It’s hard to impart on someone who didn’t live through the 90s just how important Robert Rodriguez was, not just to the indie movement as a whole, but digital DIY cinema as well. Rodriguez started as a pioneer of the one man band film, and when George Lucas was developing digital filmmaking in the prequels, he immediately roped Rodriguez in and he quickly became one of the technology’s most prominent advocates utilizing this new tech for his films. This is something going into these discs will make some of the extras make more sense contextually, since he was one of the first filmmakers using this approach, that is now the norm.
That being the case, these films work as not only a great snapshot of the director’s career, but the evolution of his toolset and Hollywood as a whole. Rodriguez shot his first film in 16mm film in what was the indie norm, then making his next film in 35mm film for a studio, and then moving to completely digital for the third and final film of the series. This theme of technology is also an interesting thread in the first film in the trilogy El Mariachi, because when the Mariachi goes into a bar looking for work, he’s told why hire one mariachi on guitar when they can have a full band for the same price. On cue a man pulls out a giant digital keyboard (This is 1992) and, goes into a low-fi digital rendition of a mariachi ballad. Our protagonist then laments that because of this new technology, people don’t see the value in his craft as a mariachi like they once used to.
But getting to the film itself El Mariachi, the film premiered at TIFF in 1992 and later Sundance in 1993 and from there it fast tracked the career of Texas filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. The film’s production, which is a story unto itself and is well documented in the excellent tome Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player. El Mariachi is a low budget adrenaline soaked actioner that’s sheer audacity makes up for what the film lacks in budget. Keeping things simple there’s a gangster dressed in all black with a guitar case full of guns out for revenge against the local kingpin, and his killing spree just so happens to coincide with a mariachi coming to town looking for work. The film is a fun story of mistaken identity as the guitar slinger soon gets wrapped up in the drama when he falls for a beautiful bar owner, who just so happens to be the big boss’s kept woman.
I haven’t seen El Mariachi, since it was released on a two pack with Desperado on DVD and while now it’s a little more apparent who Rodriguez is homaging, it’s hard to deny the sheer unrelenting spirit of the film. It’s very clear this was a handmade film, but the performances are locked in, the effects are solid and the action feels a bit too real, if you know what I am saying. What this coalesces into, is a film that still works and its energy is nothing short of infectious. There’s a love of action cinema you can just feel watching the film, that no doubt is the other piece of the equation. Not only do you have this low budget action flick, but it’s obviously got more heart than most films with triple its budget. Seeing this film again presented on a new scan on blu-ray was nothing short of a treat.
Next up was Desperado, the most mid nineties action film I have ever seen, and I say that with the utmost respect and love. Not only do we get tons of two fisted gun battles inspired by the heroic bloodshed of John Woo’s The Killer, but we get the wordy dialog, and not only Steve Buscemi as Buscemi, but a Quentin Tarantino cameo as well. This film has a VERY young Antonio Banderas now playing the Mariachi from the first film, who is now out to avenge the death from the previous film. This time however he comes across Salma Hayek, fresh off of Mexican soaps in her first feature role. Given the chemistry on screen, it’s easy to see why the two would star opposite one another throughout their careers, even to this day. The film is kind of a reboot/sequel with a very telenovela twist. The action is larger than life and the film introduces the cast of characters who we would see over and over again in Rodriguez’s films.
The final film, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), whose title is an homage to Sergio Leone’s holy trilogy, has the director now shooting/editing with a completely digital workflow for his grand finale. Looking at the cast list now, makes this film even more impressive, starring opposite Antonio Banderas is early 2000’s Johnny Depp – who had just released Pirates of the Caribbean the month before along with Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes, Enrique Iglesias, Selma Hayek and Danny Trejo. While the cast is an embarrassment of riches, the film itself has the director tripping over a convoluted narrative that has CIA agent Sands (Depp) bringing the Mariachi out of retirement one last time, to stop a coup d’etat/assisnation attempt of the Mexican president by the military bankrolled by the leader of the cartel (Dafoe). But thankfully the action is still solid, the vibe is fun and the film delivers what fans of the series would expect plenty of gun battles and lots of explosions.
I don’t think I’ve seen this film, since I picked up the DVD on its release with my 20% employee discount at Blockbuster Video. It’s definitely the most ambitious and weirdest of the three films, but to the trilogy’s detriment Depp really steals the film out from under Banderas here, making him feel at times like a supporting character. It’s sad because this might have been reactionary to Depp’s success as Jack Sparrow, but two decades later, revisiting the trilogy, this film should be simply about the redemption and canonization of the Mariachi as a legend of not just the underworld, but Mexico by saving the president AND getting revenge one final time. But thanks to Depp who is in peak weirdo mode here, Antonio the strong silent gun fighter is continually outshined by Depp who’s got not only a knack for snappy dialogue, but hilariously on the nose t-shirts and a Thanos-like love for Cochinita pibil. He’s just too good here and along with the plot, that’s the film’s two biggest problems.
