El Mariachi - Movie Review

in #movies5 years ago

If you take the Western genre and move it South of The Border...add a healthy dose of graphic comics with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor, a pinch of cartoon-inspired action and blend it with campy English voice-overs, you end up with El Mariachi. The film was released in 1992 and was, in many ways, ahead of its cinematic time. A fun foreign western that was the second film from Robert Rodriquez, who also wrote the screenplay. Rodriquez is better known for his later films like Desperado, the Spy Kids movies and Sin City.

The mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) is a young, good-looking kid who wants to follow in the musician footsteps of his male ancestors. The kid has skills. He returns (on foot) to a town where he got a free coconut when he was ten...thinking it will provide him his start as a mariachi. Finding work is not as easy as he thought it might be. Technology in 1992 was pushing the need for mariachi's to the wayside. Our young mariachi came seeking luck...but forgot that luck is sometime bad. A case of mistaken identity turns the lad into a reluctant killer.

Mauricio (Peter Marquardt), or Moco as he likes to be called, is the local organized crime boss. El Jefe. Moco has double-crossed his partner in crime and unsuccessfully carried out a hit on him. The partner, Azul (Reinol Martinez), is not happy about the situation and strikes out to get revenge. His arrival in the town creates confusion, with Moco's hired guns confusing the Mariachi for Azul. The ensuing bedlam is a combination of impeccable timing, mistaken identity and stunning visuals that throw back to the classic Western.

Visually, I enjoyed El Mariachi. The low-budget film does an exceptional job of creating strong visual connections that are appealing and help tell the story. The story itself is a little tougher for me. I understand that it is a campy western that does some unique things...but one of the premises of the story involves the Mariachi falling in love with a bar owner named Domino (Consuelo Gomez). It turns out that Moco has strong feelings for Domino, which adds another sub-plot. My issue with that aspect of the film is the timing. There was absolutely not enough time, interaction or exploration of the subject for me to accept the assumed relationship between the Mariachi and Domino. I was completely unconvinced. The story itself was decent. Great dialogue (poorly dubbed) that doesn't try to tie everything up in a neat bow.

The special effects in El Mariachi were actually good for a low-budget film shot in 1992. It was sort of humorous to see those old brick cell phones (and the bag phones, too). There was plenty of action which was exceptionally well choreographed. The shootings provided some graphic comic style special effects that were visually appealing, if not completely convincing. There were some bad cuts and a few mistakes that were probably related to the budget. There is a scene where the Mariachi has an injury covering most of his shoulder. In the next scene both shoulders are bare and no injuries visible. The low budget adds to the feel of the film, making it tolerable.

The actors are hard to gauge because of the dubbing. Interestingly, rather than dub all of the Spanish lines into English, common expressions were left in Spanish. It created an odd mix of dialogue that actually fit together smoothly and added some texture to the film. The acting was okay. I enjoyed Gallardo, but wouldn't go see a movie just because he was in it. I wasn't overly impressed with Marquardt, either...finding his performance a bit hammy at times. Gomez isn't drop-dead gorgeous, but I actually found her performance made her part convincing. The acting was decent...nothing special.

El Mariachi is an action film jam packed with violence. There is plenty of action, which is what makes this film appealing to me. The action combined with the visual feel helped this film overcome the low budget special effects. There is a lot of gore, but it is almost comical at times (from an age-of-CGI point of view). I wonder if this film would still get an R rating in today's world of film violence. The several shootings depicted in this film and a few curse words (mostly not translated) were the only objectionable material...and pretty much the material that make this film worth watching. I would allow young teens and maybe a bit younger to see this film. Run time is one hour, 21 minutes.

I was unsure what to expect as I was watching El Mariachi. The low budget becomes evident early in the film. But it grows on you. Simple cinematic tricks (like speeding up the film or quick cuts) give the film a graphic appeal that makes it enjoyable to watch. It doesn't always take CGI bells and whistles to make good film. This film would not have been as good with a big special effects budget...part of the charm lies in the creativity used to make it. I was not knocked off my feet, but I liked what I saw and would mildly recommend it. 6.5/10.

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