I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Great Film overall

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Robert Rodriguez's Desperado is the original south of the border shoot em up bloodbath, bar none. I'm aware it's a sequel/remake of Robert's breakout debut El Mariachi, but the now legendary style and brutality he cultivated started to blossom here in the Mexican desert with scowling Antonio Banderas and his guitar case packed with heavy artillery. The aesthetic coalesced into something measurable here, whilst in Mariachi we only saw fits and starts. Here the tone is solidified and paves the way for the magnum opus that is Once Upon A Time In Mexico, my favourite Rodriguez flick. It all starts with the image of Banderas sauntering into a scumbucket cantina, full of sweaty machismo and smouldering angst, laying waste to the place with more phallic firepower than the entire wild Bunch. It's a time capsule worthy sequence that demonstrates the pure viscerally intoxicating effect that the action film has on a viewer, when done as well as it is here. Narrated by wisecracking sidekick Buscemi (Steve Buscemi, naturally), Banderas positively perforates the place, fuelled by the internal furnace of revenge, shrouded in the acrid scent of gunpowder and awash in tequila delirium. As soon as this sequence blows past, the credits roll up and we're treated to a Mariachi ballad sung by Antonio himself, belted out with his band to ring in this hell-beast of a movie. Together, those two scenes are some of the very, very best opening sequences you can find out there, timelessly re-watchable. The rest of the film pulls no punches either, as we see El leave a wanton gash of carnage in his wake across Mexico, on a vision quest of violence as he works his way up the ranks of organized crime, starting with slimy dive bar owner Cheech Marin. Quentin Tarantino has a spitfire cameo, rattling off a ridiculous joke before El steps into yet another bar and the sh*%#t (as well as the blood) hits the fan. His endgame target is crime boss Bucho, played with terrifying ferocity by Joaquim De Almeida. It's hard to picture an angrier performance than Banderas's before Almeida shows up, but this guy is a violent livewire who's not above capping off his own henchman like ducks in a row, puffing on a giant cigar and casually blowing the smoke in his concubine's face mid coitus. El has a love interest of his own too, in the form of ravishing, full bodied Carolina (Salma Hayek). Hayek is a babe of the highest order, and their steamy candle lit sex scene is one of the most full on 'jizz your pants' rolls in the hay that 90's cinema has to offer. This is an action film to the bone though, and they've scarcely mopped up and caught their breath before he's forced to dispatch another horde of Bucho's degenerates in high style. One has to laugh a bit when a guitar case becomes a full on rocket launcher during the earth shattering finale, but such are the stylistic dreams of Rodriguez, a filmmaker who is never anything short of extreme in his work. As if the guns weren't enough, Danny Trejo shows up as a mute assassin who like to hurl throwing knives at anything that moves, and it's this Baby Groot version of his Machete character years later that comes the closest to punching El's ticket. The stunt work is jaw dropping as well, a tactile ballet of broad movements, squib armies that light up the screen, accompanied by gallons of blood that follows the thunder clap of each gunshot wound like crimson lightning. It's a perfect package for any lover of action, romance, action, darkest of humour, action, oh and action too. When discussing films that have held up in years or decades since release, this one is not only a notable mention, it's a glowing example and a classic that has just aged gorgeously.

