The Mexico Trilogy 4K UHD + Blu-Ray Review - Robert Rodriguez Crafts An Explosive Action Trio

A Tex-Mex tornado of fire and fury, writer-director Robert Rodriguez’s astonishing ‘Mexico Trilogy’ broke fresh new ground in American independent and action cinema, catapulting the filmmaker and his largely Hispanic cast and crew into the Hollywood stratosphere.

Rodriguez’s ingenious 1993 debut El Mariachi (infamously filmed for only $7000) sees a naive young musician entering a godforsaken border town and finding himself in the middle of a deadly case of mistaken identity. The major studio follow-up Desperado sees Antonio Banderas take up the mantle of the mysterious Mariachi, stalking the Mexican underworld with enough bullets up his sleeves for every bandito in his path. Finally, 2003’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico sees Rodriguez use every cutting-edge technological innovation in his arsenal to bring the trilogy’s explosive conclusion to the screen, as the Mariachi finds himself in the center of a bloody war for the soul of Mexico itself.

Fun, fast and full of invention and inspiration, this deadly trio cemented Robert Rodriguez’s reputation as an action auteur worth following, and are accompanied here by insightful new interviews with the director and his crew of collaborators.

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Video Quality

Arrow Films presents Desperado with a fantastic 2160p transfer in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio sourced from a 4K restoration of the Original Camera Negative conducted by Sony in 4K HDR/Dolby Vision and approved by Robert Rodriguez. Sony always kills it with their restorations, and Arrow Video executes their work with the utmost precision. The presentation conjures the perfect amount of natural film grain that helps spotlight the vital textural details of the locale. The exquisite textures on display in the clothing and within the environments are astounding. This disc handles every location with the perfect prominence. The black levels are deep with nothing in the way of crush present, and highlights show no signs of blooming even when they are pushed very hot for creative effect. The enhanced detail and clarity will allow you to pick up elements of the production design you may have not noticed before.

Robert Rodriguez establishes a sweltering sense of reality that comes alive in the warm color palette. The application of Dolby Vision for refined color output takes this visually dazzling film and allows it to look its best. The new restoration features colors with great complexity and depth. Certain garments and lighting choices saturate the screen without appearing artificially boosted. This new transfer features essentially nothing in the way of print damage. This 5-star presentation always appears natural with the added resolution bringing out more nuances within the environment. No disastrous digital anomalies such as compression artifacts, banding, or other such nuisances showed up.

With this impeccable 4K UHD presentation, it is a bit of a disappointment that both El Mariachi and Once Upon A Time In Mexico are recycled on Blu-Ray with masters provided by Sony. El Mariachi is presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 and Once Upon A Time In Mexico is presented in its video 1.78:1, so anyone hoping for multiple aspect ratios will be left unsatisfied. We do not have the previous Blu-ray releases from Sony to compare, but the differences are likely incremental at best. We somewhat understand the lack of a 4K UHD Blu-Ray presentation for these; El Mariachi was captured on 16mm and we are unsure if Sony has access to the original film elements, while Once Upon A Time In Mexico was shot on early digital which leaves less room for an upgrade. We still would have liked to have seen the attempt at an upgrade, but we are still glad these look about as good as you could hope. Arrow Video has done a great job with the set.

Audio Quality

These three films come with an LPCM 2.0 stereo track, but Desperado and Once Upon A Time In Mexico also have the benefit of a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track. These latter two films also come in the original English while El Mariachi comes with the original Latin American Spanish and an English dub. All of these various options capture this series with care. The tracks have a great sense of directionality with sounds always emanating from the appropriate channels. Even the stereo-bound El Mariachi always feels natural in its execution. This series is replete with big action sequences, and the numerous explosions and exchanges of gunfire really kick the low end into gear.

Dialogue comes through clearly in the front channel without being overpowered by any sound effects or score. The playful music captures the vibe of the narrative which fills the speakers well. The tunes add a formidable presence that works great. Throughout the investigation, there are no issues with fidelity or damage to the track. The movie is filled with an array of environmental sounds that come alive in the channels. This audio presentation is everything you could ask from the films. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

The first pressing of the Arrow Video 4K UHD + Blu-Ray of The Mexico Trilogy includes a 40-page booklet featuring new writing by Carlos Aguilar and Nicholas Clement. These works provide a great analysis of the films and the career of Robert Rodriguez in a thoughtfully written style. This package also includes small double-sided posters for each of the three films plus a larger double-sided poster representing the entire trilogy. The on-disc special features are as follows:

El Mariachi

Introduction: A 20-second introduction from director Robert Rodriguez welcoming you to the new disc. This plays automatically and cannot be accessed through the menu.

Audio Commentary: An archival track with Robert Rodriguez delivering what he describes as “information overload” that gives you insight into how the film was made on such a low budget.

Big Vision, Low Budget with Robert Rodriguez: A new 15-minute interview with Robert Rodriguez as he talks about the inspiration of John Carpenter, borrowing weapons from the cops, the non-professional performers in the cast, how the lack of a crew influenced the performances, how he captured quality sound, why there are so many cuts, and more.

