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The Legend of Zorro - 2005 |
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Antonio Banderas is Alejandro de la Vega and Zorro |
Catherine Zeta-Jones is Elena de la Vega |
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Julio Oscar Mechoso is Fray Felipe |
Adrian Alonso is Joaquin |
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Rufus Sewell is Count Armand |
Nick Chinlund is Jacob McGivens |
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Tony Amendola is Father Quintero |
Gustavo Sanchez-Parra is Guillermo Cortez |
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Michael Emerson is Agent Harrigan |
Shuler Hensley is Agent Pike |
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1850: The people of California—poor, 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. Certain persons who support the Confederacy wish to prevent California from becoming a free state. If California joins the Union as a free state, then the slave states will be outnumbered in the event of a Civil War. Jacob McGivens is one of these people who wishes to prevent California statehood. McGivens arrives in the plaza and demands that the ballot box be turned over to him. Fortunately, Zorro appears and attempts to retrieve the ballot box. After a spectacular battle, Zorro is successful, but during the battle, McGivens pulls off Zorro's mask. McGivens fails to see Zorro's face, but two men, Harrigan and Pike, who are hiding the bushes, see Zorro's face and learn his true identity. |
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Don Alejandro returns home, and Elena is ecstatic to learn that the statehood ratification has passed and that the de la Vegas are finally free. Elena speaks of traveling to Spain with their son, Joaquin, but Don Alejandro reminds Elena that the people may still need Zorro in the three months before statehood is complete. Elena angrily demands that Alejandro retire, but he refuses. As the church bells once again beckon Zorro, Elena warns Alejandro that he will no longer be welcome in their home. Shortly after Elena escorts Joaquin to school the next day, Pike and Harrigan confront Elena and reveal that they know Zorro's true identity. Elena is forced to work as a spy for the two men. Meanwhile, Don Alejandro stays with friends and is shocked to be served with divorce papers. |
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Three months later, Don Alejandro is reluctantly settled into his bachelor life; or rather, Don Alejandro is so drunk most of the time that he cannot think straight. In the meantime, Joaquin grows increasingly sulky because he is very disappointed in his father for not fighting to keep his mother. Joaquin gets into trouble at school, and Don Alejandro asks him why this happens. Joaquin states, "You don't understand. Sometimes you have to fight." Joaquin insists that this is what Zorro would say, and Don Alejandro is disgusted with everything. Fray Felipe and Don Alejandro attend a wine-tasting party at Count Armand's estate. Don Alejandro is furious to see that Armand has Elena as his escort. Don Alejandro gets drunk and makes a complete fool of himself in his jealous rage. Later that evening, Don Alejandro, even more drunk than earlier, witnesses a huge explosion near Armand's estate. Despite his drunken state, Don Alejandro realizes the seriousness of the situation and fears that Count Armand may be up to something. |
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Don Alejandro tries to warn Elena about the explosion, but Armand overhears the conversation. The men exchange words, and Armand challenges Alejandro to settle their differences by playing polo. Armand takes the opportunity to try to kill Alejandro and does not succeed due to Elena's efforts. Unfortunately, Alejandro loses the competition and makes a fool of himself once again. Fray Felipe warns Alejandro that McGivens and his men are riding out to see Cortez. Zorro rides to the Cortez property to confront McGivens. During the ensuing battle, Blanca Cortez is trapped in the burning barn and is saved by Zorro. Sadly, Guillermo Cortez is shot and killed by McGivens, who then escapes with the deed to Cortez's property. |
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Shaken by the death of Guillermo Cortez, Don Alejandro returns to the church and asks for the strength to keep on riding as Zorro. He has failed Elena, his son, and now the people. He worries that Elena is in grave danger, and he must do something to protect her. Elena sends a message to Pike and Harrigan by carrier pigeon informing them of her dinner date with Count Armand. After Elena arrives at Armand's estate, she overhears a servant telling Armand that a shipment will arrive via Maderas Cove. During their dinner, Elena gets away from Armand on a ruse, and explores his locked chapel. At about the same time, Zorro arrives and begins searching Armand's home. Elena learns more about the mysterious shipment from the ticker-tape telegram that she discovers. At the same time, Zorro spies on a conversation between Armand and McGivens, who has just arrived. McGivens hands Armand the deed to Cortez's land. Armand is building a railroad track to the vineyard and is planning to use the Cortez land for the track. |
