El Mariachi / Desperado (DVD) > Reviews > The two amigos

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	great extras, great films
Disadvantages:	none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Robert Rodriguez is a fully operational film unit in himself. Most directors just sit and direct, some also write. Rodriguez writes, directs, edits, occasionally provides musical score and on his last film Spy Kids he even branched into special effects. This dvd is a showcase of his first two feature films that got him noticed and on the way to $100 million plus box office grosses.

First up is El Mariachi. This was intended to be made for the spanish video market alone and Rodriguez bankrolled the $7000 production budget by submitting himself for medical tests. The story follows a Mariachi guitar player who arrives in a town looking for work. He finds himself having to trade his guitar for a gun as he becomes caught up in a case of mistaken indentity against a local crime lord. For the tiny budget we get stunts, gunfights, humour and a lot of style. Who would have known that this little film would cause so much ehat in Hollywood but it's the little film that could.

The film is presented on dvd in 1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen. As I've said this film is extremely low budget and shot on 16mm film. The film was originally completed on video and the theatrical prints were never up to an amazing standard. So what you have is a very grainy, muddy image. But that's what you'd expect, one man shot and photographed it with primitive lights. It does the job and just adds to the grittyness.

It's also a simple stereo mix for your sound enjoyment. Again this is due to the low budget. Most of the sound was recorded on basic audio cassettes and not much foley work was involved but it serves it's purpose well.

This side of the dvd isn't loaded with extras but what you get is very decent. There's no behind the scenes footage because this was basically a two man crew consisting of cameraman and actor!

'Ten minute film school' is a little feature that shows you how the film was out together for very little money. Rodriguez shows you how he cut the movie simply but with great results and how he pulld off stunts very simply. It's very interesting stuff, of course the kind of stunts achieved are much easier to do in Mexico where things are more laid back law wise!

'Bedhead' is a short film from rodriguez that features some of his sibings. It's an amusing little short with some good ideas. It also shows some of the influence that would later be seen in Spy Kids. The story tells of a sister scaring her brother with some kind of 'Carrie' like powers.

The jewel in the crown however is an audio commentary. Rodriguez gives you every little piece of information on how he made the film with editing, camera lenses, shots, locations and how much things cost. It's amazing stuff and essential listening if you are into making films for a living.

Finally you have the US theatrical trailer.

When El Mariachi got recognized in Hollywood, rodriguez was a hot talent and proceeded to sign a deal with Columbia pictures. His next project would be Desparado which essentially is El Mariachi but with a bigger budget.

The plot of the movie follows the same kind of themes but this time the mariachi is back in the shape of Antonio Banderas. Also as a result of events in the first fim he is back for vengeance against the man who murdered his girlfriend. Along the way we have bigger explosions, exciting gunfights and some great comic performances from the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Cheech Marin and Steve Buscemi.

A bigger budget means a better quality of production. The budget on this movie was $6 million and every penny of it is up on the screen. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and the image quality is very solid. The colour levels are very bold and rich and ther's little sign of lemish or soft spots.

This film also has a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundmix and it's very involving. The bass is very deep when the classic explosion hits and the gunfights are flying around your head with the greatest of ease. The dialogue is also very clear throughout.

Like it's reverse side this doesn't have a great deal of extras but what you get is solid stuff.

There is another ten minute film school segment where Rodriguez shows you the rough video footage he shot of the bar room shootout sequence. With the commentary he tells you how he edited the sequence together and the footage pretty much matches what you see in the final cut. Once again it's very intriguing stuff from a film-making perspective.

A selection of music videos from the film follow that are a mix of mexican guitar rock and flemenco feel.

And then Rodriguez proceeds to give you another audio commentary that is full of information about the making of the film and everything that went into making a $6 million dollar budget look like three times that. There's not really much to say that I haven't already said on the El Mariachi opinions earlier.

Finally there is the trailer.

So what else is there to say apart from getting two films for the price of one you're also getting a valuable lesson on film-making and also some kick ass action.