Rating: ***
Director Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin,
Quentin Tarantino, Carlos Gallardo
Robert Rodriguez's big budget sequel to "El Mariachi" (1992) features Antonio Banderas in the lead, and although he does a fine job, I just didn't like him all that much. The babe factor is cranked up to ten with the inclusion of Salma Hayek, whose character is handled wonderfully. The film is highly stylized and the action is way over the top in extreme Hong Kong fashion. I almost think the absurdity of the action sequences hurt the film, but it's still a lot of fun. The best aspect of the film was seeing characters from the first film returning in a completely re-shot flashback sequence. Very cool!