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 Director
:Robert Rodriguez
Starring
: Antonio Banderas, Joaquim De Almeida, Salma Hayek, Steve
Buscemi, Cheech Marin, Quentin Tarantino
Picture
1.85:1, DD 5.1, Single-Layer, Keep Case
Running
Time : 103 mins
The
story:
He
came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.
Antonio
Banderas is El Mariachi, a mysterious guitar player who
is searching the villages of Mexico to settle the score
with the men who murdered his girlfriend. After being wounded
in a fight, he is taken in by Carolina (Hayek) who nurses
and shelters him whilst he regains his health. Soon Carolina
finds herself under threat from some drug-dealers and once
again the Mariachi must step in to save the day.
The
summary:
This
is Rodriguez's big(ish) budget remake of his original Spanish-language
film, 'El Mariachi'. It certainly puts it's younger-brother
to shame as Rodriguez manages to fit in all the stunts and
gloss that he was forced to omit from the original. Stylishly
created, this film has some superb action sequences including
the great 'bar-fight' scene where Banderas takes on the
whole bar with the contents of his guitar case! This film
describes itself on the box as a 'south-of-the-border Pulp
Fiction' and whilst this may be accurate on many counts,
the plot itself is spread a little too thin to compare itself
to the multithreaded Tarantino masterpiece. In fact, the
story itself does just seem to while away the gaps in between
the action scenes, but there are still some great moments
in here. A remarkably good cast here as well, with the smoldering
Hayek as watchable as ever and Buscemi has some memorable
conversations with the bartenders. Banderas himself does
wonders for the film with some excellent stunts-work and
choreography during the gunfights. Overall there's just
about enough here to satisfy, and as with the likes of 'From
Dusk Til Dawn', this film has plenty of fans who just can't
get enough of the 'style over story' theme.
The
disc itself is a major disappointment. There's nothing at
all wrong with the transfer, in fact the picture and audio
are excellent, but not to include ANY extras at all is criminal!
We'd dearly love a making-of, some outtakes or even a trailer
would help. There is in fact a more recent edition of Desperado
that is a double-feature and includes 'El Mariachi'.
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