin Campbell. Also Martin Campbell always likes villains to get their comeuppance at the end of the film, but not to the point of blood and gore, like for instance when Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro and Captain Harrison Love have the dramatic sword fight to the bitter end, and eventually Antonio Banderas thrusts his sword right through Matt Letscher and Stuart Wilson gets his comeuppance by Sir Anthony Hopkins sees an opportunity with a horse bridal harness rapped around Don Rafael Montero ankle and gets dragged over the edge and crashes to the ground and kills both Captain Harrison Love and Don Rafael Montero in one fell swoop of justice of two evil characters, which makes you want to cheer. Also the blowing up of the wooden structure had to be filmed three times, because the wooden structure had been built very solid for safety reasons, but with the third and final explosion, so many splinters were flying about, three of the camera lenses were damaged because of the wooden debris flying about. When we get to the very end of the film, where we see Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are now together in their new home and they now have a baby, this particular filmed scene was suggested by Steven Spielberg, to be a bookend to the film and not use the original ending to the film, that you get to view as one of the special feature deleted scene. When the film finally ends with Antonio Banderas walking away from the camera down the corridor, well Martin Campbell informs us that he pinched the idea from the John Wayne/John Ford film ‘The Searchers’ and Martin Campbell felt it was a great shot for the ending of the film. When the end credits appear, just before that starts Antonio Banderas appears in his Zorro costume and does the flaming Z and this was suggested by film producer Chris Lee who was formerly the head of Columbia/TriStar for the ending of the film. Anyway, Martin Campbell finishes off by thanking us for watching the film with him and his audio commentary, and feels it was great talking to us, and he only hopes you enjoyed the movie and says thank you very much. Well, I really enjoyed listening to Martin Campbell, as he was very interesting and very informative in revealing lots of very interesting anecdotes when directing the film and definitely gets a five star rating from me and I can tell you, that you will never get bored while sitting watching the film while Martin Campbell gives us his very personal intelligent audio commentary.
Special Feature: Unmasking Zorro [2001] [480i / 1080i] [1.37:1] [45:05] Here we get to view a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ [1998]. We also get to hear some very interesting comments on the iconic history of Zorro, where Zorro (Spanish for “Fox”) was a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley was the author of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. The popularity of the character led to three novellas appearing in the weekly pulp magazine ARGOSY that included “The Further Adventures of Zorro” (1922), “Zorro Rides Again” (1931) and “The Sign of Zorro” (1941). Zorro is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and indigenous peoples of California against corrupt and tyrannical officials and other villains. His signature was all-black costume includes a cape, the Cordovan hat (Spanish, sombrero cordobés), and a mask covering the upper half of his face. We hear about the early film adaptations of Zorro and they included ‘The Mark of Zorro’ [1920] with Douglas Fairbanks, directed by Fred Niblo, ‘Don Q, Son of Zorro’ [1925] with Douglas Fairbanks, directed by Donald Crisp, ‘The Bold Caballero’ [1936] with Robert Livingston, directed by Wells Root and ‘The Mark of Zorro’ [1940] with Tyrone Power, directed by Rouben Mamoulian. We also get to view interviews with the cast and crew, who discuss all aspects in the making of the film, especially from director Martin Campbell. This special feature also gives us an extensive and engaging journey into the ins-and-outs of the production, the piece not only looking at how the film was made but the history behind the character in print and on screen. The feature examines the strengths of the cast and crew, the scale of the production, the actors' preparations for their parts, the shooting of particular scenes and especially the blowing up of the gold mine, and due to circumstances had to film it three times, but if they had done the one massive explosion it would of damaged the film camera. They also talk about wanting to give the film a certain style, we take a look at the storyboarding process and its importance to the film; and we also get comments about James Horner's film score. Contributors include: Sandra Curtis [Vice President / Creative Director of Zorro Productions Inc.], John Gertz [President of Zorro Productions Inc.], Laurie MacDonald [Executive Producer], Walter F. Parkes MacDonald [Executive Producer], Martin Campbell [Director], Antonio Banderas [Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro], Sir Anthony Hopkins [Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro] Catherine Zeta-Jones [Eléna de la Vega], Stuart Wilson [Don Rafael Montero], Matt Letscher [Captain Harrison Love], David Foster [Producer], Cecilia Montiel [Production Manager], Graciela Mazón [Costume Designer], Doug Claybourne [Producer], Bob Anderson [Sword Master] and James Horner [Composer]. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau. Produced by Laurent Bouzereau. Writing Credits by Laurent Bouzereau. Music by James Horner. Cinematography by Bill Sheehy, Jeff Daly, Jim Garcia and Ron Siegel.
