Desperado Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.
When the smoke clears, it just means he's reloading.
The explosive new film from Robert Rodriguez
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.
| Antonio Banderas | El Mariachi |
| Steve Buscemi | Buscemi |
| Joaquim de Almeida | Bucho |
| Quentin Tarantino | Pick-Up Guy |
| Salma Hayek | Carolina |
| Cheech Marin | Short Bartender |
| Carlos Gómez | Right Hand |
| Tito Larriva | Tavo |
| Angel Aviles | Zamira |
| Danny Trejo | Navajas |
| Abraham Verduzco | Niño |
| Carlos Gallardo | Campa |
| Albert Michel Jr. | Quino |
| David Alvarado | Buddy |
| Angela Lanza | Tourist Girl |
| Robert Rodriguez |
7.00 out of 10 (36217 votes)
Visitor Reviews
The Mariachi's back in black, on purpose
posted on 07 Aug 2009 Desperado was the necessary addition to Roberto Rodriguez's original film, The Mariachi. Although the director is the same, there is definitely a revamp in the film. For example, Antonio Banderas replaced the original actor of The Mariachi to play the character in Desperado. This gives you a sense of what one can do with more money and a bit more time.
However, I have not given you a sense of the story. The story is set a few years after The Mariachi ended, with Steve Buscemi's character telling tales of this gun slinging Mariachi. Apparently, Antonio Bandera's character, the Mariachi, has put up his guitar for his new lifestyle of revenge killings. With his final revenge nearing, Banderas has many difficulties as his progress is halted many times. Only when another lady comes into his life, played by Salma Hayek, does Bandera get back on his mission.
This movie was good, and entertaining. I do not feel that the acting was necessarily exemplary, although I did like Buscemi playing the role that he did, because it just seemed to fit him so well. The gun battles were neat, and the cinematography over all was nice. What really made this movie for me was the connection with The Mariachi, because it was not unlike, for good reason, Tarantino's style of tie-ins to previous movies. This movie would get a 3.5 for its revitalization of the modern Western, with a distinctly Southwest/Mexican feel. However, I can only give it a three or four, and I round down, so three it is.
Give me the strength to be what I was, and forgive me for what I am.
posted on 03 Aug 2009Sinking us back into the gritty life of a tormented guitar player, Rodriguez sets the stage for an amazing film. This time, Antonio Banderas steps into the role of the troubled Mariachi as he continues his quest to rid Mexico of the corrupted drug lord that destroyed his life. Using friends like Steve Buscemi, he finds the town that is harboring his villain named Bucho. The Mariachi's form of questioning normally leads to several dead, a cinematic gun fight, and some classic Sergio Leone verbiage. Unfortunately, our hero does not escape unscathed and finds himself being healed by the likes of Carolina, a bookstore beauty played by Selma Hayek. Together they build a steamy relationship that will help our Mariachi reach his final destination.As more gunfights, explosions, and blood rock this independent blockbuster, we soon discover a hidden secret about our hero, one that could change the course of his destination.This was an impressive second outing by director Robert Rodriguez. While I was worried that Hollywood would have drained too much of his imagination, it was instead the direct opposite. Hollywood gave him the tools to build an amazing 'sequel'. While different, yet the similar to his independent feature 'El Mariachi', Rodriguez sets the stage for a roller coaster film that makes you hold your breath and pray for more. He has taken elements from his first film and expanded them to new levels. Banderas is perfect as our 'new' Mariachi and the chemistry between him and Selma Hayek cannot be contested. Banderas' ability to control this enraged man was spectacular. They worked as our two main focuses of this film. Coupled with some humorous moments with Steve Buscemi and Quentin Tarantino, this film successfully stood on its own two feet thanks not just to the action, but the actors in their respective roles. Finally, Rodriguez is a genius behind the camera. He is able to give us exactly the right amount of action, drama, and comedy for our liking. He is the proverbial salad bar of cinema. While giving us this deeply rooted character hell-bent on destroying this drug lord, he also lets our imaginations wander with his comical and cartoonish action sequences. The scenes of men flying through the air after being shot are somewhat comical, yet completely Rodriguez. He has successfully created this world that is all uniquely his own. Rodriguez has done this by giving the world depth and outside characters. He builds suspense and also suspicion all at the same time.Overall, an amazing film (in case you haven't noticed) that should be found in nearly everyone's film collection. Grade: ***** out of *****
Artful fantasy film featuring the hunk of all fantasies
posted on 23 Jul 2009The chemistry between Antonio Bandaras and Salma Hayek is stunning, and the casting of all characters nothing less than genius. It is hard to look away from the screen for even a moment. There is almost a sort of comic-book hero feel to this film and when the men and bullets fly, you feel as though you've looked through a true artist's eyes.
