After El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez signed a deal to make Desperado. He even signed on Antonio Banderas to play the hero, giving some heavier weight to the role. All in all, it’s a pretty decent film.
El Mariachi, aka El, has returned to Acu?a, to avenge the death of Domin? by killing Bucho. But he’s no killer, so he enlists the help of his gringo friend, played by Steve Buscemi, to come into town ahead of him and scope things out.
Buscemi makes a great scout. He heads into the local watering hole, where Cheech Marin is the bartender. It’s full of all kinds of characters. He starts into his story about having run into the now legendary Mariachi, and really plays up how lethal he is and how he’s looking for Bucho. It’s actually a surprise when he makes it out of there alive.
It’s not a surprise when El comes into same bar and more or less levels it. Robert Rodriguez and Antonio Banderas, who I lovingly refer to as Antonio Pendejo out of habit, really put together a well told, well shot sequence with the gun fight in the bar. You almost think that the bartender is going to make it out alive, yet something deep down tells you that, yeah, he’s going to catch a bullet or ten and die. It’s neat to see what Rodriguez can do with access to a little money.
And I think this was the first semi-big movie in which Banderas played the lead. He’d done a ton of stuff before hand, but only a few main-stream-America films. It definitely was the first big thing for Salma Hayek.
She plays Carolina, a local gal who own a bookstore. El ends up with her when he leaves the big bar shootout and it in need of a little Bondo and some bandages. Really, she becomes the new Domin? as El heads off in search of Bucho.
In addition to Pendejo and Buscemi and Cheech Marin and Salma Hakey, Danny Trejo is in this film. You’d know him if you saw him – big Mexican guy with a tattoo on chest his of a woman wearing a sombrero. He is perfectly cast in this movie as a bag guy. The other surprise is seeing Joaquim de Almeida in this film — he went on to do great things in Clear and Present Danger and Behind Enemy Lines.
It’d be easy to look at this movie, see the similarities with the first El Mariachi movie, and declare that Rodriguez just remade the movie but with a bigger budget. But that wouldn’t be fair. It’s a different tale, and a real outgrowth of the first one. Yes, you could see Desperado without seeing El Mariachi, but you shouldn’t.
Robert Rodriuez really comes into his element with this film. He went on to make other movies, even other movie with Pendejo (Spy Kids and a few spin offs), and he formed a working relationship with Quentin Tarantino (who makes a cameo in this film). I liked Sin City, and its dark look (another comic book made into a movie) and am looking forward to what he does with Sin City 2.
This is a Netflix movie. You’re not going to buy it, most likely, unless you see all three and are just crazy in love with all three. It’s the best of the three, I think, but it’s good, not great as a film.
