El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon A Time In Mexico Box Set

This is a great collection of Rodriguez's films, let down slightly by the lacklustre Once Upon a Time in Mexico. El Mariachi was a stunning debut, I think of it as his Evil Dead equivalent, forming the blue print for the excellent Desperado. Its worth owning for these two alone, but I guess Once Upon a Time... completes the Mariachi trilogy.

Desperado features some great action sequences, Rodriguez really has an eye for a scene. The acting is also good, very tongue in cheek and suited to the film. It also features Salma Hayek (very under used in Once Upon a Time..) what more can you ask for?

This boxset made by the brilliant robert rodriguez (sin city, planet terror) is nothing but a fun entertaining set.
If you are looking for a serious dramatic action films then you should avoid this set.
With excellent roles by the likes of antonio banderas, steve buscemi, johnny depp and many others.
El mariachi is an entertaing bebut film made with a budget of $7000 about a mariachi.
Desperado, continues the story of "el mariachi" but with banderas taking over the role it is a sequel/emake with a more approriate budget of $8,000,000!
And finally "once upon a time in mexico" the silliest of all of them but to a certain extent the most fun to watch!
So all in all buy this boxset for this great price its the bargain of the century!

Ive been unimpressed with recent action movies - due to the lack of originality or elements such as acting and direction. This trilogy however shows a good progression of not only the characters in the stories but also of the skilled writer/director/film-maker involved in creating these stories -

These movies are modern classics - not just because of the movies themselves but also because of story behind the creation of some of them - the original movie El Mariachi for instance is a great movie and legendary for its rags to riches production story.

The movies get better and better with each sequel - so this trilogy is excellent value. This is definitely worth buying for any respected fan of westerns and action movies.

EL MARIACHI
Humble Beginnings
The Legend that precedes this movie is that it was made for only $7.000.
And that is a pretty impressive feat, but the movie didn't really entertain me in any way.
The only plus side for me was that it lead to the more Flash & Glossy and dare I say it commercial sequels DESPERADO and ONECE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO. As part of the Mariachi trilogy, I usually skip this one and jump straight in at Desperado. Just my opinion. 1 stars

DESPERADO
Meet the Mariachi
This movie is enormous Fun, Everything is done with tongue firmly in cheek and with director Robert Rodriguez's usual panache.
The story is like an Old Skool Western, the dialogues from our lead are kept to a minimum.
All the talking is left to the Bombastic Action sequences, which are very Fresh and Exciting
Performance wise, Banderas looks the Dude, all Long Hair, Moody as Hell and Gunned up to the max.
Salam Hayek looks the Bomb. And Quentin Tarantino delivers a Superb Performance in a cameo
A Really Good watch. 4 STARS

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
Are you a MexiCAN or a MexiCAN'T
The Concluding part of the Mariachi Trilogy is an all Star affair with the addition of Mr Johnny Depp.
Once again we have a paper thin plot that leads to plenty of opportunities for Imaginative Gun Play and Action Sequences.
Johnny Depp pretty much steals the show with his quirky turn as a corrupt official, Banderas is his usual Cool, and Salam Hayek has never looked sexier.
All said and done this I a lot of fun and very easy to watch. 3 STARS