Director:
Robert Rodriguez
Writer:
Robert Rodriguez
Stars:
Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida
Story line
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.
Plot
Summary
After the first movie, El Mariachi isn't doing so good.
First off, he was shot in one of his hands. And his girlfriend was murdered.
And, once again, El Mariachi is mistaken for a hit man. This now leads to
meeting up with a beautiful woman, and another face-to-face bloody gun-shooting
action.
Reviews
Rodriguez
follows up 'El Mariachi' with 'Desperado'. Many seem to have preferred the raw
look that 'El Mariachi' had and while 'Desperado' is more 'sophisticated' in
the making and more polished, that doesn't prevent it from being an awesome
action entertainer. For me, it was just as much fun as 'El Mariachi'. Rodriguez
does what he does best. He already mentioned that his Mariachi films are a
tribute to the western cinema that names like Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood
defined and 'Desperado' works perfectly with its comic book story, quirky
characters and over-the-top action sequences. Moving at a rapid pace, the
direction and editing are top notch. The cinematography is brilliant too.
Antonio Banderas does a good job taking over the role from Carlos Gallardo (who
sort of plays his sidekick in this one). However, it is Salma Hayek that steals
the show even though the story is dominated by El Mariachi. As Carolina, she is
sensual, witty, charming and quite clever too. Hayek delivers a very natural
performance and owns each and every one of her scenes. In addition, there are
some wonderful cameos by Cheech Marin, Quentin Tarantino, Steve Buscemi and
Danny Trejo. Overall, 'Desperado' is full throttle entertainment. This is what
an action entertainer is supposed to be.
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