The Mexico Trilogy: Desperado (4K Ultra HD Review)

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Desperado is the 1995 action film written, directed, and edited by Robert Rodriguez. The film is the second in Rodriguez’s Mexico Trilogy and a follow-up to his low budget, independent debut El Mariachi. It both acts as a continuation of and a sequel to that film.

Rodriguez, fresh with a bigger budget and more shooting time from Sony, tells the story of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), a musician turned gunslinger who arrives in a Mexican border town seeking revenge on the people responsible for killing his lover. Looking for the drug kingpin named Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida) El Mariachi begins his road to revenge with a balletic shootout in the local watering hole before becoming entangled romantically with local beauty and bookstore owner Carolina (Salma Hayek), who has ties to Bucho and his gang.

Rodriguez infuses the film with so much kinetic energy and pulp grit, borrowing just enough from Hong Kong cinema heavyweights like John Woo without tipping the scales into complete imitation, making this his own creation. Cameras tilt, edits cutaway quickly, focus shifts unexpectedly – one iconic scene where Banderas and Hayek walk off with flames from an explosion rising behind them with a cool, unfazed slow-motion effect is indicative of the sort of confidence Rodriguez has had from very early on. It all makes this a delicious bit of popcorn theater.

Purchase The Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado & Once Upon A Time In Mexico [4K + Blu-ray Limited Edition] on Amazon.com

The Video

Desperado is a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Sony Pictures presented in a 1.85:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement on 4K Ultra HD disc from Arrow. The HDR10 metadata shows a MaxLL of 10000 nits and MaxFALL of 582 nits. This restoration from Sony looks magnificent as usual for the studio and Arrow’s presentation is nearly flawless. I say “nearly” only because I see just a little bit of black crush in the image, in particular the black mariachi outfit on Antonio Banderas in the bar where it becomes a little difficult to see some details like lapels and stitching. Other than that, there is so much detail with a lot high frequency information, crunchy, densely layered, natural grain. The colors are rich and vibrant, especially in the sun-soaked outdoor scenes and the Dolby Vision grading yields some wonderful highlights, most notably during the attack on the bookstore.

The Audio

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for Desperado, like its video counterpart, is nearly perfect. The high frequencies are just a little bit too tweaked for my ears, which become a little fatiguing during the action sequences, but the use of surrounds and spread across the front, the booming low end to bolster the gunshots, and the dynamic range and overall clarity is superb.

The Supplements

The rating for this section also takes into account the overall collection this release is a part of. See below for the contents of The Mexico Trilogy and the bonus features related to this disc.

The Mexico Trilogy Limited Edition Contents:

• 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
• Collectible poster featuring Robert Rodriguez’s original poster concept for El Mariachi

Desperado Bonus Features:

• Commentary by Robert Rodriguez
• Lean and Mean with Robert Rodriguez (1080p; 00:17:19) – A newly filmed interview with writer-director Robert Rodriguez on how he continued the myth of the Mariachi for his major studio debut.
• Shoot Like Crazy with Bill Borden (1080p; 00:11:21) – A newly filmed interview with producer Bill Borden on his memories of filming Desperado.
• Kill Count with Steve Davison (1080p; 00:08:10) – A newly filmed interview with stunt coordinator Steve Davison on how the ambitious stunts in Desperado were achieved.
• Lock and Load with Bob Shelley (1080p; 00:08:50) –A newly filmed interview with special effects coordinator Bob Shelley on how the gunfire and explosions in the film were executed.
• Game Changer with Gareth Evans (1080p; 00:06:42) – A newly filmed interview with filmmaker Gareth Evans on how Robert Rodriguez influenced the next generation of action directors.
• Ten More Minutes: Anatomy of a Shootout (1080p/60; 00:10:33) – An archive featurette produced and narrated by Robert Rodriguez on how he applied his trademark invention and technical know-how to his major studio debut.
• Morena de mi Corazón (Textless) (4K; 00:02:38)
• Theatrical Teaser (1080p; 00:01:34)
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 00:02:05)
• TV Spot (1080p; 00:00:33)

The Final Assessment

Desperado looks and sounds awesome in this new 4K restoration. It comes packed in this Mexico Trilogy from Arrow Video along with El Mariachi and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Maybe one day the 4K will see a separate release, but for now, I still say pick up this entire set, it’s worth it. Desperado will also be getting a stand-alone 4K SteelBook release from Arrow on the same day.

The Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado & Once Upon A Time In Mexico [4K + Blu-ray Limited Edition] is out August 26, 2024 from Arrow Video

Purchase The Mexico Trilogy: El Mariachi, Desperado & Once Upon A Time In Mexico [4K + Blu-ray Limited Edition] on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: R (for strong bloody violence, a strong sex sequence and language)
• Studios & Distributors: Columbia Pictures | Los Hooligans Production | Arrow Video
• Director: Robert Rodriguez
• Written By: Robert Rodriguez
• Run Time: 104 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 10000 nits
  • MaxFALL: 528 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Secondary Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Subtitles: English SDH