Easier to Destroy than to Create
posted on 10 Jul 2009This is the best action movie ever made. Not only is the action both breathtaking and fast paced but this movie also has thought behind it. It's a story about human nature. Our drive as people to accomplish something is generally connected with the destruction of something else. The scenes in this movie display some of the best direction I have ever seen. Rodriguez is a genius. One of the best films made this decade.
great action flick
posted on 01 Jul 2009I thought "Desperado" was a great action flick. And I found it to be a comedy too. On several parts in this movie I found myself laughing and I don't even think it was supposed to be funny. Like there was a part where a ceiling fan fell on this guy and it showed the blades hitting the guy in the face. I laughed at that part. This movie had quite a bit of violence and gore but not too much. I thought it was pretty cool towards the end when El Mariachi's buddies were shooting the guys by just holding their guitar cases. But I really liked the short performance of Steve Buscemi. He's always funny no matter what he plays in. And I was a little disappointed when he was killed. I didn't want him to die! Neither did I want Cheech to die either. The only part in this movie that made me cringe was when Salma Hayek was trying to get the bullet out of El Mariachi's arm. That was hard to watch! Anyways. I don't have much more to say about this movie except I liked all the action and the swift moves and Antonio Banderas gave a good performance. And I'm really glad I own this one now. Thanks for reading my review!
Quick Reviews!!
posted on 25 Jun 2009The film in which Rodriquez really came to prominence, Desperado is a continuation from his low budget effort 'El Mariachi', which deservedly gained him recognition from big studies, and indie heroes such as Tarantino. The man with the guitar case full of guns is coming to town, looking for the man who killed the woman he loved. He sends a friend ahead of himself, Buscemi in another great performance, to tell the tale of an encounter with the man, to try and find out if any locals have knowledge of Bucho, the one he believes is responsible for his lover's death. When Banderas finally comes to town several bloodbaths ensue in glorious fashion, and he takes refuge with a local woman played with strength and guts by Salma Hayak. Naturally they fall for each other as The Mariachi gets to the bottom of the mystery.The film has good performances from all, is very stylish and funny, with excellent dialogue, and the plot admittedly takes a step back to let the action have centre stage. The bullets fly everywhere, the action is fluid and original, and the stunts are all the more impressive because of the tiny budget. The sex scene is memorable, not because it is gratuitous, but because of the lighting and cutting, like much of the film. Violent and loud mouthed, but brilliant fun, and one for aspiring directors who have small budgets, proving that it can be done. 9 out of 10.
plot,we don't need no stinking plot
posted on 22 Jun 2009I've heard many people say that they couldn't follow the plot of this flick.I think they totally missed the point of this movie.ITS AN ACTION MOVIE.thats the whole plot.Its called lets find the bad guy,and his henchmen,and kill them.I thought it was absolute genius.Skip the plot,and go straight to the action.Banderas was pure fire.All his emotions smouldering just beneath the surface.The stunts and effects were first rate and extremely entertaining.Even the extras did great work.I would recommend this film to anyone who is wanting some great entertainment.Mark me don't go looking for some Oscar winning dramatic performances.But it is fun,pure unadulterated fun.Also the photography is absolutely first rate.As is the almost Kubrickesque atmosphere of the film.Ydnar
Awesome DVD especially for surround sound systems
posted on 11 Jun 2009The sound makes this movie. It is a turn-your-brain-off-kill-em-all-let-god-sort-em-out revenge flick. It has enough stereotyping and one-liners to make even Arnold cringe. It was a lot of fun. The soundtrack aggresively uses the surrounds which makes this DVD a good one for the "why do you need all these speakers?" questions. This movie was great, in fact, a half an hour later I was hungry again :)
Nothing new here.
