It's Sergio Leone meets Sam Peckinpah meets Quentin Tarantino in this ultraviolent, mythological shoot-'em-up by auteur Robert Rodriguez. In Desperado, Rodriguez creates larger-than-life, genre-tweaking stock characters and puts them through their paces. As they stride bravely through an Old West lightly dusted with camp humor, they're periodically called upon to nimbly dodge bullets and fireballs through outrageously choreographed displays of Hollywood pyrotechnics. In this bigger-budget semi-remake/semi-sequel to Rodriguez's indie sensation, El Mariachi (made, famously, for $7,000), Antonio Banderas is the darkly charismatic El Mariachi, the Mysterious Stranger in town; Steve Buscemi is perfectly cast as his weasely, motor-mouth Comic Sidekick, laying the groundwork for El Mariachi's entrance by spinning saloon stories to build up his legend; Cheech Marin is a standout as the Bartender, who really knows how to handle a toothpick; and gorgeous Salma Hayek is, well, the Girl--treated to the kind of full-blown, slow-mo introduction the movies traditionally lavish on beautiful new stars. It doesn't add up to much, but it's a kick. Be careful not to blow out your speakers with the DVD's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. --Jim Emerson
(33 votes)
2.
Director Robert Rodriguez follows up his legendary debut film, El Mariachi, with this sexy sequel about a mysterious guitar player searching for vengeance against the men who murdered his girlfriend. A stylish shoot-em-up film described as a south-of-the-border Pulp Fiction.
(29 votes)
3.
Desperado (1995, 101 mins.)
( Audio English, French 5.1 Dolby Surround and Portugeuse, Spanish Dolby Stereo)
With this sequel to his prize-winning independent previous film, "El Mariachi," director Robert Rodriquez joins the ranks of Sam Peckinpah and John Woo as a master of slick, glamorized ultra-violence. We pick up the story as a continuation of "El Mariachi," where an itinerant musician, looking for work, gets mistaken for a hitman and thereby entangled in a web of love, corruption, and death. This time, he is out to avenge the murder of his lover and the maiming of his fretting hand, which occurred at the end of the earlier movie. However, the plot is recapitulated, and again, a case of mistaken identity leads to a very high body count, involvement with a beautiful woman who works for the local drug lord, and finally, the inevitable face-to-face confrontation and bloody showdown.
Mariachi, El (1992, 83 mins.) (Audio French, Spanish Dolby Surround)
El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor...a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake El Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.
(32 votes)
4.
Antonio Banderas stars as the Mariachi without a name in this much anticipated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed 1992 hit, El Mariachi. This time the Mariachi (Banderas) plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican druglords, Bucho (Joaquim De Almeida), showdown.
(28 votes)
5.
Director Robert Rodriguez' sequel to his 1993 ultra low-budget movie, "El Mariachi." This film continues the story of the no-name, solitary, brooding mariachi, whose guitar case is stocked with high-powered weaponry. The musician is in a sleepy Mexican town seeking revenge against the much-feared, ruthless Bucho, a drug dealer who once shot El Mariachi in his strumming hand, and killed his girlfriend. When Bucho hears that the guitarist is looking for him, he sends his men out to forestall the attack -- which leads to many well-choreographed and bloody shootouts. Will the Latin adversaries ever confront each other directly? And if so, who will survive?
(24 votes)
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