We’re going to have quite the run on exclamation points while ruminating on Zorro (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video), the new 10-episode, Spanish-language series about the ever-popular character. This outing – the seven zillionth iteration of the masked, cutlass-wielding vigilante; I counted – bursts with enough enthusiasm to charm even the cynics who are ever-weary of repeated regurgitations of intellectual property. It casts Miguel Bernardeau (of Netflix’s 1899) as Zorro, and boasts all the uptempo derring-do and romantic tension we expect from the franchise. And while it beats Disney+’s reported series (slated to star Wilmer Valderrama) to the punch, is it a knockout? Let’s find out.
Opening Shot: The moon, vibrantly reflected in a puddle. Suddenly, a horse’s hoof splashes through it!
The Gist: SUBTITLE: 19th-century Los Angeles: Hooded men hold Alejandro de la Vega (Luis Tosar) at gunpoint – until Zorro arrives! Clop clop clop! Slash slash slash! Zorro rescues his friend and gallops away but it’s moot! More hooded men are hiding, and Alejandro is killed! With a shot to the heart! Soldiers led by the Governor (Rodolfo Sancho) chase Zorro into a church, put a bullet in him and light the place on fire! Sacrilicious! Zorro dies and that’s the end of the series! Boy, that was quick!
OK, I’ll chill on the punctuation now. You may know that Zorro is less a man than an entity, an idea. When one Zorro dies, another takes his place. His Native American brethren swoop in and take his body and burn it on a pyre and argue about who’s next to don the cape and all that. Nah-Lin (Dalia Xiuhcoatl) thinks she should do it, but the elders aren’t so sure. MEANWHILE, in Spain, we meet Diego de la Vega (Bernardeau), a soldier in training. He receives a letter with bad news – Alejandro was his father, and had lots of money and a valuable chunk of California property, which is a way of saying Diego now has affairs to attend to.
Jump to six months later, and Diego hops off a boat in the port of Los Angeles, ready to take care of any loose ends. He learns from his father’s caretaker Bernardo (Paco Tous) that local authorities believe Zorro murdered Alejandro, which is pretty convenient considering the accused is dead. We know better of course; it’s what your English teacher calls “situational irony.”
Diego has a loose end of his own to deal with. He used to live here in L.A., and had a thing with Lolita Marquez (Renata Natni), the daughter of Alejandro’s closest compadre. When they reunite, she seems trepidatious, and possibly a little bit terrified, and his eyes are so blue in the California sun they make Daniel Craig’s look like swamp murk. She hides her engagement ring from him, because love is confusing. He plants a smooch on her face and she looks dumbfounded. We soon learn that her fiance (please pronounce it “FY-ants”) is the head cop around here, Monasterio (Emiliano Zurita), and he’s a smug, corrupt jerkass. To be continued, definitely.
One night, Diego has a strange shirtless dream. Awakens. Puts on a shirt. Wanders outside. Sees a crow. Sees a fox. Follows the fox. Meets Night Crow, the Native American who’s apparently keeper of the Zorro cape and cowl. He tells Diego that Zorro didn’t kill his father and declares Diego the new Zorro, which comes in handy a day or two later when Night Crow is falsely charged with trying to blow up a ship carrying a Russian businessman, because now he has someone to bust him out. Such foresight! Turns out Diego’s old man was in good with the Native Americans and they’re in line to inherit his business assets and the people in charge around here aren’t happy about that. This looks like a job for Zorro, and Diego, it turns out, can buckle the living snot out of a swash. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be!
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? I used to fire up the ol’ cable box and watch reruns of the 1950s Disney Zorro starring Guy Williams, so take the old-fashioned derring-do of that and add a couple of zesty female characters that wouldn’t have flown back then, and you have the new-millennium Zorro.
Our Take: I’m a touch disappointed that this self-described “bold reinvention” of Zorro didn’t cast a woman in the title role, but at least some feminist energy turns up in the Lolita and Nah-Lin characters, the latter of whom isn’t at all happy that the new Zorro is a wealthy Spaniard (I like to call it the Batmanification of Zorro). Energy of any breed is this Zorro’s greatest asset – it’s fast-paced and chock-full of action, romance and mediumweight drama, with big, broad, likable performances from its primary cast. Its visual presentation is inspired, popping with color and vivid imagery in the costumes and settings, which fill the debut episode with an abundance of impressive eye candy.
That eye candy is a reasonable compensation for the fight sequences, which lean on slo-mo and use semi-clever editing to cover up the lack of detailed choreography. This isn’t a dealbreaker, though – the action is slickly directed and relentlessly uptempo, executed with the bloodless cheeriness of easily digestible pulp that clearly delineates the good guys from the bad guys. Zorro may exist outside the law, but he’s no gray-area vigilante; as ever, he has a firm sense of justice. So don’t expect the moral handwringing of so many modern series; this infectious and entertaining Zorro has the big, high-def widescreen look of new-era prestige TV, but is a throwback at heart.
Sex and Skin: None so far.
Parting Shot: A wall with the following message scrawled on it: ZORRO HA VUELTO (Zorro’s back).
Sleeper Star: Natni is a sparkplug in the pilot episode, and even though the I’m-not-in-love-with-you-(but-actually-I-am) romance is old hat, she and Bernardeau show a chemical spark that has the potential to ignite later in the series.
Most Pilot-y Line: Zorro says his mission statement out loud so it’s crystal clear: “If the law does not serve justice, justice must not serve the law.”
Our Call: This Zorro is a welcome return for a classic character. It’s good, cheesy fun, and hard to dislike. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.