An incredible cast that includes Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, and Mahershala Ali is brought together in your Sunday night movie, Alita: Battle Angel. Steering this stellar cast, as well as his leading lady Rosa Salazar as amnesiac cyborg Alita, is cult director Robert Rodriguez.
Since he exploded onto the movie-making scene in the early ‘90s with El Mariachi, he has brought us round after round of action entertainment, always told with a stylish dash of something different and daring – whether zombies, noir, or gun-toting guitarists.
Desperado (1995)
One of Rodriguez’s go-to-guys has long been Antonio Banderas. The 1995 action hit Desperado was their first collaboration. A sequel to El Mariachi (and the second part of Rodriguez’s Mexico trilogy), it casts Banderas in the role of the gun-toting mariachi with a vengeful mission on his mind. It helped launch Salma Hayek’s Hollywood career, did much the same for Banderas’s already burgeoning career stateside, and entrenched the bromance of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, with the latter popping up in the movie as “Pick-up Guy”.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Tarantino took on a bigger role, as one half of the Gecko brothers, in Rodriguez’s vampiric splatter fest. Cast as the other half of the criminal duo of brothers, was George Clooney. From Dusk Till Dawn ushered in young Clooney’s movie career after Rodriguez took a leap of faith in casting an actor mostly known for his stint on ER. Eighteen years later, Rodriguez adapted the movie into a television series that ran for three seasons.
Spy Kids (2001) and Machete (2010)
Ok, so we’re including two movies in this entry (technically six if you include all the sequels), but that’s because they’re closely linked. Not one to balk at delivering blood-soaked action, Rodriguez nevertheless took a different tack in 2001 when he made the much more family-friendly Spy Kids. He’s got children after all, so maybe we wanted to make something they could watch too. In typical Rodriguez fashion, he directed, edited, and composed the music for his film. He also wrote the screenplay, creating the character of Machete, played by another of his go-to guys, Danny Trejo. The character, always played by Trejo, would go on to appear in all four Spy Kids movies, Planet Terror, and eventually even received a franchise of his own, which includes Machete, Machete Kills, as well as the possibility of (and we really hope it happens) Machete Kills in Space.
Sin City (2005)
Before the adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 exploded onto our screens with blood, glory, and cries of “This is Sparta!”, Rodriguez and Miller adapted and directed the latter’s graphic novel, Sin City. Tarantino got involved as guest director and together the trio delivered a stylish and gritty noir thriller, populated by an irresistible cast that included Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, and Alexis Bledel – and featured downright creepy turns from Elijah Wood and Nick Stahl. Nine years later a sequel was released, but didn’t live up to the hardboiled brilliance of the first film.
Planet Terror (2007)
Teaming up again, best buds Rodriguez and Tarantino released their Grindhouse double feature as a nod to ‘70s exploitation cinema. Tarantino’s feature was the sunt-car starring Death Proof, and Rodriguez’s was a zombie gore-fest called Planet Terror. Featuring some of the grossest zombies ever, a Josh Brolin even more maniacal and terrifying than Thanos, and an absolutely kick-ass Rose McGowan, it makes for a terrifyingly good time – just make sure you have a strong stomach.
Watch Robert Rodriguez’s 2019 action sci-fi, Alita: Battle Angel, your Sunday night movie on 2 February at 20:05 on M-Net channel 101.