Rodriguez is quite fond of comparing himself to John Woo. But most of the "hip" American directors who emerged in the nineties, Tarantino and Rodriguez included, have not even understood what makes Woo great.<br /><br />For them, all of Woo's influence has been translated into an axiom of "violence is cool". From the playful nonchalant attitude of "Pulp Fiction" to the desperate attempts in "Desperado" to amuse the audience, these directors have tried to make violence funny, playful, exciting.<br /><br />For Woo, violence is anything but "cool". A violent action has motivations, meanings and repercussions. When a character dies in a Woo movie, it is never without reason. It dies because it has been defeated in a battle of ideals, or, on the contrary, it has fulfilled its ideal by dying. Compare this to the meaningless gore in "Desperado", when characters are introduced and then killed off without the slightest reason.<br /><br />In "The Killer", which Rodriguez has ridiculously compared "Desperado" to, the leading character's fate is a matter of crime and punishment, and he knows that. He kills others, and he accepts that the cosmic order of things dictates that he has to die - and not only to die, but in the same way he has hurt the one he loved most. Believing that he commits justice by killing others, now the killer needs to accept that same justice being acted out against him.<br /><br />Now, just compare this to the randomness and tastelessness in "Desperado". A character played by Tarantino is introduced, apparently because Rodriguez thought it would be funny. It is then killed without any real reason and without any emotional effect on the audience, maybe because it is not really possible to withstand such an idiotic and unrealistic character for more than a few minutes. Antonio Banderas is such an abominable actor, that even if his actions have some emotional consequences for him (as they obviously do for Woo's leading character in The Killer), he is completely unable to display them.<br /><br />The closest Rodriguez came to Woo is in "El Mariachi", if only because in that film, the leading character is interesting to follow: He knows that as a man who lives for music, he no longer belongs in this world which cares only for money. The movie had soul, if only because Rodriguez quite obviously thought of himself as a Mariachi of sorts when he wrote the script.<br /><br />And then came all the Hollywood money and ruined him.