Desperado (1995)

I watched most of El Mariachi in junior high Spanish class and the rest in young adulthood. It didn't particularly grab me, but it worked pretty well on $7,000. When Netflix suggested the immediate sequel, I got curious how different it would be with a budget 100 times higher.

EM had ended with the unnamed title character (subsequently played by Antonio Banderas) killing drug lord Moco (Peter Marquardt), who had killed the guitarist's love interest and shot him in the left hand. Alas, his thirst for vengeance has not been quenched; he now seeks Moco's boss, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida). El Mariachi's buddy Buscemi (yup, Steve Buscemi) discovers compelling evidence of which small town holds Bucho's base of operations. It doesn't take long for a trail of destruction to put Bucho on high alert. Meanwhile, El Mariachi must have a type, because he falls for yet another drug lord affiliate, Carolina (Salma Hayek, paired with Banderas for the first time).

Yeah, that's pretty much as simple a plot as in EM. Of course, El Mariachi has gotten less innocent; he actually does carry guns in his guitar case now. It looks like his left hand has recovered enough that he could still pursue a musical career after all, but that's no longer his passion. At least he's kind to an aspiring preteen guitarist (Fernando Torres) and has reservations about calling in his more violent companions, Campa (Carlos Gallardo, star of EM) and Quino (Albert Michel, Jr.).

Also less innocent is the movie overall. I'm sure the body count is higher and bloodier, and my junior high teacher would not have let us watch the steamy sex scene. No surprise when director Robert Rodriguez's buddy Quentin Tarantino appears in a minor role. (The other names I recognize are Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo.)

Is Desperado fun? Kind of. Some of the thugs have distinctive styles, and some action sequences border on comedic. Like in many '90s action flicks, the villains tend to have poor aim, the guns take a while to run out of bullets, and the main (anti)hero is perhaps superhumanly tough. The acting and cinematography have certainly improved from EM.

I won't bother with the threequel, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but Desperado is an OK way to pass the time if you don't mind grit. It slightly increases my respect for Rodriguez.