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As McGivens and his men travel to Maderas Cove to pick up the shipment, they pause for water near where Father Quintero is conducting a lesson with the schoolchildren. Joaquin crawls under the wagon and journeys with McGivens to their destination. Soon after they arrive, Joaquin is caught, but fortunately Zorro arrives and rescues him. Joaquin shows Zorro a bar of soap that he swiped from the shipment. Zorro is shocked to see that the shipment was just a load of soap. What can McGivens and Armand want with soap? The bar of soap is marked with the name Orbis Unum and a symbol of a serpent circling the globe. Fray Felipe learns that Orbis Unum is Latin for One World, which is the name of the Knights of Aragon, an ancient religious sect that formed after the Crusades. A prophecy from 1000 years ago reads "There shall be a land in the west of great power that shall rise to threaten the serpent. Only by turning the power onto itself shall the serpent survive." Fray Felipe and Alejandro conclude that the prophecy means the United States and that Orbis Unum is going to destroy the United States . . . but with soap? | |||
| As Alejandro walks through the pueblo, he is drugged by Agent Harrigan and imprisoned in the jail. Harrigan and Pike inform Alejandro that they are agents of the United States government and that they blackmailed Elena to work as a spy for them. Alejandro is furious. Later, Joaquin discovers Alejandro in the jail as he is looking for his father. Joaquin has learned that his mother has agreed to marry Armand and is desperate for his father to intervene. With Joaquin's help, Alejandro breaks out of jail. | ||||
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Elena sends another message to Harrigan and Pike by pigeon about her next dinner date with Count Armand. Unknown to Elena, her pigeon betrays her and her activities as a spy. Elena sneaks into Armand's estate to eavesdrop on his meeting but is discovered by Armand's men. Elena fights the men, and Zorro arrives to help her! Elena and Zorro patch up their relationship as they listen to Armand's meeting. Armand reveals that the soap is necessary in the manufacture of nitroglycerin and that the highly-explosive nitroglycerin will be used to launch an attack against the United States with the help of the Confederacy. A shipment of nitroglycerin will leave the next day and be distributed among the Confederate states. A preemptive strike will be launched against Washington, D.C. |
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Armand shows his fellow conspirators that the vials of nitroglycerin are being concealed within bottles of wine for the journey. Armand is suddenly called back to his hacienda by an urgent matter. Elena races to get back to the hacienda while Zorro works to prevent the train from leaving. While these events occur, McGivens and his men confront Fray Felipe in an attempt to discover Zorro's identity. Fray Felipe is shot after one of McGivens' men discovers Joaquin's bar of soap. | |||
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Elena returns just in time for her dinner with Armand, but Armand seems to be in a strange mood. Armand chooses not to eat, and Elena is served with a plate of pigeon. Too late, Elena realizes that her cover is blown, and she attempts to escape. Elena discovers the bodies of Pike and Harrigan and is then captured. Joaquin is brought in by McGivens, who captured Joaquin shortly after shooting Fray Felipe. Zorro hangs one of the wine bottles containing the nitroglycerin under the train and lights a fuse. Zorro is pleased with his effort to stop the train until he sees that Elena and Joaquin have been captured and are about to board the train. Zorro races to put out the fuse and is captured by Armand. McGivens unmasks Zorro in front of Elena and Joaquin, and Joaquin finally sees his father for who he is really is. Armand boards the train with Elena and Joaquin, and McGivens is left with the duty of killing Zorro. McGivens taunts Zorro, and as a result, Zorro fights him with all of his strength. Fray Felipe, who was uninjured in the shooting, bursts in and helps Zorro. McGivens is killed after a drop of nitroglycerin lands on his face. Zorro races to catch up with the train. Zorro gets on the train and fights Armand while Elena fights one of Armand's men. Meanwhile, Joaquin diverts the train onto another track so that the train misses the crowd gathered for the statehood celebration. Elena and Zorro jump from the train just in time to avoid certain death when the nitroglycerin explodes as the train crashes. |
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Now that the diabolical plot of the Knights of Aragon has been defeated, California becomes a state, and Elena and Alejandro remarry. |  |
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