Digging into the special features on Arrow’s The Mexico Trilogy boxset unlocked a nostalgia I didn’t even know that I had. Before YouTube, before TikTok, it wasn’t common for directors to really document their process with short form videos and with each DVD release Rodriguez would do a 10 minute film school and sometimes a cooking school as well highlighting a dish from the film. This worked to not only showcase his DIY technique, but show how his workflow has changed with the advent of Digital. Here we get a look at not only Troublemaker studios, but in the director’s home as he shows us the infancy of the movement that would eventually go from taking an entire room to the palm of your hand. It is kind of surreal watching some of these now, to be honest. But Arrow carried over all the original interviews and featurettes and even gives us a few new interviews along with an intro by Rodriguez on every disc.
See the full extras below:
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all three films
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of Desperado
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Carlos Aguilar and Nicholas Clement
- Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
- Double sided posters featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
- Collectable poster featuring Robert Rodriguez’s original poster concept for El Mariachi
DISC 1 – EL MARIACHI (BLU-RAY)
- Original uncompressed Latin-American Spanish stereo audio, plus an English dub in lossless stereo
- Optional English subtitles, plus English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Commentary by writer-director Robert Rodriguez
- Big Vision Low Budget, a newly filmed interview with Rodriguez
- The Original Mariachi, a newly filmed interview with producer/star Carlos Gallardo
- The Music of ‘El Mariachi’, a newly produced featurette on the music in the film, featuring interviews with composers Eric Guthrie, Chris Knudson, Alvaro Rodriguez and Marc Trujillo
- Ten Minute Film School, an archive featurette produced and narrated by Rodriguez
- Bedhead, a 1991 short film by Rodriguez
- Theatrical trailer and TV spot
DISCS 2 & 3 – DESPERADO (BLU-RAY / 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- New 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Sony Pictures
- Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Audio commentary by writer-director Robert Rodriguez
- Lean and Mean, a newly filmed interview with Rodriguez
- Shoot Like Crazy, a newly filmed interview with producer Bill Borden
- Kill Count, a newly filmed interview with stunt coordinator Steve Davison
- Lock and Load, a newly filmed interview with special effects coordinator Bob Shelley
- Game Changer, a newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid: Redemption)
- Ten More Minutes: Anatomy of a Shootout, an archive featurette narrated by Rodriguez
- Textless opening (“Morena de mi Corazón”)
- Theatrical trailers
DISC 4 – ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (BLU-RAY)
- Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Commentary by writer-director Robert Rodriguez
- The Revolution Will Be Digitized, a newly filmed interview with Rodriguez
- Troublemaking, a newly filmed interview with visual effects editor Ethan Maniquis
- Eight deleted scenes, with optional commentary by Rodriguez
- Ten Minute Flick School, an archive featurette narrated by Rodriguez
- Inside Troublemaker Studios, an archive featurette on Rodriguez’s studio in Austin
- Ten Minute Cooking School, an archive featurette in which Rodriguez shows you how to cook Puerco Pibil
- Film is Dead: An Evening with Robert Rodriguez, a presentation by the director given in 2003
- The Anti-Hero’s Journey, an archive featurette on the arc of the Mariachi
- The Good, the Bad and the Bloody: Inside KNB FX, an archive featurette on the film’s special effects
- Theatrical trailers
Now for the transfers, from that perspective Arrow has taken a very practical approach, El Mariachi was shot on 16mm, and this film is presented on Blu-ray on the set, which makes sense. Blu-ray is perfectly fine for 16mm and this transfer has a striking clarity and the grain you’d expect on a 4K. The film looks nothing short of stunning here compared to the SD presentation I recall from back in the day, however this does highlight the handmade quality of the film, because of how clear it is. That’s something noted by Rodriguez in the intros. The next film Desperado, was shot on 35mm and is presented on a 4K UHD with a new transfer from the original camera negative, which given the larger format makes complete sense. That transfer is super crisp, with a finer grain than the previous scan and the HDR really enhances the warmth of the piece highlighting the browns, oranges and tans.
Finally, Once Upon a time is presented on Blu-ray, and this tracks, because it was shot in HD as we can see in the bonus features and transferred to 35mm for distribution. Once again, another practical decision, that given the plethora of digital effects, definitely works to keep the digital seems hidden. That’s the real tightrope with these transfers of these older films, what most folks fail to understand sometimes is that lack of definition and a darkened theater were part of the equation to hide the budget restrictions. Mexico was shot with the same camera as Episode III and the effects here are definitely not on that level. So I totally understand the move here to not upscale or rescan for information that is simply not there. With that said, all the films do come with very aggressive sound scapes with lots of lows for those bullet hits and their plethora of explosions.
This set was a pure nostalgia shot in the arm for me. The Late 90s is one of my favorite flavors of Indie cinema and it easy to see here why Rodriguez is one of the reasons. So getting to experience these films all over again in these new editions was a real treat to be honest. That coupled with the old extras and the new ones that offer up a fresh perspective looking back, really help to paint a more complete picture of the trilogy and the impact these films have had since. While some will no doubt complain that not all the films are presented in 4K UHD, the choices here completely made sense to me considering Rodriguez himself pops up every disc to warn you about the limitations of the films. But is this a definitive set? I think so, I personally don’t think not every film needs to be toyed and thrown through filters and regraded if the director doesn’t want to.
