Desperado (1995)

Pretty Good

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The music. The romanticism. The revenge story. Antonio Banderas and the flavor of old western. And, sure, Selma Hayek. A film seductive for its answer to a sort of bovarism and for the remember of old classic fairy tale's structure. Short, a charming movie.

This sequel to 'El Mariachi' opens with a man going into a bar and telling the story of another man going into a similar bar looking for 'Bucho'… nobody is interested in the story till Bucho is mentioned; then everybody hangs on the stranger's every word as he tells how the other man killed every person in that other bar. That other man is the former mariachi and he is looking for revenge against the man he holds responsible for the woman he loved. It isn't long before the Mariachi reaches this town and when he does those who get in his way drop like flies. He isn't invincible though; he is caught in the arm by a bullet. Book store owner Carolina helps dig it out and patches him up but by helping she has put herself in Bucho's crosshairs. Bucho sends his me into town to deal with the mariachi and Carolina but he too has help when a couple of old friends arrive.There are quite a few changes between this film and 'El Mariachi'; most notably the film is in English rather than Spanish and our protagonist is played by Antonio Banderas. There is also more over-the-top action and some witty dialogue… most notably in the opening scene where Steve Buscemi tells the story about El Mariachi and an hilarious, if rather crude, story told by Quentin Tarantino in the same bar. There is lots of fairly bloody action; this mostly takes the form of shootouts but there is also an impressive scene featuring Danny Trejo as a knife thrower. The cast does a solid job; Antonio Banderas is just right as the Mariachi; tough but with just enough vulnerability and Selma Hayek is suitably sexy and believable as love interest Carolina. Joaquim de Almeida makes a good bad guy; outwardly calm most of the time but with a hair-trigger temper. Overall I'd highly recommend this to anybody looking for a good over-the-top action film.

Desperado is the second installment of Robert Rodriguez' action packed Mexico Trilogy. A man known as El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) seeks retribution after the love of his life was killed by Moco (a drug lord who played a major role in the first movie). Enlisting the help of his American friend (played by Buscemi), he learns that the man responsible for his wife's death is a drug lord named Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida). On his journey to locate and kill Bucho, he meets Carolina (Selma Hayek) with whom he falls in love. The plot is pretty generic and it's the action sequences, witty dialogue, and storytelling, along with the production value which makes Desperado so great.The movie begins with the American entering a bar in Mexico in a manner which immediately gravitates attention onto him. He sits down and asks for a beer. The cleverness and wittiness of the movie becomes apparent as soon as Buscemi opens his mouth. He explains that he had previously visited another bar where he had a terrible experience. He exclaims that the people there were lowlifes who, unlike the ones currently surrounding him, had no class. He makes sure to clarify that he speaks of the other bar, and not this one. Now one might think that he makes the clarification in order to appease hostility that he might receive due to misunderstanding, but I say he does more. I say he's vague on purpose. In addition to complementing the bar, he also praises the beer, claiming it as the best he'd ever had. But we find out later that everyone finds the beer disgusting, likening it to the taste of urine. So why would Buscemi speak so highly of such a bad tasting beer? It's because of juxtaposition. He aligns his praise of the beer with his praise of the bar and the "high class" people inside. It's safe to assume that he's lying about liking the beer, but the fact that he's associating the "piss tasting" beverage with the rest of the bar indicates that his compliments are not only not genuine but insults. This is further supported by his admission that the other bar's beer is similar, but not as good. This means that the other bar was bad, contained lowlifes, and equally as vile beer. Reinforcing this claim is the manner in which he describes the lowlifes of the other bar. He proceeds by saying, vaguely, "and this bar," pausing and turning his head around and continuing with a raised voice "is full of real lowlifes." His tone indicates that he wanted them to hear the "lowlifes" bit. And like his other vague comments about "a bar" being terrible, he follows up with a clarification that he's speaking of the other bar. After planting the seed of mockery in their heads, it doesn't matter much that he clarifies himself other than to avoid violence. Both bars are equally bad, and he cleverly got away with insulting them.The rest of the movie is a series of action-packed bar battles, street battles, and even one at a bookstore. All have one thing in common, a guitar case containing all sorts of guns and grenades that made El Mariachi a living legend. The best, in my opinion, is the bookstore scene. It was the most violent scene, but not in the conventional way. Bucho had figured out that El Mariachi was hiding out at a bookstore which he uses for drug trades by bribing the owner, Carolina. Bucho's Men sneak to the top bedroom floor where they presume El Mariachi and Carolina were sleeping. Carolina is sitting on the bed, back faced to the wall door, eyes closed and playing the guitar while singing. She's clearly unaware of the men sneaking outside. Nor is she aware that El Mariachi is awake and senses the men. As the men approach from the left side (behind a curtained window), he grabs a gun and lifts it past Carolina's closed eyes and aims. Then he senses other men coming from the right side, prompting him to lift another gun past Carolina's head. As the men move closer to the door behind Carolina, El Mariachi continues to point at them, moving his arms in accordance with their movement. But as they arrived at the door, he found himself pointing both guns at Carolina, who's still unaware of what's going on. Finally the tension breaks, Mariachi pushes Carolina out of the way, and violence ensues. It's a brilliant scene putting together two contrasting things, emphasizing the beauty and peacefulness of Carolina's singing, in light of the very thing that will destroy it, not to eliminate it, but to save it.A beautiful film. Grade of A

Desperado is written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It stars Antonio Banderas, Joaquim de Almedia, Steve Buscemi, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin and Quentin Tarantino. Music is by Los Lobos and cinematography by Guillermo Navarro.The second of what would be Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy, Desperado is enjoyable enough if just a touch disposable as well. It only really exists as a standard revenge driven action film, one that was made at the time purely as a sequel – cum – higher budgeted – remake of the director's much lauded indie darling, El Mariachi.Desperado boasts handsome people, numerous different ways of offing someone, dashes of cool, pinches of humour, zippy music, appealing photography and nifty choreography, but these things are not enough to make it a great film. It's too long, bloated and unadventurous, and crucially it lacks heart and is emotionally stunted. It's spirited alright, just not in the big areas.Action fans are well served, but Rodriguez, in spite of some skillful touches here, is better than this. 6/10