There's a gritty, Dark Knight-style Zorro reboot on the way

last updated 8 January 2015

Deadline reports that Sony is prepping another reboot of the Zorro franchise. But if you were a fan of the last time they rebooted the Zorro franchise, don't get too excited: This is going to be one of those grim, gritty reboots that Hollywood refuses to stop making:

"I'm told that the ambition of the movie is less traditional swashbuckler, and more of a Dark Knight-style unveiling of the character with a new backstory, gritty realism, and emotional core. There will be swordplay, combined with the martial arts that came from Europe and created a deadly combination of action and lethal fighting systems that combined swords, daggers, grappling, and bare knuckles." [Deadline]

That's right: It's basically none of the things people like about Zorro, and all of the things that people can see in about a million other movies. By contrast, here is the most famous scene from 1998's hit The Mask of Zorro, in which Antonio Banderas cuts off Catherine Zeta-Jones' dress while delivering witty little asides:

So picture something kind of like like that — but with less banter, more crying, and that song from Requiem for a Dream playing over the whole thing.