Line #11 YMMV/TheMaskOfZorro


1	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/JamesHorner cuts loose with an outrageously fun, Latin-flavored score.
2	* CompleteMonster: [[SociopathicSoldier Captain Harrison Love]] works for [[BigBad Don Rafael Montero]], but manages to be ''far worse''. [[PsychoForHire Hired]] by Rafael to kidnap and enslave local people for a gold mining operation, Love indulges his own perverse hobby on the side, [[CreepySouvenir collecting the body parts of the men he has killed]] and pickling them in his wine jars. Having gunned down Alejandro Murrieta's brother Joaquin and partner, Three-Finger Jack, Love tries to force Alejandro to drink from the jars containing Joaquin's head and Jack's trademark hand as a form of psychological torture; he also tries to shoot through Don Rafael's daughter, Elena, when Zorro uses her as a shield. When Zorro exposes the existence of Don Rafael's gold mine to President Santa Anna, Love comes up with the idea of burying both mine and workers with explosives, an act that will kill thousands. When Zorro interrupts this attempted mass murder, Love taunts Zorro as they duel, telling him that "[[RelativeButton your brother would have shot himself by now]]." Described by Zorro as "a very sick person", Captain Love was loyal only to his vices, and motivated only by the enactment of physical and psychological violence.
3	* DracoInLeatherPants: Don Rafael Montero gets this from the fans at times. By no means a one-dimensional villain, Montero does genuinely have a few positive traits despite being an otherwise ruthless villain. He's capable of fighting both Zorros on his own and isn't totally reliant upon his troops. Plus he genuinely does love Elena and tried to be as good of a father to her as possible, to the point he chastised Don Diego for thinking he would ever shoot her just to gain an advantage over him. And he does show a small hint of hesitation over blowing up all the workers in the mine. However a lot of fans have a tendency to take the few minor humanizing traits he has and exaggerate them to the point where they make Don Rafael out to be a loving father figure who would never harm Elena and deeply regrets the loss of innocent life. In the end, none of this detracts from the fact that he was willing to have multiple innocent people executed just to draw out Zorro. And it doesn't change the fact that he only became Elena's father because he fought the first Zorro in a duel that led to her mother's death in the first place and then ''took the baby Elena from Don Diego and had Don Diego put in prison for up to two decades''. There is also the fact he was willing to ''pretend'' he would shoot Elena to make Don Diego drop his weapon and leave him open for a fatal shot. And with regards to all the workers who slaved away in his mines, no matter how horrified he may have looked at Captain Love's suggestion to blow them all up, Don Rafael really had no qualms about ''enslaving those people in the first place''. He outranked Captain Love to begin with and could have easily overridden his plan to kill all the workers but ultimately chose to go along with it in the span of only a few short seconds.
4	* HilariousInHindsight:
5	** "The pointy end goes into the other man"? Someone's been getting swordfighting lessons from [[Series/GameOfThrones Arya Stark]]...
6	** The IAmSpartacus scene, considering that Creator/KirkDouglas, the original Film/{{Spartacus}}, is Creator/CatherineZetaJones' (Elena) father-in-law.
7	** In this film, Captain Harrison Love establishes himself as Alejandro's ArchEnemy after murdering Alejandro's brother Joaquin. Sixteen years later, in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Creator/MattLetscher plays Eobard Thawne, a villain who establishes himself as Barry Allen's ArchEnemy after murdering Barry's mother Nora (and who has more than once disguised himself as ''Harrison'' Wells).
8	** The movie features an older hero who, through a traumatic experience at the twilight of his hero career, is made to give up the mantle and after decades of living miserably, finds the motivation and spark he needs to train a younger replacement to carry on his legacy, with the two of them bonding as master and apprentice. Just one year later, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' premiered and featured an elderly Bruce Wayne being forced to give up the mantle of Batman after experiencing trauma on his final mission, lives as a broken man for many years, and finally discovers a young man whom he trains as the new Batman. Bonus points for the fact that Zorro was one of ''the'' main inspirations for Batman's creation, both in real life and in-universe.
9	* MagnificentBastard: Don Rafael Montero is the [[AntagonisticGovernor corrupt governor of California]] and Zorro's [[ArchEnemy arch-nemesis]]. Luring Zorro out by threatening to execute three innocent men, Montero is later forced to flee during the Mexican war of Independence, but not before discovering Zorro's true identity as Diego de la Vega. After Diego's wife is killed in the conflict, Montero sends Diego to prison and takes his baby daughter Elena for Montero's own, [[RaisedByRival raising her for the next twenty years]]. Returning to California and winning over the people with his natural charisma, Montero intends to buy the land from General Santa Anna to craft his own Republic. Montero, however, intends to do this with 'El Dorado,' a mine he runs via slave labor that is on Santa Anna's own land, paying him with his own gold. During his final battle with his old nemesis Diego, Montero even takes Elena hostage for an advantage, before [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes revealing he could never harm her]], just before shooting Diego.
10	* NightmareFuel: There's something really unsettling about Joaquin Murrieta's head floating in a jar of wine, particularly the eyes, staring away blankly. The best/worse bit? [[TruthInTelevision This supposedly really happened]] to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquin_Murrieta#Five_Joaquins_Gang the real-life Joaquin]].
11	* OffendingTheCreatorsOwn: While the film didn't garner criticism in this regard, it still is an American film set in a part of the modern United States while it was part of another country, and the most evil character is an American, Harrison Love. Mexican dictator Santa Anna is referenced sympathetically and even given a HistoricalHeroUpgrade by portraying him as a fighter for Mexico's independence (though his only onscreen appearance was cut); this remains the case even when he's said to be waging an offscreen war against the United States at the time of the film's main story. The sequel ''Film/TheLegendOfZorro'' is nowhere near as subversive, portraying Zorro as a supporter of California becoming an American state.
12	* SignatureScene:
13	** Zorro using his sword to render Elena topless.
14	** Zorro fighting off both Captain Love and Don Rafael along with a platoon of guards in the hacienda.
15	* SpecialEffectFailure: When Elena's top 'falls off' after Zorro slashes at it, it's clearly being ''pulled off'' by invisible strings from below the camera. There's even a moment where the cloth is obviously being stretched as some off-screen tech yanks at it.
16	* {{Squick}}: Not only does Captain Love keep the body parts of Joaquin and Jack in wine jars, he drinks out of them. It's made much worse when Alejandro, to keep up his cover, has to drink out of Joaquin's jar.
17	* ValuesDissonance: Zorro [[ForcefulKiss forcefully kissing Elena continuously]] and then cutting her dress, leaving her topless probably wouldn't fly today, even if it is PlayedForLaughs.

Context YMMV / TheMaskOfZorro