Review of El Mariachi (1993) by Tim H — 25 Oct 2010

Okay, I'm on another quest. I do these quests just to make Flixster more interesting. So if you are reading these reviews, understand that I'm doing these for you. *sigh* I also don't have a girlfriend.

My newest quest is to complete as many franchises as possible. Sure, I've usually seen one or two movies of a lot, but all of them? Nah. What's odd is that I decided to start on Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi series. Sure, I love Robert Rodriguez, but my first exposure to him was Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I can't say that I was a huge fan.

By itself, El Mariachi is fairly entertaining. You can really see that Rodriguez is really green behind the guills on this one though. I really get the early Kevin Smith vibe out of this film with him settling for shooting on location in unideal situations. The regular "who's-that" of actors fills this film, but if you ignore all that, it's pretty fun. It's a really ridiculous concept with a lot of cheeseball visuals, but you really start to get a feel for Rodriguez's love for just over-the-top action. And that's where this movie really shines. The hot girl who isn't so hot doesn't do anything, but you add some gun fights and ridiculously show stealing fight choreography and you have a halfway decent movie that really shouldn't be owned by anyone.

I kind of wish that I was drunk when I saw this because then this would just be another four star review for me. But it wasn't that great. I know it's kind of absurd to really take this movie seriously because it doesn't take itself seriously (which is why I kind of respect this film). But there's some major plotholes in this movie. Really, a lot of the heartache in this film could have been avoided if the Mariachi just decided to change his clothes once he found out that people were looking for his "not so" double. Also, I have to question Rodriguez's casting of the white drug lord. Okay, his acting was bad enough, but the sunglasses in every scene. He didn't look evil. He just looked community theater. (Which, in its own way, is evil enough.).

I hope you get ready for a lot of reviews resembling this one because that's what's probably going to happen on this quest. Although my pop culture knowledge is going to go through the roof.