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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nothing New, But ‘Desperado’ Is Entertaining

Nathan Mauger Ferris

Robert Rodriguez’s “Desperado” has one of the best openings of a recent film.

We first see a dirty bar somewhere in Mexico, populated with hoodlums and a tough bartender (Cheech Marin). Then Steve Buscemi walks in. He orders a beer and begins to tell a story to the bartender about a bar (“Not unlike this one … “) that gets a visit from a mysterious man dressed in black.

The stranger then proceeds to slaughter everyone in the bar except Buscemi’s character. The surreal massacre is intercut with Buscemi’s hilarious narrative and ends with the warning, “I think he’s coming this way.” And that’s all before the credits role.

“Desperado” starts off with a bang. Seconds after Buscemi begins, the audience is sucked into Rodriguez’s film. For about the first half hour, “Desperado” keeps up its fast pace, and remains interesting enough. But then, after the hundredth bad guy is shot, it dissolves into another bloodbath where the only break in the monotonous violence is for a melodramatic love story.

We’ve seen large-scale big-budget bloodbaths before, and “Desperado” is, for the most part, nothing new. Sure, it’s made with style and has a great beginning, but as the film wears on it’s only a well-done version of countless other Hollywood films with the same theme: Kill The Bad Guys.

“Desperado,” originally titled “Return Of The Mariachi,” is a sequel to Rodriguez’s $7,000 “El Mariachi.” In it, a mariachi guitar player is mistaken for a killer with a guitar case full of guns. The mariachi player has only a guitar in his case, but that doesn’t stop the bad guys from killing the woman he loves and shooting his hand.

“Desperado” has the mariachi searching for the last man on his hit list: Bucho, a brutal drug dealer. And of course, to kill Bucho, the mariachi will first have to kill his hordes of bodyguards and hired thugs.

“Desperado” has more than a few great moments. A shootout in a bar between the mariachi and about 30 gun-packing drug dealers is reminiscent of masterful Hong Kong director John Woo’s.

And the bit characters overshadow even the splashy violence. Buscemi is, as always, great. Marin’s bartender has some great lines, and even Quentin Tarantino shows up to tell a joke we’ve all heard before, but his energetic retelling is still funny.

Antonio Banderas plays the part of the mariachi. He’s adequate, but seems a little too much like Steven Seagal, who is without a doubt one of the worst actors in the world.

The last thing we need as the summer ends is another violent action movie, and “Desperado” is a violent action movie. At least Rodriguez has injected some style into his film and knows how to pace a movie. Rodriguez, and his supporting actors, save “Desperado.” But this is not original filmmaking, it’s just an entertaining retelling of the same story.

But what can you expect from Hollywood?

Grade: B

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: With this reveiw we say goodbye to Nathan Mauger. His replacements will be announced next week. See page 2 for Nathan’s farewell column.

This sidebar appeared with the story: With this reveiw we say goodbye to Nathan Mauger. His replacements will be announced next week. See page 2 for Nathan’s farewell column.