When it comes to action and action alone, Desperado is one of the all-time greats. Robert Rodriguez makes too many mistakes for this to be a timeless giant like Terminator or Die Hard. But because of how good the action and writing are, it is in the same realm of true action masterpieces.Desperado is the bigger-budgeted sequel/remake of Robert Rodriguez's first film entitled El Mariachi. This is one of those sequels where it might help watching the original one first. Even by watching El Mariachi first, it does not clear up anything flaw that Desperado has.The one and only flaw I have to give this is the poor transition between the two films. El Mariachi is about a talented guitar player (played in that by Carlos Gallardo) who comes to a town in search of work, where he becomes the subject of a huge case of mistaken identity and bears witness to drug lord, Moco, murder his girlfriend, Domino. He shoots El's hand and El shoots and kills him. In this El (now played by Antonio Banderas) seeks vengeance against another drug lord known as Bucho for murdering Domino. Bucho had nothing to do with the first film, and he already got his revenge against Moco, whom he knew was responsible. There's even a flashback scene with Domino and Moco. This unclarity was the main reason why this meant any sort of negativity. The most logical assumption was that Bucho was a high-ranking drug lord just above Moco, But that assumption does not give our hero a truly clear motive for going on a killing spree. This is a revenge story, but the movie never gives any point behind it all.My inference to this is like Hamlet. (This is just what I interpret). After El kills Moco, his hand is maimed, his girlfriend is dead, and he is out of work. He has no other reason to live. Carolina says to him: "I've heard of you, you kill drug dealers." Given how much longer the character's hair has gotten and how much he's improved in his shooting abilities, it is evident that some time has passed. So El must've gone on a killing spree, getting everybody underneath Bucho. How is this like Hamlet? Hamlet has no reason to live, until he plots to avenge his father's death. Avenging his father's death has given him a reason to stay alive, so he procrastinates actually going through with it. After he gets revenge, he has no other point in living. El is pretty much the same way. If he doesn't go after all of Bucho's men (then Bucho himself) he has no point in living. Revenge has consumed their entire lives, giving new meaning, which they don't want to let go of. Well, this is my interpretation of it anyway!El arrives in a new town in Mexico where he destroys Bucho's goons with the help of his special guitar case. The lack of identity has Bucho paranoid, while El falls in love with bookstore owner, Carolina (Hayak) who works under Bucho. The relationship between Carolina and Bucho is exactly like Domino and Moco. There's a few other details which give this a remake feel. Desperado is a modern-day spaghetti western. Our nameless hero, only known as El Mariachi, battles armies by himself, where clichés are always around. A bunch of guys shoot him at close range with machine guns and miss, but El shoots them once and they die. Although the clichés are noticeable, the action sequences are loud, intense, gory, and awesome. Although this was made long after gunfights became an art form, almost every action scene this has beats many classic action movies. When it comes to violence, I know good from bad and this is full of some of the best. The first time I watched this (before I exactly knew good movies from bad ones) I was blown away. Despite my knowledge in movies growing since then, it still rocks me every time I see this. Although the action is really what makes this, it is not the only redeeming quality. Whenever there is music playing, it fits. There's rock, blues, and Spanish music put in their respective places, making the scenes that much better. The love story between El and Carolina is even pulled off, despite being generic. And Rodriguez constructs each character to a high degree. He is able to do this by creating killer dialogue, including a hilarious joke given by Quentin Tarantino. So even though there is a big gap between this and the first resulting in a shallow general plot, Desperado is a dynamite tribute to spaghetti westerns with fill redemption which will remain one of the best action movies ever.

This is the sequel to "El Mariachi", and to me, it feels a lot like Robert Rodriguez essentially remaking "El Mariachi" the way he would have wanted to of made it if he had a big budget. While I rate both films equally, it's for two different reasons. I rated "El Mariachi" that way because I respect just how low of a budget it was for what it turned out to be, but for this one, I rate it that way because I enjoyed it. It's not perfect, but it's fun.This is the kind of movie that pleases fans of action. There's a lot of great shootouts and unique style to them. But it should be said that the film doesn't take itself seriously, and this generally works, but sometimes didn't for me. I just have never been a massive fan of that Tarantino style of humour in action/drama films. I guess i'm more of a fan of gritty violence. But that's not to say I don't ever enjoy it, and I would say this film does it pretty well. Something I noticed technically speaking was that the audio seemed a bit weird. It almost felt like perhaps it wasn't recorded well on set or maybe sound mixing was off. I'm not quite sure what it was. This wasn't a major issue, just something I occasionally noticed.Getting back to the idea of this being a bigger budget "El Mariachi", I felt that the story was very similar. While it was supposed to be a sequel, you can't help but feel like it's a remake with certain plot points running through both films. I just kept thinking "We saw this happen in El Mariachi". I guess if you really liked "El Mariachi", then you will enjoy this too. It's a fun action flick for sure.

If you've ever had a boyhood dream of making a movie, it would probably have looked something like "Desperado". The entire structure is basically this: a fantastic B-actor does a long monologue, then a gunfight breaks out. It's 70s exploitation with 90s skill and 90s Steve Buscemi. While predecessor "El Mariachi" did have a more raw feel to it, this one stands through the comparison because it shows how much more creative Robert Rodriguez can still get with a higher budget. The change of actor from virtually unknown Carlos Gallardo to the more bankable Antonio Banderas isn't quite seamless, but after a while you do sorta buy him as a bad-ass. "Desperado" is the salt and pepper of cinema, the little extra spice that lives by some of Hollywood's rules but stands out by how it breaks all of the others. We need to cherish movies like these, movies that go purely for the entertainment value and don't care about anything else. "Desperado" is action as it should be: anything goes, no holds barred so you're completely caught up.