The Pitch: The Triumph of Zorro

This idea actually came to me in a dream quite a while back and has been knocking around in my head, but I didn't want to take a swing at it until I'd seen at least a couple of Zorro films again. Confidentially, I was hoping to dig up a copy of Zorro the Gay Blade, but can't have everything, can we? As a therapist who works for an advocacy group, I get the "Social Justice Warrior" epithet thrown at me a bit (as an aside, "SJW" is kind of a crummy insult for people that actually advocate for Social Justice, most of us see it as a compliment), but I really do believe that the Hollywood film industry needs better representation of minorities and more female leads in diverse genres. Of course, any studio that takes the risk has to deal with a, shockingly large, amount of online vitriol from some of the worst excuses for men on the planet and some people who are just jerks about change. That's why I really think Zorro is a "safe bet" for getting a headlining Hispanic male into a lead superhero role; the character has history, is iconic and is tied to the mythology of the American West. However, that history can cause problems as well, there really isn't a lot of room for Zorro stories with the character in his current space. The "Wild West" was actually such a short period of time that film has pretty much tapped out every idea already, and whilst I'd love to see more "Masked Vigilante" Westerns, maybe there's somewhere else we can go with this character? 

The Triumph of Zorro
In modern-day Mexico City, the conflict between Cartels and the Police are fought so brutally that innocent people are often caught in the crossfire. In the slums of the city, there is little hope that the future will be any better, life is cheap and many children are exploited. Into this decaying urban edifice comes a hero, a symbol from the past, with a scrawled "Z", he makes himself known. Against all odds... Zorro has returned. 

Plot 
Our young male protagonist is a street-smart troublemaker who has always managed to stay one step ahead of both the law and the Cartels until one fateful day when his cockiness gets someone he cares about killed and he's arrested. A long-lost uncle comes to bail our protagonist out of gaol and reveals to the youth that he is descended from the legendary hero for justice, Zorro! 
The family has fallen on hard times and the uncle is essentially care-taking the last of Zorro's equipment, including a diary, several training manuals, a mask and, of course, a sword. Our young hero trains himself to take on the legacy of Zorro and to bring down the cartels and corrupt police, staring small in his local area and taking on bigger and bigger targets. After a close call that results with injury, the new Zorro considers hanging up the sword, but when his uncle is captured by the cartels, he must put his life on the line one last time. 
Zorro fights his way through the foot soldiers of the Cartel, confronting the corrupt detective who had him arrested in the first act before finally making his way to the head of the Cartel for the climatic showdown. The uncle has to sacrifice himself to save Zorro in the fight, leading to an epilogue scene where Zorro swears to keep fighting the good fight. 
Nothing special, but with these kind of films, we don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Tone
This is a bit tricky due to the state of the "Drug War" in Mexico and the countless lives it's costing every year. The film won't work if it's overly serious, our protagonist is fighting with a sword against men with guns and winning, it's silly if you think about it too much. Conversely, too light a tone and there is a real risk of trivializing the very real struggle that many people have to live with every day. Something close to Dredd springs to mind, as the film does not glamorise poverty or gang violence and still finds some room for lighter moments. Not quite as bloody as Dredd though, this needs to turn a profit. 

Cast
I'm going to admit straight-up that I have no idea who should play Zorro. I don't know any young, up-and-coming Mexican actors and the point is to elevate someone relatively unknown to the big time. There are probably plenty of candidates, as Mexio has thriving film and television industries and that's what Central Casting is for. 

That said, as the uncle, there is really only once choice, Antonio Banderas. 

The point isn't that The Triumph of Zorro is necessarily next in the series of the Banderas Zorro films, but creating a link could only benefit the film. People remember The Mask of Zorro fondly and Banderas' performance was a big part of that. Also, Banderas is a better actor than most give him credit for and this gives him a chance to take another swing at a character he's become closely associated to. 

For our villain, the mob boss of the local district, I like the sound of David Zayas; 

Zayas has played crime bosses really well in the past and thanks to Dexter and The Expendables has recognition in the English-speaking market. I'd rather not fall back on the cliche of having a white boss leading the ethnic gang just to get a bigger name in the role, Banderas should be a big enough draw.

Crew
There are actually a couple of directors that would probably do a great job with this material, Robert Rodriguez seems like a good fit, but I'd be more keen on seeing what  Guillermo del Toro could do with it. del Toro has a good track record with superhero and genre film as well as being adept at sneaking in broader cultural themes into his films. 

Note: Some of the pictures in this article I found as part of a "teaser" that a studio released a few years back for a similar concept, which I'd totally go see if it were ever released. It looks like it's set in California, which makes sense from a marketing perspective, but I feel would lessen the overall impact of the film. 