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [1998] [480i] [1.37:1] [4:50] Here we get to view two deleted scenes that didn't make it to the final cut of the film, and they are “The Wallet” and “The Revolution” which is an alternate ending. As usual, you can play each deleted scene separately or Play All.
Special Feature: Music Video: I Want to Spend my Lifetime Loving You [1998] [1080p] [1.37:1] [4:51] Here we get to see the Marc Anthony and Tina Arena perform their music video "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You."
Special Feature: ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ – Behind-the-Scene Sneak Preview [2005] [480i] [1.37:1] [5:02] Here we get an exclusive look at the follow up film ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ [2005]. There are also lots of twists and turns and also great action sequences and a much more complicated storyline. It is now seven years since the last Zorro film was released and they thought it was the right time to bring out the film THE LEGEND OF ZORRO.’ Where they would only do the film if they got a perfect screenplay, otherwise if they could not, then they would not pursue the idea. With this film there are lots of twists and turns, great sword fighting action sequences and has to have a lot of tongue in cheek humour like the previous film. Contributors include: Catherine Zeta-Jones [Eléna de la Vega], Antonio Banderas [Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro] and Martin Campbell [Director].
Special Feature: Exclusive Scene from ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ [2005] [1080p] [2.35:1] [1:45] Here we get to view a specific scene in the film where Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones] is on a mission and finds the hiding place of the villain, which is in a very large empty Oak Wine Barrel, and of course total mayhem pursues in the process when Eléna de la Vega is out by the nasty guards, but stands Eléna de la Vega ground with some brilliant and outstanding sword fighting with the guards and of course you know who the winner will be, but out of the blue Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro [Antonio Banderas] comes to her rescue and the scene is truly amazing and I cannot wait to see the actual film.
Trailers: Here we get to view three separate original Blu-ray trailers and they are:
‘Julie & Julia’ [2009] [1080p] [1.85:1] [1:28]
‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ [2009] [1080p] [2.35:1] [1:53]
‘The Da Vinci Code’ [2009] [1080p] [2.39:1] [1:53].
BONUS: The audio presentation is in 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio.
