Zorro Rides Again: A dusty, scrappy piece of serial history

Is it worth your time?

Look, if you have a soft spot for 1930s serials, you’ll probably get a kick out of this. It’s loud, it’s fast, and it doesn't care if the plot holes are big enough to drive a train through. But if you need your action to make sense or have high production value, you’re going to be bored out of your mind within ten minutes.

It’s the kind of movie you put on while doing laundry, not something you center your whole Saturday night around. Unless, of course, you're really into horse chases that happen in the same three dirt patches over and over again. 🐎

The Zorro vibe

James Vega is supposed to be this suave golfer, but the movie is clearly dying to get him into the mask. Once he starts wearing the black outfit, everything feels a lot more comfortable. It’s funny how a guy with a sword suddenly becomes an expert at fighting gangs armed with literal machine guns. Logic? Who needs it.

There is this one scene where he’s dodging fire, and you can practically see the stunt double thinking, 'I hope this paycheck clears.' It lacks the polished intensity you’d find in something like You Only Live Once, but it has a gritty, desperate energy that I kinda dug.

Random notes from the couch:

• The sound design is basically just a guy hitting a piece of metal with a stick every time someone gets punched. It’s hypnotic.
• The villains are so cartoonishly evil I half expected one of them to tie someone to the train tracks. Actually, they probably did that in a chapter I missed.
• Watching John Carroll try to act 'posh' at the start is a real treat. He’s clearly much happier once he gets to jump off a balcony.
• The California-Yucatan Railroad seems like the most dangerous place to work in 1937.

Sometimes the serial structure feels a bit like The Return of Casey Jones in terms of just pushing the plot forward by any means necessary. Things happen because they have to happen, not because they make sense. You can feel the writers frantically scribbling on a whiteboard to bridge the gap between chapters.

It’s messy, it’s short, and it’s gloriously dated. Don't go in expecting a masterpiece. Go in expecting a guy in a cape to save the day, again. ⚔️