Superhero Media: The Legend of Zorro

I don't recall ever having heard anything about this film, even though it came out more than a decade ago and was the sequel to a popular hit, no one seemed to have anything to say about it. Naturally, this lack of discourse leads to the assumption that The Legend of Zorro is not a good film, which is fair, but incorrect; whilst it lacks the strength of narrative and performance of The Mask of Zorro, it is very much enjoyable in its own right. Years after the events of The Mask of Zorro, Alejandro and Elena are married with a school-age son and Zorro is the hero of the people, aiding in California joining the United States of America. Friction exists between Alejandro and Elena, as the latter wants the former to give up the mantle of Zorro to be with his family, but the people seem unable to give up their need for Zorro. Before a detente is reached, Elena is picked up by Pinkerton men and forced to divorce Alejandro. 

What follow is a straightforward "get the girl back" narrative meets a "stop the evil plan" narrative with the twist of Elena being engaged to the bad guy as part of a Pinkerton spying mission. The Legend of Zorro may be far from original, but the actors deliver and the pace is rapid enough that boredom never sets in. The film actually makes an interesting contrast to Wild Wild West, of all things, as both feature a cadre of wealthy men as the villains and a person of colour as the hero, supporting a pro-USA line. I still stand by what I said in that article, with Loveless being the crusading hero against American Imperialism, but in The Legend of Zorro, joining the United States is actually the better offer as it means freedom from the oligarchy of the corrupt Dons and a stronger front against the Confederacy. Yes, Zorro and his people are in for a nasty shock when they find out how Spanish language speakers will be treated in the USA in a few years' time, but for now, things look good as part of the USA. 

In the third act, there is a climatic train sequence which seemed oddly familiar to me, until I remembered watching The Lone Ranger; I wouldn't say that The Lone Ranger lifted the entire sequence from The Legend of Zorro, but the horse chase on top of the train and the hero needing to rescue his wife and son from the rich guy in his luxury carriage are strikingly similar. I'm not sure what a third film in this series would have looked like, but I think I would have liked to see it, even with Legend being less entertaining that Mask was. A reason for Zorro to quit would have been interesting to see, perhaps passing the torch or even revealing himself to the world in one last act of heroism. Again, I wonder why there aren't more Zorro films coming out? It seems like an easy sell and Colombia/Tristar/Sony Pictures have been struggling to get a superhero franchise up and running since the Rami Spider-Man series. How is a swashbuckling, cowboy, Hispanic vigilante not a good idea in the current film climate? Hell, Colombia last had the rights to The Green Hornet, there's a "Cinematic Universe" waiting to happen.

Superhero Media: The Mask of Zorro

How come no one talks about this film anymore? And where are all the Zorro films? There should be more Zorro films. I remember The Mask of Zorro being a bit hit when it came out, but I haven't heard anyone talk about it recently, which is a shame, because it's really good. It's the late 1800s and the colony of California is ruled by a coalition of Dons who have just seized power in a coup; the peace is kept by the hero of the people, Zorro. In the opening battle, Zorro frees a group of innocent men about to be executed, is almost captured but for the intervention of a couple of children and then rides off into the sunset. Returning to his villa, Zorro finds out that he has been betrayed, his wife dies, he is imprisoned and his daughter taken by his rival. Years pass and the boys are now outlaws, one brother is killed and the other starts out on a path of revenge, only to run into a recently-escaped Zorro, and a new legend begins! 

The Mask of Zorro is more "fun" than cerebral or literate, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas have a hell of a good time bouncing off each other, Hopkins even carrying off the swashbuckling pretty well despite his age. The strength of the film is in that it never tries to be more than it can realistically be, it's not high art, but doesn't aim for it, which is a nice change of pace after a lot of post-The Dark Knight entries in the superhero film canon. The plot is light and serves just enough to link the film from set-piece to set-piece, which is all it needs really, with plenty of fun one-liners and quippy dialogue to keep up the pace. I'm not personally a huge fan of Banderas as an actor, but this is the kind of role he was born to play, a charming goofball with fun lines to drawl his natural accent a bit thicker on and getting shown up by the legendary talent of Hopkins. Zeta-Jones also deserves some major kudos, her comic timing is brilliant, she should get more roles where she gets to make jokes.

This was never destined to be a great superhero film saga, but who cares? It works well as a stand-alone film or introduction to the broader Zorro mythos or even a history lesson on the origins of Batman. Zorro is a classic hero for a reason, he embodies the 'rich man turned vigilante for the people' archetype almost as well as Sir Percy, but is non-white and free of the complications that drag Batman's privilege and prejudices into the light. Zorro is the kind of hero that should be coming back in this Superhero Cinema Landscape built by Marvel Studios, with a Hispanic actor in the leading role and a new face of colonialism to fight; the resurrectionist. I'm sure that there's plenty that could be done with an enemy who needs to get Zorro out of the way to "make California great again". A solid film well worth another look. 