* * * * *
THE LEGEND OF ZORRO Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director Martin Campbell and Cinematographer Phil Meheux: Here Martin Campbell introduces himself and informs us that he is the director of the film ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ and next to introduce himself is Phil Meheux and says he is the director of photography for this film. They talks about the title sequences at the beginning of the film, that was created by IMAGINARY FORCES who are a video production service in Los Angeles, California. They talk about the actual start of the film, where we first meet Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro [Antonio Banderas] casting his vote and they say the weather was very kind to them on that day of filming, especially filming the crowd, which consisted of all locals living in the area and they were a very enthusiastic crowd. They also say filming the crowd scene was very difficult and also a very complicated scene to film. The young boy we get to meet, was Joaquin de la Vega [Adrián Alonso] who is the son of Zorro, and at the start of filming, Adrián Alonso had a job speaking English and had to learn the lines he said over many times to get word perfect, but they said that by the end of the shooting the film, Adrián Alonso was word perfect in English. When we see Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro has rescued the chest with all the California votes and the nasty evil men are after him and especially with the scene with the Water Viaduct and we are informed that when we see the bad guys fall into the water, in fact the water was very badly polluted, but lucky the stunt guys survived any kind of infection. When Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro arrives at the Governor’s Mansion with the rescued box full of the votes, well this location filming was about 100 kms away from the previous filmed location and the whole filming sequence took a whole day to shoot, and all the extras were local Mexicans and a lot of them could not speak any English, but despite this, they were very enthusiastic about the filming. When we first meet Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones] and Joaquin de la Vega the son in so called San Francisco, this was completely built for the film and the ships in the harbour was all done digitally with the big blue screen behind the buildings. When Eléna de la Vega is being followed by the two Pinkerton men, they praise the fight scene, especially Catherine Zeta-Jones, who they thought was marvellous and so good and also very well-choreographed. When we get to chapter 5 at around 0:30 minutes, and it is the night scene at Count Armand’s Party and the big dance sequence we view, and we are informed that it took six nights to shoot and on the third night they experienced an horrendous downpour which caused nearly 12 inches of flooding, which you can see with one of the special features. But here is where Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro first meets Count Armand [Rufus Sewell] and they say Rufus Sewell was really good actor for his character as a French aristocrat and they inform us that the critics gave very bad reviews on his French accent, but we are informed that Rufus Sewell had a French dialect couch to teach him how to speak with a French accent properly, and Martin Campbell says, “what do these idiotic critics know?” When you see the massive firework display, they had to film this over two nights, because of circumstances. When you see Zorro drunk on his black horse, and the horse charges off and Zorro falls off, and then suddenly there is a massive explosion that knocks Zorro off his feet, and then Zorro goes to investigate where the explosion happened, and looks into a massive pit, well this was actually dug out by the crew, how long it took we are not given that information. When you see Don Alejandro de la Vega and Count Armand playing croquet on horseback, they actual rode the horses despite not originally trained to ride horses, but of course they had a few practices before filming and Martin Campbell thought they looked really good and professional, but when it came for Antonio Banderas and Rufus Sewell to fall off their horses, this was of course done by the stunt men with a rope attached to their back to pull them off and again Martin Campbell thought this was done really excellent. When you see Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro come to the rescue of the women with the baby, who were threatened by the nasty villains, and set the house on fire and a lot of the excess flames, this was added digitally, which you can see how it was done with one of the special features. When you see Eléna de la Vega goes to have dinner with Count Armand at his home, this was originally a disused tobacco factory and of course the whole of the interior had to be built from scratch and Martin Campbell thought the lady interior designer did a fantastic professional job. When you get to chapter 8 at around 58:00 of the audio commentary, I am starting to get really fed up with both of them droning on about the sunshine appearing and going behind the clouds and having to do extra lighting, boy it gets so boring hearing all this pathetic information and this was never mentioned with the audio commentary with the film ‘The Mask of Zorro,’ which of course is all instigated by Cinematographer Phil Meheux, who is so obsessed with this information, boy I bet he is a great fun at a dinner party, with again droning on about this really boring information. When you see the really nasty honcho villain comes to see Count Armand and Zorro is viewing all of this above the fire in the grate and the nasty evil villain says something nasty to Count Armand, who then gets