Desperado (1995)

Really Surprised!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Quentin Tarantino and John Woo. To a certain audience, that's a potent combination, and "Desperado" plays like a wickedly enjoyable B-movie; it's just got that rebellious streak, and a wealth of self-confidence. Deep down, I know this film was explosive back in '95, even if time and imitators have conspired to dull its edge.Banderas strolls into this like a ready-made myth, all scowl and jingly spurs. The stuff he gets away with in this movie is absurd, and that's exactly what people paid to see. That, and stunning beauty. If there's one thing that can distract from the balletic gun battles, it's Salma Hayek. This is a fun movie.7/10

A spaghetti western in every sense of the word, "Desperado" is an exhilarating ride from start to finish. Stylish, humorous, and thoroughly engaging, it tells the tale of one mariachi's quest for revenge and redemption. Banderas delivers the performance that made him a star as the titular desperado. Smoldering and suave, he knows how to shoot up a bar as well as he masters the more romantic elements in the film, especially when the equally stunning Hayek comes into the picture. Their escape from a hotel together, resulting in the famous jumping off the roof scene, is pure pulp entertainment. Rodriguez should focus on making more films like this -- homages to great B- movies produced on an A-level scale.

'Desperado' has everything that i like to see in action films. It is not totally clumsy, it has a considerably good art direction and also good cinematography(just look at the insane action scenes) and it is fun and over the top. The film has perfect internal logic, even if the logic is totally absurd and messed up. Since assassins throwing knives to bazookas into guitars, this movie has it all. The possible is not limited in the film. And even in the most 'dramatic' moments, the film never take itself too serious. The cast is remarkably good, but the acting is totally left apart. No one even tries to be more than a cartoon char. It also satirizes himself within the film, when Butcho asks to his men: 'Is not easy? Just shoot anyone who carries a gun? Isn't that simple?'. Unbelievable.Anyways, the film is full of remarkable scenes, but between Tarantino telling a hilarious joke and Antonio Banderas jumping backwards from a building while killing three bandits at same time, it don't has that much of a story, so just don't expect nothing more from this than a insane action film and you'll not be disappointed. 6.9/10

Desperado is just another great movie in Robert Rodriguez's career as a filmmaker. You can kind of view it as his first movie where he had a decent budget to work with for a change over the bare bones production of El Mariachi and Roadracers(was just a made for TV movie).Antonio Banderas takes over the role of El Mariachi, this is the sequel to the EM movie. El Mariachi is almost the same thing as Clint Eastwood's character being known as The Man With No Name in Leone's Dollars Trilogy.Salma Hayek puts her name on the map with her scintillating performance. Then you have another of the Rodriguez Regulars with Danny Trejo showing up for a few scenes.