Superhero Media: Wild Wild West

I saw this one on Netflix and decided it was worth a go, I remembered liking it and it's not like there are a lot of good pulp/steampunk films anyway. In the years since I last watch Wild Wild West, I've seen a number of reviews that really tear into the film, rating it very poorly and steering people away from it; that's not fair. Sure, Wild Wild West is silly, but it's a fun silly and is also possibly the most subversive Hollywood film I have seen in years. No, really. For starters, Kevin Kline's Artemus Gordon is pretty heavily trans-coded and not in a negative way. The name "Artemus" reads like a masculine Artemis, Hellenic Goddess of war and the hunt, indicating a transition from female to male, this is corroborated by the character's comfort in female clothing and lack of self-judgment for wearing it. Artemus is fixated on his skill in creating things (typically read as female in literature) being seen as the equal to Jim West's strength, agility and combat prowess (typically male traits). Finally, Artemus' prosthetic breasts are under-sexualised, as if he has an active distaste or them, which is undercut by his attraction to Rita. Not great evidence, but it's there. 

The big twist I wasn't expecting when watching this film again was the epiphany that Dr Loveless is, in fact, the good guy. Unless, like Jim West and President Grant, you happen to be in favour of genocide and American colonialism. You see, Loveless' plan involves dissolving the United States and handing land back to France, the British Empire, Mexico and the Native Americans, as well as carving out a chunk of the Pacific Northwest for himself. That's right, the "bad guy" of the film plans to return Manhattan to the native tribes, complete with diplomatic recognition by and protection from Europe. Sure, more power to "Imperial" Europe isn't great, but that'll get fixed come 1914. Many of Loveless' henchmen are wounded Civil War veterans who fought for the South and were left to rot by the victors; Loveless made sure they got the best medical treatment and prosthesis available at his own expense. Despite his many, debasing sexual comments, Loveless employs several women in positions of authority, most of which require an education not available to many women at the time, in contrast Rita is shown to be incompetent and only able to follow the men around, the same men that constantly treat her as an object.

Finally, even though Loveless fought for the South in the war, he holds shockingly little racial prejudice (don't at me, apologists, the South fought for the right to own slaves, deal with it). When funding his scheme, Loveless milks money from rich Southern landowners who are funding a second rebellion, then turns around and guns down General McGrath's soldiers to prevent an uprising in the name of the Confederacy. And although Loveless throws more than a few racial slurs at Jim West, he works fine with other African-Americans and Native Americans, he only dislikes Jim West because Jim West is directly responsible for crippling him. Also the film has a steampunk spider mech and rail tank? Man, I didn't even talk about the assassins hiding in the paintings, which was pretty cool too. I wonder how many films actually have the protagonists working to take down the "real good guy"? I need to go back and watch some stuff again.

Superhero Media: The Lone Ranger (2013)

Oh, so Disney has the rights to The Lone Ranger, no wonder The Green Hornet didn't reference it, they would have had the pants sued off them. Actually, this film reminds me a lot of The Green Hornet in more ways than the obvious narrative connection; both have an acting choice that severely hurts the overall production, both show glimpses of the, far better, films they could be and both give a contemporary reworking (of a kind) that seems utterly unnecessary. Let's get it out of the way first, Johnny Depp was a terrible choice for Tonto, on many levels. Having a white actor play a Native American in a film where American colonialism is destroying the last of the Native Nations just seems like a phenomenally idiotic choice that someone should have caught before any filming started. I certainly get why Depp got the role, Disney were hoping to have another Pirates of the Caribbean level success with Depp as the draw-card, it just smacks of poor decision making and insular Hollywood ignorance of broader cultural issues. 

What really grates is that every other Native American in the film (even young Tonto) is played by a Native American actor and they are all killed off at the end of the second act. There's also a sub-plot with Tonto hunting a Wendigo that turns out to be his imagination, except that the guy may have eaten a woman's leg? That never gets resolved, by the way. All this is really a shame, because with a decent Tonto, or at least less of a focus on him, The Lone Ranger could have been a much better film. John Reid is a District Attorney chasing criminal Butch Cavendish into "Indian Territory", joining his brother Dan's Ranger posse to hunt Cavendish down. The posse is ambushed and everyone is killed, only for John to be resurrected by a spirit horse to become the "Spirit Walker", champion of justice. The film follows the protagonists as they hunt down Cavendish and his men, there's some kind of plot developments with a silver mine and an evil railway tycoon, but they fail to excite once you get there.

The one element that almost saves the film comes in the finale, in which The Lone Ranger finally emerges, prancing horse, silver bullets, William Tell Overture all combined with a dramatic chase across two runaway trains. It's pretty damn awesome. In fact, it's probably worth sticking out the entire film for; no really. Someone came in as I was watching the finale and commented that the film looked really good, sat down and watched the remainder. I'm somewhat reminded of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, as both that and The Lone Ranger are pretty dull, focus too much on a tired Johnny Depp caricature and one hell of an epic battle that I loved (the big ship battle in Pirates). Look, this is on Netflix, you can gain access to liquor, give it a go, even just to see the finale. As disappointing as it was, The Lone Ranger did bring to mind the many great costumed heroes of the Old West that I can get to work on down the track. Jonah Hexx, Two-Gun Kid, Lone Ranger team-up here we come!