El Mariachi
An out of work musician arrives at the town of Acuña, wearing all black, holding his guitar in its case, known only as “El Mariachi” (Carlos Gallardo). Meanwhile, in a local jail Azul (Reinol Martinez), a local criminal, has just escaped and has began to kill Moco’s (Peter Marquardt) men because of money owed to him. Moco doesn’t take time to retaliate and sends his men to kill the man in black carrying a guitar suite case. As the mariachi makes his way around town asking for work, Moco’s men confuses him with Azul and begin an incessant pursuit to kill him. As a runaway, El Mariachi makes his way into a cantina where he meets Domino (Consuelo Gómez), the owner and Moco’s love interest, which he becomes attached to and ultimately bring him more trouble.

El Mariachi marks the directional debut of Robert Rodriguez, who turned in a great production considering his budget was a meager $7000 USD and a crew of amateur actors. However, El Mariachi was not only well directed, but well written story that doesn’t go overboard. Robert Rodriguez has developed a unique filmmaking style that closely resembles that of Quentin Tarantino, that’s off the wall action and somewhat overblown, but El Mariachi is simple in every sense of the word. Rodriguez’s filmmaking prowess is evident when he adapts to his film to the low budget and uses his shooting locations to the best of his abilities.

The set of actors were almost unknown, surely amateurs, but that didn’t really stop Rodriguez from creating a good film. Sure, the acting wasn’t anything out of this world, but for an independent low budget film it was decent to the point were it is enjoyable. Carlos Gallardo as El Mariachi was as good as $7000 Dollars can get you, but on a serious note Carlos was decent with the character. He fits the style of acting that the character requires. The script was well written with a simple story that was well executed throughout. Originally, created for distribution in Mexico the film was made in Spanish with the same style of filmmaking as many of the feature films used at the time in that country. I think Rodriguez turned in a quality product based on the budget he worked with that some will appreciate it for what is. (4)

Desperado
Following the events of the first film, the story begins in another small rural town as an unknown man (Steve Buscemi) walks in a bar and scares the locals with a story about El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas). Meanwhile El Mariachi is still haunted by the memories of Domino that fuels his thirst for revenge. As Buscemi arrives to El, he informs him that he can find information about Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), a local drug runner, in hope that El can finally end his revenge. As he is going around town taking out Bucho’s men, El meets Carolina (Salma Hayek), who he quickly gets acquainted with and becomes the person he relies for shelter. When Bucho begins suspecting about Carolina, mayhem ensues and now they must fight their way out of trouble.

A sequel to the 1992 film El Mariachi, Desperado a film with a much bigger budget. So this time around Robert Rodriguez had more room to expand and make the sequel to a much broader audience. With such budget and the bigger audience to appease, the film sort of feels like it detached a bit from the original. It’s an understandable change though. But Rodriguez didn’t fully change the dynamic and the good things that made the first film as enjoyable as it was. Instead, Rodriguez evolved the material and made it into a high pumping action thriller.

The story is set on a rural town, reminisce of the first, sees El in search of Bucho, but this time around El has deeper motives for his gunslinging. El is a man scarred by the lost of his love interest, Domino. Desperado just simply let’s the viewer know that the main character wants revenge and lets the hot lead do the talking. If you are familiar with Rodriguez films then you should know exactly what I mean, Desperado doesn’t hold back when it comes to the action that is pleasing yet somewhat unbelievable at the same time. While Desperado is a sequel to El Mariachi many still dispute that is just a remake of that first since much of the material seems to cover an almost identical plot as the first.

The film was written by Robert Rodriguez and this time the film was made in English with a Spanish fusion. The dialogue was good, well written and very fluid. The story moves along very quickly and while character development is sort missing the action just simply makes up for most of the story’s downfalls. Antonio Banderas is now taking on the role of the Mariachi and unlike the previous actor, Carlos Gallardo which also makes an appearance in the film, takes a more bold and raw version of the character whereas Gallardo was a more humble version of the character. Banderas has a good supporting cast with Salma Hayek as the love interest and Joaquim de Almeida as Bucho. (3.5)

El Mariachi
El Mariachi arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC enconde framed at 1.85:1. The film was originally shot with 16mm stock so the end result is a very grainy transfer that looks better than originally expected. Colors are bold and well reproduced throughout. Black levels are deep and inky. Contrast is spot on. Skintones are fairly natural, sometimes taking an orange tint, but nothing drastic. Detailing is surprisingly good, featuring a good amount of details in the picture. The image features a very heavy layer of grain that gives it a film like texture. Artifacting along with other issues are kept at a minimum. I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of El Mariachi, it’s simply as good as it gets. (3.5)

Desperado
Desperado arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4/AVC encode framed at 1.85:1. Desperado features a much better transfer that its predecessor, but it still has a few parts that look soft. Colors are rich and well reproduced throughout. The image takes a rather yellow tint that fits the warm appearance of the film. Black levels are deep and inky. Contrast is spot on giving the image great distance visibility. Detailing is pleasing offering revealing details in close ups, details in the surroundings, textures in the clothing, etc. While the film has a much improved image there are various soft sequences that leave some of the detailing behind. Desperado looks good on Blu-ray. (3.5)

El Mariachi
El Mariachi arrives with a 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. While many film benefit from the inclusion of a lossless audiotrack, El Mariachi doesn’t really benefit much from and it’s all due to the way the original track was created. Dialogue is clean and well reproduced throughout. The sound design is rather weak and it is normally coming out very flat. There is depth, no ambience, and atmospheric effects to speak of. The track has limitations, but it is as good as it will ever get. El Mariachi sounds decent on Blu-ray. (2.5)

Desperado
Desperado arrives on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track. Dialogue is clean but not entirely clear. There are some difficulties listening during some conversations. Action sequences get the best out of the track featuring great clarity in the most intense shootouts, explosions are loud and strong with great support from the bass. The rears show signs of providing some effects. Directionality is great throughout. Overall, Desperado sounds great on Blu-ray. (3.5)

El Mariachi

Audio Commentary – Features Robert Rodriguez discussing everything about the film. Rodriguez is very informative and talks about everything from the budget, story, actors, etc. Rodriguez is very thorough and precise with the information.

10 Minute Film School – This features a look at how director Robert Rodriguez made the film with only $7000 Dollars.

Bedhead – Short film created by Robert Rodriguez

Desperado

Audio Commentary – Features Robert Rodriguez discussing the film in the same format as the previous audio track. Robert Rodriguez is very informative and perhaps gives too much information for one to keep up. The track in entertaining so I highly recommend it.

10 More Minutes: Anatomy of a Shootout – this features the director discussing his techniques before the start of shooting.

Music Videos – “Morena De Mi Corazon” by Los Lobos and “Back to the House That Love Built” by Tito Tarantula.

The El Mariachi/Desperado Cutting Room – This features allows users to pick up scenes from the movie and recreate the film as they see fit. Your cut can be shared over BD-Live.

MovieIQ

BD-Live Functionality

This dual feature release shows the beginnings of a great director with a pair of low budget films that not only made it big, but catapulted Robert Rodriguez into one of the most successful Hollywood filmmakers. El Mariachi and Desperado are two well crafted films that are both engrossing and entertaining featuring great stories and incredible action sequences. The Blu-ray offers pleasing video and audio transfers with an equally entertaining set of supplements. This double feature is definitely worth the money, I recommend it.