hold of the nasty villains head and bangs it on the table and Count Armand threatens to cut his tongue out, well martin Campbell informs us that they had to tone this scene down to get a PG certificate. With the scene where Joaquin de la Vega nearly gets dragged into the big canyon after fighting with the nasty evil men are sorting out the material to turn it into nitro-glycerine and suddenly Zorro appears and saves his son and escape together and end up beside the beautiful lake, which the location was found by accident, but a lot of the big boulders had graffiti sprayed on them, so they had to be carefully filmed to hide the graffiti. When you see Count Armand talking to the six men on how he is going to control America and the world with his nitro-glycerine, and you see one man stand up against Count Armand and does not want to be involved with the plot, well this is in fact Cinematographer Phil Meheux who mentions he only gets four lines of dialogue, but certainly gets his short lived five minutes of fame and a very short career as an actor in the film. When you see Catherine Zeta-Jones rushing back to Rufus Sewell to have dinner with him, and you see two nasty vicious dogs sees the actress and starts to chase after her, but luckily there was a trainer behind the dogs who had wires attached them to keep then in control or otherwise they would of attacked the actress, and when Catherine Zeta-Jones makes it to the building and jumps through the open window, you see the dogs stop, but we are informed that the trainer suffered with some sort of injury. When you get to the final climax of the film with everyone waiting to get on the train due to Count Armand being in control, well the steam train did not actually work and all the steam was produced digitally and the train was actually push by a diesel train and Martin Campbell thought the men working the diesel train worked very well and check out one of the special features, as it shows you how these scenes were done to get the train moving. When you see Don Alejandro de la Vega / Zorro and the nasty evil honcho man fight each other in the factory that makes the nitro-glycerine and Zorro gets the upper hand and makes the nasty evil honcho get trapped on some machinery above the nitro-glycerine tank and a drop of the liquid lands on him and blows his head off and eventually gets his comeuppance, well Martin Campbell thought this was a really good death scene. Another boring aspect of this audio commentary, is with the dramatic end of the film with the train getting out of control, and Martin Campbell keeps going on about saying, “this is the actual train shot” and “this is the model train shot” on and on, and boy this started to get so tedious and so boring, in the end I couldn’t care less what was the real train and what was the model and it seem to me that it was personally of only interest to Martin Campbell and Phil Meheux, so all in all, I thought this was a totally pointless boring rhetoric. As we get to the end of the film, with the last shot of Zorro riding off into the sunset and the very last shot of Zorro making his horse rear up, and the end credits appear, and here Martin Campbell says, “Here we get the six to seven minutes of end credits and it drives you mad.” Anyway Martin Campbell thanks us for listening and we thoroughly enjoyed making the film and he hopes you had some pleasure listening to this audio commentary. Well for me personally, I enjoyed some of the audio commentary, but at other times it drove me senseless with total boredom and also some real banal rhetoric and to me it was a really second rate audio commentary and I would definitely not give it any kind of star rating, because I felt the previous Martin Campbell audio commentary for the film ‘The Mask of Zorro’ was far superior and far more intelligent. Still of course this is my own personal comment and it is entirely up to you to decide if you agree with my comment on this audio commentary and I rest my case.
Special Feature: Featurettes: Here we get to view four features and they are as follows:
Stunts [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [9:26] With the CGI out of the way, this one delves into the staging of the film's real-time action moments, particularly the swordplay and the rigorous training it required from the cast. Contributors include: Gary Powel [Stunt Co-Ordinator], John Mahaffie [Second Unit Director], Martin Campbell [Director], Jack Lilley [Head of Animal Department], Antonio Banderas [Actor], Lloyd Phillips [Producer] and Rufus Sewell [Count Armmand].
Special Feature: Playing with Trains [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [12:30] In this making-of special feature, we hear from the miniatures designer and supervisor Richard Taylor and WETA Workshop's Wayne Dawson as they look at the big fight sequence that takes place on a train. We learn about choreography, the train set, visual effects, and actually shooting the scene. We learn a lot about the filming of the ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is quite old-fashioned in its approach to practical on-set effects, but for the big centrepiece train sequence, the effects experts at WETA Digital were called in to add some CGI effects. Here, we get a nice overview of the scene’s complexities, led by the WETA Digital team's effects guru Richard Taylor. We are informed that Richard Taylor and his team spent all night long fixing up the model train for another shoot. They have only one more chance to get it right, and you will have to view this feature to find out if they were successful. Contributors include: Martin Campbell [Director], Gary Powell [Stunt Co-ordinator], Lloyd Phillips [Producer], Richard Taylor [Miniature Designer & Supervisor] and Wayne Dawson [WETA Workshop].
