Desperado (1995)

This movie first showed me how much a good action director can actually do with one of the smoothest actors in hollywood. No complex plot you say? That's not why this movie was made. It's the attitude, the ambiance and the style. This is an amazing movie that can be watched over and over and over...

Fmovies: Sequel to Rodriguez's debut "El Mariachi" gets a big budget, big guns and big stars, but it remains a "b-action flick" at heart. So no overly complex story, but rather cool characters, over the top shootouts and even the dialogue is obviously just aiming to be cool - in which it mostly succeeds! Soundtrack is nicely Mexican flavored and very fitting.

What most people see when they watch Desperado is the violence, the style, Antonio Banderas' hair, and Salma Hayek's breasts. However, there is so much more to this film if it is combined with its predecessor, El Mariachi. The two main themes that I can identify are listed below -- there are more, but I don't have the time or the space to go into them:

1. Loss of innocence: The character of El Mariachi is first shown as an innocent. All he wants to do is make a living playing his songs, then moving on, as his father did before him. By the end of 'El Mariachi', however, he has killed a great number of people to survive circumstances that have little to do with him. There is also the youth who wants to join Bucho's gang. He starts off as a good-natured, chivalrous fighter, but is soon reduced to an aggressive killer by those around him. The innocents of Santa Cecillia as well, such as the young boy, are led into drug dealing. These things show how easily innocence can be destroyed, and also how much it needs to be preserved. Rodriguez shows that the only way to combat this is by having someone on both sides -- a man who is still good, but has lost his innocence -- El Mariachi.

2.Fathers and Sons: In one of the closing scenes of Desperado, El Mariachi is shown at the hospital bed of the young boy who he took under his wing, and gives an eloquent speech on how everyone he has killed has been someone's father, brother, or son. Also, the main character wanted to follow his fathers guitar-playing footsteps, which led him down the path which he took, and also led his older brother, Bucho, into a life of crime because he did not have the favour of his father.

So next time you watch this film, take in the style, relish the action, but also look for the hidden sub-texts of the movie.

Desperado fmovies. After watching El Mariachi, it was easy to see the improvement in production values between the two. Not surprising, considering the difference in the price tag of the two films. But, as I pointed out in my El Mariachi review, money isn't everything.

Although better visually, Desperado benefits from better actors who bring more life to the characters. The overall effect, given another reasonable plot, is to make a much more polished looking film that deservedly did as well as it did at the box office.

The aforementioned plot is, essentially, the same as the first film when you boil it down - the Mariachi ends up killing a lot of no-good drug-dealers and warlords etc. - and there's the obligatory love interest. But although very similar, this movie was more enjoyable due to it's overall finish and style.

I originally watched this movie some years ago, long before I got to see the original El Mariachi, so I suppose I am a little biased in preferring this one to the the first in that Banderas IS the Mariachi as far as I was concerned. But not to knock the first movie, which tells us the early history of the Mariachi, and is a worthy film in its own right.

Desperado is good, if sometimes a little gory, fun. Nothing to analyse too much, just enjoy. If you have the opportunity, watch the original, then this one and things will make a lot more sense. Desperado has enough back history woven into it to make it a standalone film, but the overall experience is better watching the two back to back.

Robert Rodriguez's Desperado is the original south of the border shoot em up bloodbath, bar none. I'm aware it's a sequel/remake of Robert's breakout debut El Mariachi, but the now legendary style and brutality he cultivated started to blossom here in the Mexican desert with scowling Antonio Banderas and his guitar case packed with heavy artillery. The aesthetic coalesced into something measurable here, whilst in Mariachi we only saw fits and starts. Here the tone is solidified and paves the way for the magnum opus that is Once Upon A Time In Mexico, my favourite Rodriguez flick. It all starts with the image of Banderas sauntering into a scumbucket cantina, full of sweaty machismo and smouldering angst, laying waste to the place with more phallic firepower than the entire wild Bunch. It's a time capsule worthy sequence that demonstrates the pure viscerally intoxicating effect that the action film has on a viewer, when done as well as it is here. Narrated by wisecracking sidekick Buscemi (Steve Buscemi, naturally), Banderas positively perforates the place, fuelled by the internal furnace of revenge, shrouded in the acrid scent of gunpowder and awash in tequila delirium. As soon as this sequence blows past, the credits roll up and we're treated to a Mariachi ballad sung by Antonio himself, belted out with his band to ring in this hell-beast of a movie. Together, those two scenes are some of the very, very best opening sequences you can find out there, timelessly re-watchable. The rest of the film pulls no punches either, as we see El leave a wanton gash of carnage in his wake across Mexico, on a vision quest of violence as he works his way up the ranks of organized crime, starting with slimy dive bar owner Cheech Marin. Quentin Tarantino has a spitfire cameo, rattling off a ridiculous joke before El steps into yet another bar and the sh*%#t (as well as the blood) hits the fan. His endgame target is crime boss Bucho, played with terrifying ferocity by Joaquim De Almeida. It's hard to picture an angrier performance than Banderas's before Almeida shows up, but this guy is a violent livewire who's not above capping off his own henchman like ducks in a row, puffing on a giant cigar and casually blowing the smoke in his concubine's face mid coitus. El has a love interest of his own too, in the form of ravishing, full bodied Carolina (Salma Hayek). Hayek is a babe of the highest order, and their steamy candle lit sex scene is one of the most full on 'jizz your pants' rolls in the hay that 90's cinema has to offer. This is an action film to the bone though, and they've scarcely mopped up and caught their breath before he's forced to dispatch another horde of Bucho's degenerates in high style. One has to laugh a bit when a guitar case becomes a full on rocket launcher during the earth shattering finale, but such are the stylistic dreams of Rodriguez, a filmmaker who is never anything short of extreme in his work. As if the guns weren't enough, Danny Trejo shows up as a mute assassin who like to hurl throwing knives at anything that moves, and it's this Baby Groot version of his Machete character years later that comes the closest to punching El's ticket. The stunt work is jaw dropping as well, a tactile ballet of broad movements, squib armies that light up the screen, accompanied by gallons of blood that follows the thunder clap of each gunshot wound like crimson lightning. It's a perfect package for any lover of action, romance, action, darkest of humour, action, oh

Desperado (1995) was a fun and big budgeted version of Desperado. Robert Rodriguez has fun with the film and the characters from El MARIACHI. Antonio Banderas stars as the mythical El Mariachi whilst Salma Hayyek co-stars as his love interest. Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi and Quentin Tarantino are among the other stars who make guest star appearances.

El Mariachi is hiding out in another small desert town. He's become a legendary vigilante who's still seeking out justice for his dead girlfriend. He has a companion (Steve Buscemi) who helps him out find those who were connected to the boss from the first film. During one of his hits, a hired gun from another crime family comes into town (Danny Trejo). He also fits the description of El Mariachi (somewhat). A local book dealer (Salma Hayek) crosses paths with the legendary crime fighter. Who is the man behind all of El Mariachi's sorrow? Why is he so desperate to single handedly trying to crush the crime in the area? How does he do it by himself? Is he that good? To find out the answers for all of these questions you'll just have to watch DESPERADO.

A fun second parter to EL MARIACHI. Unlike most sequels, you don't need to watch the first film to enjoy this one. It's just another entertaining film that'll burn some time. Enjoy!

Highly recommended.