posted on 01 Jun 2009It's all been done before and done much better. Desperado is your standard Hollywood action shoot-em-up. All the clichés are there. The one guy with a pistol who faces a dozen guys with machine guns and somehow manages to kill them all. The cartoonish action where someone gets shot and then jumps in the air and does a couple of 360s before falling down dead. The villain who has our hero dead to rights but...he's out of bullets. Gee, never saw that coming. The huge explosions of fire which are there for no particular reason. The gorgeous woman who leads a seemingly ordinary small-town life but then suddenly becomes a pistol-packin' mama in the blink of an eye. All of this might be acceptable if Desperado had a good plot, a riveting story to tell. It doesn't.Antonio Banderas plays our hero, El Mariachi, a guitar player out for revenge. He is searching for a drug dealer named Bucho who is responsible for the death of the woman he loved. Of course the movie wouldn't be complete if Banderas didn't have a new woman to love and in that role we have Salma Hayek. Hayek certainly fills the gorgeous part of the job requirement but unfortunately her acting in this film is limited to two expressions...goofy grin and pouty frown. And let's just say that Salma Hayek, action hero, is a bit of a stretch. Turning in the best performance is Steve Buscemi who does a great job in an opening scene where he details Mariachi's murderous exploits. Quentin Tarantino shows up and his performance serves only to remind us he's a much better director than he is an actor.The film proceeds through shootout after shootout, explosion after explosion, all of which El Mariachi survives in mostly ludicrous fashion. Eventually we come to the climax and what is meant to be a jaw-dropping plot twist. Instead it comes off as incredibly lame and makes our supposed hero look like quite the idiot. You may find yourself saying, "Come on now, how could he not know THAT?" It's the final ludicrous moment in a film filled with them. Desperado looks real nice, filled as it is with impressive visuals. Visuals however don't make a film, plot does, and in that area Desperado is sorely lacking.
Desperate-o....
posted on 29 May 2009I haven't seen "El Mariachi" but I understand this is a continuation of the same story. And that's about all I could understand about "Desperado".When you make a small budget movie that strives to look big budget, a lot of times things will mesh and make it a hit, like "El Mariachi" did. BUT when a big budget movie strives for small budget charm, usually it ends up flat on its face. ...like "Desperado" does.I know; Rodriguez is aping directors like Woo and Peckinpah, trying to make a ballet of death with such instruments as guns, explosives, blood and emotions (loss, regret, revenge, pride). But whereas Woo and Peckinpah had great scripts to work with that made the flashy direction icing on the cake, Rodriguez thinks his cake should be all icing. Which it is.There are great things to be had here: Buscemi is always worth watching and Marin is good for a few scenes. And as the "Desperado" of the title, Banderas is effectively glowering and avoids death quite convincingly. And what can anyone say about Salma Hayek? She would cause traffic accidents in real life too, I imagine.But the story is as fitful and explosive as the special FX; there's nothing of any real substance here to get your claws into and when it's all over and done with, nothing's really been said that wasn't made a point of in "The Wild Bunch" or "Hard Boiled". When you're given bigger toys to demonstrate your storytelling prowess with, sometimes you play so much that the story is forgotten. Rodgriguez, play time is over.Three stars. Nice explosions and acrobatics. Nice Salma, too.
The lead's a-flyin' in this one
posted on 21 May 2009While the plot may come up a little short, the gun play is nothing short of spectacular. I thought I saw it all, when it comes to gunfights, until I saw this film. The picture is beautifully filmed, the music wonderful, and the casting chemical. Cheech Marin, Steve Buscemi and Quentin Tarantino add the perfect finishing touches. This is not a chick-flick, or even a date-movie. This, as they say on some cable channels, is a movie for guys who like movies. Send the wife to the mall, send the kids to the park, and sit back and enjoy. Centrinells re-watchability score: A+
I thought it was great until I saw El Mariachi.
posted on 17 May 2009When I first rented Desperado I read on the box that it was a sequel to El Mariachi. After watching El Mariachi, I realized that it wasn't really a sequel at all. Sure the character is supposed to be the same, a mariachi with a shot hand. That is about the only thing the two movies have in common. After seeing El Mariachi, the supposed plot is all washed away. There is no real plot for Desperado. Now it's just an action flick. I'd spend the buck to rent it again, but it was a disappointment to find out the given reason for revenge isn't justified.
Very nice audio....
posted on 15 May 2009This is a great DVD. The video doesn't look any different to me, and I am viewing on a 60" LCD projector (sony grand wega). I have a sony surround sound system, and the DTS is just awesome. I give this 4 stars because it is too expensive. I bought mine at best buy for less than half the price. At that price I would easily give it 5 stars. No extra footage or anything, but really, the audio is just the best. I am a big fan of DTS encoding, and was very happy to find this bargain. If you liked this film, you will experience it so much better with the DTS encoding (if you have surround sound). I don't think that simulated surround would sound anywhere near as good. SO, make sure your system can decode DTS. If it can, buy it, and enjoy.
