Spanish actor Antonio Banderas is quite popular with worldwide audiences thanks to the widely popular Hollywood movies he appeared in back in the 90s. Recently, his inspired performances in the TV series Genius and the movie Pain & Glory have yanked him back to the limelight.
When he got his first-ever Hollywood role in 1992, Banderas had mostly appeared in Spanish films and couldn't speak English. However, he learned the language quickly and went on to star in plenty of great English-language films. Here are his most impressive roles, and his most forgettable ones.
Impressive: Pablo Picasso In Genius
The second season of the National Geographic biographical TV series Genius focussed on renowned artist Pablo Picasso and his life of fame and fortune in Barcelona and Paris. The controversial artist is portrayed superbly by Antonio Banderas who frequently switches between a younger version of the character and an older one.
Despite being a genius, Picasso had many flaws, including his penchant for treating women as mere muses to be used for his paintings. Banderas manages to bring out this evil side of Picasso even better than his good side. For this role, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Forgettable: Miguel Bain In Assassins
It's quite interesting that a movie called Assassins ended up having contract killers who were not so badass. This movie got so many bad reviews that Matrix creators The Wachowski Sisters whose names appeared on the credits denied ever writing it. But it wasn't supposed to be bad. It had Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas in the lead. Sadly, it was so critically panned that Stallone even ended up winning a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor. Ouch!
The movie follows Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas), a psychopathic assassin who plans to kill another skilled assassin called Robert (Sylvester Stallone) in order to become the world's top assassin. That plot doesn't sound so good, does it? On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a score of 16%.
Impressive: El Mariachi In Desperado
This is easily his best action movie role to date. In the 1995 film, Banderas played El Mariachi, a gunslinger and musician who goes after a drug lord named Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida) for killing his girlfriend. Quentin Tarantino has a cameo appearance in this movie too and so does Steve Buscemi who actually plays a man called Buscemi.
But all the focus is on Banderas who clearly impresses like all the other popular 90s action heroes. And he even packs his weapons in a guitar case. Can it get cooler than that? The original film was too violent that some sections had to be cut in order for it to get an R-rating and be allowed to screen in theaters.
Forgettable: Agent Jeremiah Ecks In Ecks Vs Sever
This is definitely a role that Antonio Banderas should never have taken. He was still at the peak of his career when the movie was made so he ought to have just waited for another role. But he picked it (blame his agent) and it turned out to be the worst movie of his career. (It has a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes)
Banderas plays an FBI agent called Jeremiah Ecks who teams up with another Agent named Sever (Lucy Liu) to take out a common enemy. The plot is all over the place. There is also the obvious fact that the movie title is "Ecks Vs Sever" yet it is about a team-up between Ecks and Sever.
Impressive: Zorro In The Mask Of Zorro
In the movie, the aging Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) trains the younger outlaw Alejandro Murieta (Antonio Banderas) to take his place. Diego de la Vega plans on using Alejandro to get revenge on politician Don Raphael Montero (Stuart Wilson) who killed his wife 20 years earlier and had him imprisoned before taking his daughter.
Alejandro is inspired because he is also seeking to get revenge against Montero's henchman, Captain Harrison who killed his brother. As the new Zorro, Alejandro also ends up falling in love with his mentor's grown daughter, thus setting up a perfect mixture of romance and action. The movie acquired cult status shortly after its release.
Forgettable: Original Sin
Angelina Jolie also found himself here in what also turned out to be a forgettable movie her. She got a Golden Raspberry for Worst Actress. In the movie, a wealthy Cuban man named Luis Antonio Vargas (Antonio Banderas) orders a bride through the mail. Yes, apparently that was possible in Cuba in the 1800s. Think of applying the Amazon concept to humans.
Angelina Jolie plays Julia, the bride who has been ordered. However, it turns out that they both lied. Luis lied that he wasn't rich whereas Julia had pretended to be an ugly woman. The movie's dialogue isn't good and neither is the dialogue. There is also too much focus on eroticism instead of a solid plot.
Impressive: Nestor Castillo In The Mambo Kings
Given that the movie was an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by novelist Oscar Hijuelos, there was a high chance it was going to be good. And it was. And so was Antonio's performance. In the movie, he played Cuban musician Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) who together with his brother Cesar (Armand Assante) were known as the Mambo Kings.
The brothers to New York in the 1950s to chase success and after gaining popularity in the night scene, Nestor composes their first hit "Beautiful Maria of My Soul." The song is dedicated to a woman who broke his heart. However, fame deserts them soon after and they go both go on an emotional downward spiral.
Forgettable: Galgo In The Expendables 3
What happens when you put dozens of 80s and 90s badass action movie stars into the same project? Some of them end up bragging how a cobra died after biting them (Hello, Chuck Norris!) while others end up giving very poor performances. And that's what happened with Antonio Banderas in Expendables 3 where he plays a comedic member of the Spanish Armed Forces known as Galgo.
Galgo is portrayed as a funny character but he comes off as absurd since the writing is generally poor. Galgo is brought in as a new member of The Expendables in order to help fight the villain Conrad Stonebanks. Blame Stallone for this mess.
Impressive: Salvador Mallo In Pain & Glory
Here is a role that earned Antonio Banderas his first-ever Oscar nomination. For a man who starred in Ecks Vs Sever, it was a bid deal. The actor has experienced somewhat of a career resurgence lately and that's what we love to see. Falling down and rising up again.
In the Spanish film Pain & Glory, aging director Salvador Mallor recalls his glory days via a series of flashbacks after taking drugs. Pain & Glory was also the highest-grossing Spanish movie of 2019 and the movie in which Banderas has received the most recognition by award organizations.
Forgettable: King Rassouli in Dolittle
It's a surprise that this movie isn't getting the same treatment that Cats did. Despite having so many stars in it (most in voice roles), the film still failed to impress. It was also a bad start to Robert Downey Junior to his life-after-marvel. The former Marvel star plays the lead character, Dr. John Dolittle. The movie has a 16% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Antonio Banderas, on the other hand, plays a pirate king called Rassouli. The actor must be feeling pretty bad. After having the best year of his career, thanks to the 2019 movie Pain & Glory, he has started 2020 with a poorly reviewed movie. He'll want to forget this role, and so will audiences.