A quick Google search of action movies that came out in 1995 will easily explain the merit of Robert Rodriguez's Desperado. That year, Rodriguez's film competed with:-Mortal Kombat
-Judge Dredd
-Batman Forever
-Waterworld
and who could forget...
-Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie
Of course, 1995 also sported the debut of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Goldeneye, and the return of Bruce Willis as John McLean in Die Hard: With A Vengeance; films which, at the time seemed pretty cool, but after being rerun on television every week for the following ten years, became (to put it gently) "passé."
This, ladies and gentlemen, was the standard of action flicks at the time Desperado appeared on the proverbial scene. And, when considered within that context, it seems pretty damn good.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to watch Desperado's precursor, 1992's El Mariachi, but the updated model is pretty effective as a brainless, shoot-em-up, Benevolent Vigilante vs. Evil Drug Dealing Villains kind of blockbuster.
First, it features Antonio Banderas as one of the greatest badasses since Dirty Harry--a man whose skills in the area of bad-guy-death-killing are second only to his admirable morality in good-guy-looking-out-for. (Read it twice--it's a sentence.)
Banderas is pretty impressive in his portrayal of El Mariachi, a stealthy and cunning stranger who comes to a small Mexican town looking only for "a man who calls himself Bucho," but finding a whole lotta other people in the interim.
After all, Bucho (Joaquin de Almeida) is a man of considerable means, and our hero ends up with a lot of anonymous henchmen to plow through before he gets to him.
Throw in a romance with Salma Hayek and a wicked awesome soundtrack by Los Lobos? Well, you've got yourself a movie!
Certainly, Desperado isn't really going to make you think. But it's sure as hell fun to watch. The action sequences are awesome, and reasonably overdone for effect, and the script isn't as terrible as it usually is when you're dealing with an action movie from 1995.
And it's especially fun to watch Danny Trejo in his role as a hired gun (or...knife), now that Machete has been released. (And if you haven't yet seen Machete, watch it afterwards for some delightful homages!)
Essentially, I'd recommend this slightly formulaic, action-packed feature if you're looking to give your brain a rest, but still want to watch something that doesn't suck. If you're in the right mood, it can be a real treat.
After all, Desperado is pretty decent. You know...for 1995.