Special Feature: Armand's Party [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [12:08] This special feature focuses on the film's extended opening scene, it's really more of a general making-of featurette. Stars Antonio Banderas and Catherine-Zeta Jones sit down to say a few words, along with Martin Campbell and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who discuss the general aesthetic approach to the sequel and why it took so long to finally bring everyone back together. We also get to view 200 women and 30 men all getting kitted out for the Count Armand Party shoot, and we also get to see 50 hair and make-up artists working on all the extras, which took about four hours working on each extra to be sorted out even before shooting takes place. This took roughly two weeks to finally finish the shoot for Count Armand’s Party. But the main cause of this problem is that they encountered torrential rain and once a total nightmare and you get to see this horrendous downpour. After extensive repairs, the dance floor was ready for the Count Armand Party scene the following night. Contributors include: Jamie Marshall [Second Assistant Director], Lloyd Phillips [Producer], Phil Meheux [Director of Photography], Martin Campbell [Director], Antonio Banderas [Actor], Robert Orci [Screenwriter], Alex Kurtzman [Screenwriter], Catherine Zeta-Jones [Actress] and Rufus Sewwll [Count Armand].
Special Feature: Visual Effects [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [5:55] Continuing the theme of "Playing with Trains," we get a quick overview of some of the computer-generated trickery used in other parts of the film, some of it quite subtle. Despite this feature being very short, it sure packs in a lot of information on how they did all the special effects, to make you feel it was all very realistic. Contributors include: Kent Houston [Visual Effects Supervisor], Fortunato Frallasio [Graphic Designer] and Enid Dalkoff [Graphic Designer].
Special Feature: Scene Deconstruction [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [3:32] Here you get to view two specific scenes from the film ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ and they are “Armand’s Party” and “Winery Fight.” What you get to view is three images all at once, the one at the top of the screen is a scene from the actual film, at the bottom left hand of the screen you get to see the rehearsals and at the bottom right hand of the screen you get to view behind-the-scene filming.
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [2005] [1080i] [1.37:1] [10:26] Here you get to view four deleted scenes and they are Alternate & Closing Scene; Alejandro Drops Off Joaquin; Chinatown and Symphony By The Bay. What you also get is that you can play all of them with the Director’s Audio Commentary or you can play all of them without the Director’s Audio Commentary. Personally, I definitely recommend you listen to all of the deleted scenes with the Director’s Audio Commentary, as Martin Campbell really explains in great detail why each scene had to be deleted from the film.
Trailers [2005] [1080p] [1.78:1] [0:32] Here we get to see forthcoming SONY Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray releases and the titles they are promoting are ‘Casino Royale;’ ‘Ghost Rider;’ ‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby;’ ‘Hitch;’ ‘Open Season;’ ‘Once Upon A Time In Mexico’ and ‘UltraViolet.’
Finally, ‘THE MASK OF ZORRO’ is built upon the development of the father-son relationship and engagingly explores the family dynamics that result. The story begins with Diego de la Vegas [Sir Anthony Hopkins] capture by Don Rafael Montero [Stuart Wilson], an evil American cavalry officer. Don Rafael Montero murders Zorro's wife and steals his infant child, Eléna de la Vega [Catherine Zeta-Jones]. Twenty years later, the former Zorro seeks to train a younger replacement so that he may avenge the death of his wife and retrieve his now grown daughter. Zorro chooses Alejandro Murrieta [Antonio Banderas] as his protégé. Together, they battle Montero with courage and bravery. ‘THE LEGEND OF ZORRO’ is big and loud, mixing extended action sequences with gestures toward family unity and also earns cheers for its ultimately heroic family themes, including the ideas that dads, moms, and children all need to be honest with each other and prepared to make sacrifices to make a family work. But that’s not to say it’s a complete winner for families. Though she feels forced into it to protect her family and others, Eléna de la Vega divorces her husband and begins a relationship with another man. I really enjoyed both films extremely well, despite the really negative attitude against second film, which is so wrong and to me it is well worth adding both films to your Blu-ray Collection. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
