7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Former musician and gunslinger El Mariachi arrives at a small Mexican border town after being away for a long time. His past quickly catches up with him and he soon gets entangled with the local drug kingpin Bucho and his gang.
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, Cheech Marin, Steve BuscemiCrime | 100% |
Thriller | 78% |
Dark humor | 54% |
Action | 47% |
Western | 21% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Mexico Trilogy 4K set from Arrow. Note that in this instance the "4K" appellation refers only to the version(s) of
Desperado included in the set.
There's microbudgeting when it comes to making films and then there's Robert Rodriguez microbudgeting when it comes to making films.
Almost unbelievably,
at least contextually within the confines of
macrobudgeted features whose bottom line can evidently quite frequently and easily get into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and
frankly maybe even without any
context whatsoever considering how amazing it is, Rodriguez pretty much literally burst upon the
filmmaking scene in 1992 with the first film in this nicely appointed new set from Arrow, an outing which set Rodriguez back the princely sum of
$7,000.00. That's not a misprint — there's no missing zero (or several) before the decimal point. El Mariachi created such a stir, and did
reasonable enough box office, that Rodriguez probably unsurprisingly soon found himself courted by actual studios with significantly larger budgets,
and among the many interesting films Rodriguez when on to multi-hyphenate (if that can be a verb) were the two sequels to El
Mariachi. Rodriguez's kind of amazingly fast climb up fame and fortune's ladder is all the more remarkable when one considers what might be
termed his "regional" proclivities, not to mention how he managed to initially fund that first step up a rung (enterprising Googlers are
encouraged to do a little investigation). There's an almost feral and unkempt quality to the admittedly lo-fi and perhaps just slightly not ready for
prime time ambience
of El Mariachi, but there is also such an amazingly assured presence in the director's chair that Rodriguez's pretty seamless facility with
larger funding amounts and bigger name marquee stars doesn't come as much of a surprise. As tends to be the case with Arrow's box sets, this is
another pretty lavishly appointed release that is somewhat unusual in that it offers El Mariachi and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
on
1080 discs, with Desperado presented on both 2160 (4K UHD) and 1080 discs (also a bit unusually, Arrow is releasing a standalone
Desperado 4K SteelBook).
Desperado is presented in 4K UHD and on standard Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video, with (in the first instance) an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer, and (in the second instance) an AVC encoded 1080p transfer, both in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps information on the films' transfers together on one page, as follows:
El Mariachi is presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio with its original Latin American Spanish stereo soundtrack, as well as a stereo English dub track.Arrow tends to release its 4K and 1080 versions of the same film as standalone properties, but this is the rare exception, and while I'll concentrate on the 4K presentation, I'll be mentioning the 1080 in passing, especially to draw comparisons. Once again, as with the other films in Arrow's set, their new version offers a darker overall ambience and (to my eyes, anyway) better suffusion and especially color timing in both the 1080 and 4K UHD versions. The timing differences are admittedly rather minor, but telling with regard to things like flesh tones in particular, where Arrow's version struck me as noticeably more natural looking. There's a just slightly jaundiced look to the Sony release which has commendably been warmed up here, and the 4K UHD version offers an even more impressive rendering of the palette. HDR / Dolby Vision offer at least marginal improvements in shadow detail, but generally help to boost an already nicely suffused presentation. Detail levels are frankly more or less what they were on the Sony release with regard to Arrow's 1080 presentation, but Arrow's 4K presentation manages to provide some nice new fine detail levels on things as various as fabric textures to horrifying bodily immolations. Grain is nicely resolved throughout, though my hunch is this may be another release where some prefer the 1080 version to the 4K UHD version, since the increased resolution of the 2160 disc can definitely bring awareness of the grain field to the forefront at times.
Desperado is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and stereo sound. The film was restored in 4K resolution by Sony Pictures from the original camera negative and has been graded in SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision. This restoration has been approved by director Robert Rodriguez.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is presented in its video aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with 5.1 and stereo audio.
All mastering was completed at Sony.
Desperado quite ably shows what a gifted director can do with an augmented budget, and this film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is "alive with pleasure" (to quote one of those old cigarette commercials). While El Mariachi frankly struggles to achieve much energy, at times there's nothing other than energy surging through the surround channels, with an onslaught of everything from gunshots, to fistfights, to Rodriguez's almost patented evocative use of music. Directionality can also be noticed in relatively "simple" dialogue exchanges. Dynamic range is almost insanely wide given the often gonzo activities in the film. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Desperado tries mightily to recreate the visceral impact of El Mariachi, with much bigger names and an obviously increased budget, and if it doesn't quite succeed in that ambition, it comes pretty darned close a lot of the time. Arrow's version probably shows some of the most dramatic differences when compared to the older Sony release, and the label breaks its own longstanding approach by offering the film in both 1080 and 4K UHD formats in one package. As usual with Arrow releases, the supplements are outstanding. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2003
1992
2010
20th Anniversary Edition
2000
2012
1988
2003
2004
Director's Cut
2009
2006
Straight Up: The Director's Cut | Special Collector's Edition
1999
2009
2013
1991
2000
1991
1996
2015
1989
2007