Not Nearly as Good as El Mariachi
posted on 11 May 2009This movie again proves the axiom that sequels RARELY match the quality of the original. 'El Mariachi' was a very entertaining movie, worthy of praise. But Desperado just doesn't achieve the same mark. Antonio and Salma are sexy together, but they are wasted in this film.
Furious Vengence...with Charm
posted on 05 May 2009Robert Rodriguez gets a second take at his El Mariachi character, this time bigger and bolder, with Banderas and Hayek superbly playing out the larger-than-life story of revenge and blood.At the start of the film, El Mariachi is something of a legend, and we get it from Buscemi in so many words. Banderas proceeds to fulfill the legend in his relentless search for Bucho, the man responsible for the death of his woman. Low-key humor (well, low-key except for Tarantino's over-the-top cameo) and several high-impact set pieces set this film apart from all the action movies that take themselves too seriously.And yet the bad guys are pretty forgettable, and there is a lack of memorable dialog, both of which are the life blood of a good action flick. And Rodriquez adds one of the few twists to the story in Mariachi's discovery of the identity of Bucho, yet it is not clearly set up that Mariachi doesn't already know who he is.Still, the film features inventive gunplay, amusing interplay, and two of the most beautiful movie stars who have ever walked the earth.
Question: How many John Woo movies did Rodriguez watch?
posted on 26 Apr 2009Desperado borrows heavily in the style departments that Woo capitalized with A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard-Boiled. In many cases it is all-to-obvious that Robert Rodriguez is trying to infuse the Woo method with his own inferior techniques. For starters, Quentin Tarantino doesn't have any purpose in this movie. He isn't very funny and he rambles on, hammering your ears like a cinematic Oliver Stone. Antonio Banderas has never been a strong actor in my book and here he is no more than a showcase for Rodriguez's camera.The camera, after all, is what separates the men from the boys...and Rodriguez is still in the sand box. Most of his cinematography is only a half-step ahead of MTV, as is the editing, but most falls behind Woo in creating emotion. While this is marginally better than Hard-Boiled and the Better Tomorrow films, it falters in all departments compared to The Killer.
No emotion is created other than what is pounded at the audience. The music is equally ineffective.Overall, less mythic than Leone, less styled than Woo, more powerful than Tarantino, but as shallow as George Lucas. 2 out of 5 stars. (minor spoiler: on the bonus side, Tarantino has enough sense to die in most of these films he's in).
one of few quality, pure fun movies, heavy on Latin American storytelling
posted on 05 Apr 2009This movie has really gotten only better to me over time. I first saw only part of the movie on TV, then the whole movie, then I saw it after watching El Mariachi and awaiting the release of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. The movies have a feeling of Magical Realism to them, and the last two especially are beautifully shot. I really like the blend of reality with fantasy. An example that comes to mind is the way that every time after Antonio Banderas has a shoot out and has gotten sweaty and mussed-up, he no more than slicks his hair back into a pony tail and he is again sleek and clean(ish), albeit in a very manly, tough sort of way. The settings are lovely and the music is great-all around, a highly enjoyable film.
A Mexican John Woo film
posted on 28 Mar 2009Without question, Robert Rodriguez made a sequel to El MARIACHI that looks exactly like a John Woo movie. Antonio Banderas blasts away at the bad guys with two 9MM pistols in each hand. Thousands of ammunition rounds are fired. An unbelievable number of people are killed in the shootouts, and blood is sprayed all over the place. And it all takes place in Mexico.
Great Action Movie...Salma Hayek is ever so sexy
posted on 21 Aug 2009Desperado is a non stop Entertaining Action movie. Directed by the very talented Robert Rodrigues who has given us Great movies like From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty and Sin City. This is a remake of Mexican movie El Mariachi and a far better version. Antonio Banderas in a Great Perfromance as the man seeking revenge with his guitar case of Guns. Salma Hayek is one of the Sexiest Women in the Planet. She looks ever so Hot in this movie. This is packed with plenty of Action and Humour brilliantly picturised. It has a number of special appearances by Steve Buscemi. Quentin Tarantino is there in one of the funniest scenes of the film. Danny Trejo Looks Rough and tough as the Assassin with the Daggers. This is a Great Action Movie that entertains big time.