The Original Mariachi with Carlos Gallardo: A new nearly 16-minute interview with producer/star Carlos Gallardo in which he discusses how the cinema influenced his friendships, his early plans to make a movie, crafting the script around what locations they could secure, his collaborations with Robert Rodriguez, his relationship with the performers, and more.

A Band of Misfits – The Music of El Mariachi: A new 13-minute featurette with composers Eric Guthrie, Chris Knudson, Alvaro Rodriguez, and Marc Trujillo that delves into the creation of the music for the feature.

Ten Minute Film School: A 15-minute archival piece in which Rodriguez takes you through how he shot the film so inexpensively.

Bedhead (1991): A nine-minute short film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez starring his siblings Rebecca and David. This one is a bit silly, but it is quite charming and worth a watch.

Theatrical Trailer: The minute-and-a-half trailer is provided.

TV Spot: A 32-second TV spot is provided.

Desperado

Introduction: A 20-second introduction from director Robert Rodriguez welcoming you to the new disc. This plays automatically and cannot be accessed through the menu.

Audio Commentary: An archival track with Robert Rodriguez once again delving into the production of his film in impressive detail.

Lean and Mean with Robert Rodriguez: A new nearly 18-minute interview with Robert Rodriguez as he talks about wanting to reach the heights of Asian cinema, the hesitation from the studio to let him edit the film, the non-professional performers in the cast, the collaborations with Antonio Banderas, bringing Salma Hayek to an English-speaking role, the charisma of Danny Trejo, and more.

Shoot Like Crazy with Bill Borden: A new nearly 12-minute interview with the producer in which he discusses his work with Columbia Pictures, working with Robert Rodriguez, the location shooting, how Antonio Banderas evolved through this film, and more.

Kill Count with Steve Davison: A new eight-minute interview with the stunt coordinator who delves into how they created some of the most impressive stunts in the film.

Lock and Load with Bob Shelley: A new nine-minute interview with the special effects coordinator who explores the execution of gunfire and explosions in the film.

Game Changer with Gareth Evans: A seven-minute piece with The Raid director who talks about how Robert Rodriguez influenced the next generation of action directors.

Ten More Minutes – Anatomy of a Shootout: An 11-minute archival piece in which Rodriguez takes you through how he visualized and shot moments in the film.

Morena di mi Corazón (Textless): A nearly three-minute version of the opening credits without text.

Theatrical Teaser: The minute-and-a-half teaser is provided.

Theatrical Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided.

TV Spot: A 33-second TV spot is provided.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Introduction: A 20-second introduction from director Robert Rodriguez welcoming you to the new disc. This plays automatically and cannot be accessed through the menu.

Audio Commentary: An archival track with Robert Rodriguez once again delving into the production of his film in impressive detail.

The Revolution Will Be Digitized with Robert Rodriguez: A new nearly 13-minute interview with Robert Rodriguez as he talks about the influence of George Lucas on the production, the rushed nature of the production, the contributions of Quentin Tarantino, the unexpected support of the studio, shooting on digital, gaining the confidence to score the movie, and more.

Troublemaking with Ethan Maniquis: A new ten-minute interview with the visual effects editor who discusses his relationship with Robert Rodriguez and the special effects deployed in this film.

Deleted Scenes: There are eight unused scenes totaling eight minutes of material with optional audio commentary from Robert Rodriguez.

Ten Minute Flick School: A nine-minute archival piece in which Rodriguez takes you through the process and possibilities of shooting digitally.

Inside Troublemaker Studios: A nearly 12-minute archival piece in which Robert Rodriguez takes you through the creative compound he established in Austin, TX.

Ten Minute Cooking School: A six-minute cooking tutorial with Robert Rodriguez.

Film Is Dead – An Evening with Robert Rodriguez: A nearly 14-minute conversation with Robert Rodriguez from 2003 who talks at length about the creative possibilities of shooting digitally.

The Anti-Hero’s Journey: An 18-minute archival featurette in which the cast and creative team discuss the journey of this character over the trilogy of films.

The Good, The Bad & The Bloody – Inside KNB FX: A 19-minute piece that explores the creation of the bloody special effects in the film.

Theatrical Trailer (Red Band) (2:37)

Theatrical Trailer (Green Band) (2:19)

Final Thoughts

The Mexico Trilogy is an entertaining early effort from Robert Rodriguez that the filmmaker has seldom matched. The tone is heightened and fun with memorable character dynamics and straightforward thematic content. The blend of action and comedy is effortlessly executed to create a trio of endlessly watchable films even if some threads that don’t quite come together perfectly. Arrow Video has released a 4K UHD + Blu-Ray collection featuring a strong A/V presentation and a nice array of special features. If you are a fan of the series, this is fetching release even if it doesn’t quite reach perfection given the lack of proper 4K UHD releases for two of the films. Recommended

The Mexico Trilogy is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray + Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD or Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Arrow Video has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.