Awfully entertaining action flick!

After the unanticipated success of Robert Rodriguez's little known movie El Mariachi it was pure fate that a sequel would be instigated. In this case, Desperado is a reworking of the original film while also acting as a continuation of the story. El Mariachi was made on an astonishingly small budget of $7,000. Logically enough, Columbia channelled a lot more money into the sequel hoping for similar success and a bigger bang.

Desperado is set various years following the events of the first film. El Mariachi (now played by Banderas) is an acrimonious former guitarist presently determined to exact retribution on the men held accountable for the death of his girlfriend. He is continually on the move - travelling to different towns searching for his principal target. He now has a partner (Buscemi) who precedes him in the towns they visit with the intention of elevating fear by telling exaggerated stories regarding the escapades of the legendary warrior carrying a guitar case loaded with an assortment of firearms. El Mariachi arrives in a small Mexican town looking for a local criminal/drug lord named Bucho (Almeida). Subsequent to an impressive shoot-out and a large disbursement of ammunition, El Mariachi befriends a young beautiful woman named Carolina (Hayek) who owns a local book store that also acts as a café. With plenty of ammunition and weapons, El Mariachi is hell-bent on locating Bucho and getting revenge with an army of blood-thirsty desperados on his trail.

Desperado is an exciting action film abundant in violent shoot-outs and creative character deaths. However the film is basically an unnecessary rehash of the original film. When you boil down the essential elements and events it's the same movie - a musician killing warlords and lowlifes with the obligatory love interest thrown into the mix. It is fundamentally and purposely a remake, granted, but there's a sense of déjà vu and predictability as well. This will always be expected when it comes to watching an addition to this genre.

Antonio Banderas is charming and suitable playing the role of the legendary Mariachi. It's an outstanding choice to cast Banderas as a replacement for the Mexican individual who played the title character in the previous film. In the case of the first film, the non-actor filling the part was skilled in the transition from meek musician to bitter gunslinger. Banderas is skilled in portrayed the character as bitter and blood-thirsty. Overall Banderas is quite remarkable and extremely easy to watch. Salma Hayek oozes sensuality whenever her character appears on screen. She makes the perfection companion for Banderas' equally charismatic portrayal. No action film is complete without the nefarious villain, in this case portrayed by Joaquim de Almeida.

Desperado is tremendously watchable and is solid even after repeated viewings. Combining plenty of skilfully created over-the-top, cartoonish action with the typical revenge plot creates a highly entertaining addition to the genre. The action is dexterously filmed and edited courtesy of director Robert Rodriguez. Similar to the first film the action is continuously very violent and gruesome. The body count remains on the rise. The film is also copious in likable characters and some fantastic tongue-in-cheek humour (one of the film's highest points is Quentin Tarantino's cameo when he tells a very funny joke).

Desperado is a weaker addition to the series that commenced with the impressive El Mariachi. This action film is loud, dumb, explosive and seemingly pointless. Naturally, this means that action lovers of any kind will have a fantastic time watching this one. It's the furthest thing from a masterpiece, so take the film for what it is: over-the-top action complimented with humour and sex scenes. Followed by Once Upon a Time in Mexico.