'90s Class?: Desperado (1995)

 Let's make that Movie again, but now we'll spend 1,000% more money.  This is Desperado, the semi-Remake, but mostly Sequel to  Robert Rodriguez's first Film.

Since he spent $7,000 for El Mariachi, he got a big deal to make Films with *gasp* a real Budget.  Now he's got $7,000,000 to make this one.  What's changed?

Well, he's not doing 80% of the work, having separate Cameraman, Stunt People and isn't being pushed around in a wheelchair to do tracking shots.  It's the sweet life!

Desperado is most known for being the break-out Films for its Stars- Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek- and for showing what Rodriguez can do in the Hollywood System.  The result was a big hit that I definitely rented from a Blockbuster at some point.  Good times.

Is bigger better or is the Indy original the best?  Let's find out...

A man- Steve Buscemi- goes into a Mexican Bar and builds up the legend of The Desperado.

Who is this mysterious, gun-toting Mexican badass?

He's the Lead from El Mariachi, as seen in this reenactment of the Ending of said Film.  This also gives us the one-off appearance of that Film's Villain.

Since she was never trying to be an Actress, this is the 2nd and last Credit held by this Actress.

The new Villain is supposedly the big Boss that was over him in the last Film, but I don't really recall that being a thing.

He's played by a great Character Actor here, but was originally going to be Raul Julia, but his health got too bad for him to do it and he died before Production started.

Man, that would have been a helluva better Final Film than Street Fighter, no?

Banderas here is playing doing the same thing he- as a different Actor- saw Azul doing in that Film.

Of course, that ended with his sudden, violent death, so...why not emulate someone better?

On the plus side, these shoot outs are still fun and physics-defying after 25 years.

He gets wounded in that fight, but manages to keep going.

His action put enough pressure for Not Raul Julia to send more people in AND for his Boss to do the same.

He saves Hayek from being stuck in the middle of a shoot-out, so she takes care of him...kind of like that lady in the last Film.

Oh right- she runs a Bookstore here and not a Bar.  It's totally different.

In a neat bit of misdirection, we get Danny Trejo as a Mob Hitman that is actually taken down by the Mob Boss' own men.

Of course, they telegraph this twist by asking what the 'hired gun' looks like to avoid this happening...and then it happens.

It's almost a really clever idea.  Almost.

Here's a Scene where we learn about how Not Raul Julia is bankrolling Hayek's Book Store, but this time it's not about romance- it's about transferring drugs.

After he figures out that she was hiding Banderas, however, he turns on her like his lower man did in Mariachi.

This time, however, we get a big shoot out, since Rodriguez now has money to spend on this.

Banderas finally sees Not Raul Julia and realizes a big twist- it's his Brother.

So, to be clear, that random Mariachi guy was secretly the Brother of a Drug Czar in the last Film?  Okay...

He calls in his two friends- one of whom was the Lead in Mariachi- for a big shoot-out.  You will believe that you can fire rockets from a guitar case!

After that, he...calmly enters his Brother's Ranch and lets himself be outgunned?  Okay.

He tries one last (or first) time to talk him down, but eventually shoots the villain dead...and then the Film cuts to the next Scene.

This was done to cut the Film from an X-Rating to an R... but at least is a unique flourish.

Time to be in that 3rd Film that even I barely remember (and I saw it in Theaters!).  The End.

A fun, vibrant Film that doesn't exactly have alot of depth to it.  Desperado is full of big Action Set Pieces, explosions and the like.  That's all good.

If you need more than that, you might find it a bit lacking.  You get hints of a stronger Story with Hayek essentially reprising the role of the Female Lead in the last Film.  It just kind of stops right before the end though, so...no such luck.

For his part, Banderas plays a cocky, but also fallible Hero.  He's not always great at his job.  He sometimes gets lucky.  He always gets away with things though.  Like Hayek, he gets a little bit of depth, which is also rehashed from El Mariachi.  This one at least has a payoff and we're spared the Dream Sequences from the last Film.

As a fun, '90s Action Film that can be a bit unconventional, the Film delivers.  If you just so happen to need more than the outline of a real Story, Desperado might be a bit shallow.  Like all '90s Indie Films, it does also have Quentin Tarantino for no discernable reason...

Next time, random DVD drawing got me a Chinese Film that owes a bit to Seven Samurai.  Hey, if America can milk that Story, so can the Chinese.  Stay tuned...