Review of Desperado (1995) by Conner R — 17 May 2011
Desperado is probably Robert Rodriguez's greatest achievement. In many ways it combines all the concepts he's dealt with since, but this is the crown jewel in terms of delivery. It manages to make sense out of what should be a terrible idea.
When you hear "guitar playing action movie with a love story", it sounds like a bad telenovela. However, with a little bit of style, excellent casting and some of the most over-the-top moments, you get the masterpiece that is Desperado.
Robert Rodriguez captures a combined stylization of Spaghetti Western, exploitation and comic book. It makes you accept the utterly bizarre elements; such as a rocket launcher guitar case. Antonio Banderas is at his absolute finest as the Mariachi, making a truly unforgettable character with endlessly cool character moments and a commanding presence.
Robert Rodriguez tops this all off with one of his classic Carpenter-like soundtracks that gives so much weight to the characters and story. It's hard to take this as a sequel to El Mariachi because it possesses a completely different tone, goal and overall quality.
It?M)s a complete mastery of skill and original storytelling as opposed to a really excellent low budget film.
This review of Desperado (1995) was written by Conner R on 17 May 2011.
Desperado has generally received positive reviews.
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