- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Release Date: Aug 25, 1995
- Critic Score
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100Take nothing seriously - not the action, not the gore, not the plot, not the theme. Instead, view Desperado as it's meant to be seen - a comedy - and you're in for an unalloyed treat; heck, you're in for one of the funniest flicks of the year.
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89A bust-a-gut film experience that reveals Rodriguez as both a stylist versed in the mechanics of popular storytelling and a maverick whose ingenuity guides him along a singular path.
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80The commercial transition has been remarkably successful. This is primarily thanks to Rodriguez, who not only retains the original movie's kinetic flair, but takes it further.
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75The stunts dazzle until you miss the low-key charm and cost-conscious inventiveness of the original. Desperado is best when Rodriguez lets his playful side cut through the blare of a born filmmaker indulging his first chance at high-end Hollywood fireworks.
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75The camera loves Banderas -- a velvet stud -- as much as it did the young Clint Eastwood.
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During this movie, every few moments the theater fills with the appreciative guffaws of 18-year-old young men. How old are you?
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60Unquestionably formulaic but mercifully free of the flat dialogue and arch one-liners that undermine so many action films. And while it lacks "El Mariachi's" naive charm, it's far funnier.
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60What's mainly missing is the sort of conviction and passion that gave El mariachi its charge; one feels at almost every moment that Rodriguez is fulfilling a contract rather than saying something he has to say. There's a lot of panache here, but not much inspiration.
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50I was pleased again and again by set-ups, camera angles, lighting effects, editing rhythms and the fanciful staging of action scenes. But I never for a moment cared about the characters, and the plot was all too conveniently structured - just a guideline to the action.
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50Mostly just another exercise in snappy editing and over-the-top mayhem that will leave most grown-up movie- goers cold.
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50Search for some independent inspiration, and you'll be looking for a long time.
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50Nothing but set pieces, snoozes between its scenes of carnage.
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50The real problem with Desperado, however, is that this sequel is without purpose and may be the most unnecessary follow-up since the second "Crocodile Dundee."
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50What fun there is derives from the smart editing (Rodriguez did his own cutting, and he's quicker on the draw than most of the pistol-packers) and from Antonio Banderas, who, stepping neatly into the Mariachi's boots, lends irony and calm, and even a trace of sweetness, to a nothing role.
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40Like "The Quick and the Dead," Desperado wavers uneasily between myth making and parody, so that too many scenes drag on long after they've lost their punch.
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40Could scarcely be more dazzling on a purely visual level, but it's mortally anemic in the story, character and thematic departments.
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40Desperado also has some entertaining twists, some sexy goings-on, but on the whole, watching the film is about as much fun as sitting on a cactus.
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30A weakly comic splatter movie oversupplied with jokey, cartoonish violence.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 9
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Mixed: 2 out of 9
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Negative: 0 out of 9
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MichalW.4
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nadirh.10This movie is created such controlable ora that it is almost to unstable to conrol (way to powerful & creative).
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It doesn't come close to El Miriachi, but the sequel will definetly still be suitable for any action fans of the first.