Jon Torino

Well, this was a snoozer. I can tell a movie is a snoozer when I find a lull in the film and find myself in the kitchen too often. Something needed to push this movie along and it was action. You don't get to see the train crash, it just happens. You find yourself trying to figure out why a perfectly intelligent man can't figure out what's going on in his life. You mean to say this guy goes through life into his (I assume) late 30's and he has no idea he was never sick?

As a follow-up to "Sixth Sense" it comes no where near the cleverness and "sit in your chair" interest. I remember being entirely shocked with "Sixth Sense" and here the ending was easy to foresee.

I recommend you pass this one. Go view a classic like "Dial M for Murder" "Night of the Hunter" or "Wait until Dark" and you'll enjoy yourself much more.

I found this movie and another at our public SF library and was happy to see them. This movie is entitled "Zorro, The Legend Begins" and offers Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Stephanie Zimbalist of Remington Steel fame is his daughter) as Zorro's father. The one difference in this telling of Zorro is his younger deaf mute companion.

The film starts off with Don Diego (Zorro) as a young man sent from his father's prosperous ranch in a small Mexican village to a bigger city to broaden his education and to train with a famous swordsman. Diego returns many years later, his little deaf mute playmate has grown up as has the lovely Victoria (Patrice Camhi) who now runs the local tavern. The town is controlled by a vicious "Alcade" (Michael Tylo) who taxes the poor ranchers and tax people and is brutal to them.

Zorro is being chased by the soldiers when he falls over a cliff and his horse goes back to the ranch to fetch Felipe (Juan Botta, the young deaf mute. As he lay there he takes us back through his memories of his life as Zorro.

We learn how and why Don Diego creates his Zorro identity and watch as he saves the townspeople from the cruel Alcade.

This is not a cheesy production. The costumes are well done as are the sets, including a glorious clipper ship that is real and takes Don Diego on his journey to learn how to be an expert swordsman.

I'm hoping there are many more of these productions that I just haven't found yet. The second flim in this series (that I will review also) is entitled: Zorro: A Conspiracy of Blood. Apparently these movies were created for television. They are all in color and about 100 minutes long (1 hour 40 minutes).

Casper Van Dien plays the lead in this movie. The plot was sort of interesting: the hidden information in the bible about the future and the foretelling of events that lead to the end of the world. I figured they would do a good job with Casper in the lead.

Let me say this up front: I have a lot of problems believing in Casper's acting abilities. He is a very small man in size and when a lead actor is small (Alan Ladd was small in stature) they always surround them with short actors. In this case Casper was surrounded with Michael York and Catherine Oxenberg (remember her from Dynasty?). I actually saw Casper in person one time and was totally shocked at what a little tiny guy he is. Very well portioned, even somewhat muscular, nice face and he does photograph well on the big screen but he is not one of our more intelligent actors and often isn't too convincing. Knowing he is just a short little guy can crack me up at times when he is being "Mr. Forceful" or "Mr. Lover" on the screen. Honestly, I have nothing against short people but I do have a problem with short people who act like they are "big" people. If I had never seen Casper in person his height would probably never be an issue with me. If the guy was six feet he would truly be an amazing hunk.

Ok. So the plot is somewhat interesting and the effects are digital. Michael York is a religious freak and Casper plays one of those guys who make millions off of "let me build your confidence" seminars. Much of the action takes place in Israel and there are lots of Hasidic Jewish guys with the braids and little skull caps. I got up to feed the cats during a lull in the action and when I do stuff like that it means I've lost interest in the movie. I came back and never did get back into the plot until near the end when York believes he is the new God and Casper finds the secret to the bible. There are these two mysterious guys in the picture who save Casper's butt several times. I think they are Angels of some kind but can't be sure.

Anyway, I wouldn't rent this film again for the life of me and I don't recommend it to others. No sex scenes, you don't see Casper without a shirt or naked (which would have raised by "4" rating to a "5").