LogFAQs > #957065663

And here's the second drop of the evening, as promised.

#19. Desperado 123 points

Inviso - 7
CoolCly 9
Stifled 14
KBM 20
Johnbobb 21
Karo 25
Pokewars 27

Very poor plot synopsis:
Lets try El Mariachi again, except with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.

Why it was included:
The second film in the Mariachi Trilogy, Desperado advances from the tiny budget of the first with some more buying power and star power. Antonio Banderas is brought in to take over the role of the Mariachi. Desperado came during Antonios multi-year run of focusing on being an action star. Prior to Desperado, his biggest movie role was getting it on with Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. So heres to Mr. Banderas by including this film on the list.

What Stifled thinks:
Despite feeling a little rehashy, and despite my utter hatred of unnecessary recasting, I actually really love what Desperado has to offer. Banderas brings a charisma and a presence to this role that elevates it past the characters former wrong place at the wrong time kind of vibe. Its at this point the Mariachi is more of a hardened killer, being very well known in the criminal underworld. In that regard, the recasting works quite well. The only spot that bugged me was where they green screened Banderas over flashback footage of the original movie. That is some Hayden in Return of the Jedi bullshit. Not to mention bringing back the original Mariachi to be a completely different character was a bit confusing. It temporarily made me ponder as to whether there were multiple Mariachis. But it ends up being very similar to Lee Van Cleef being in the Dollars Trilogy as two different characters. That doesnt particularly excuse this, as both examples are kind of stupid. But hey. What can you do?

Regardless, Desperado is an excellent action western. The western vibe is maintained while adding a healthy dose of modern action movie violence. The characters are interesting and memorable. The emotion shown by them is intense. I have next to no complaints about the movie itself. That end plot twist of Bucho being Mariachis brother though? They can keep that shit. That felt very tacked on and dumb. Did it ruin the movie, however? Not at all! As dumb as it is, its also just as easy to forget about it. So no worries.
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Bear Bro
The Empire of Silence