Robert Rodriguez's acclaimed $7,000 film is well deserving of all the praise it has received, especially considering its "shoe string" budget, but if you're expecting a shoot 'em up movie or action on the level of "Desperado" or "Once Upon a Time..." look somewhere else. The first in this series of three movies focuses more on storytelling than bloodletting. While there are action and chase sequences, don't expect huge explosions or massive bar shoot-outs that you may be accustomed to in "Desperado." There simply wasn't money for those kind of sequences in "El Mariachi," but what it lacks in raw action, it makes up for in a well written and well developed plot. The movie begins with a mariachi looking for work who arrives in a small pueblo in Mexico and finds none; however, he does find a bar owner named Domino, whom he quickly falls in love with. Unfortunately for him, he's also being chased by a drug lord named Moco after he was mistaken for Azul, a criminal out to get the drug lord. Yes, that should ring a bell for those of you who have seen "Desperado," but rest assured that this movie is not the same movie. Overall, "El Mariachi" is definitely worth watching at least once, if for no other reason than to see how a good movie can be made for next to nothing.
Review of El Mariachi
