Once Upon a Time In Mexico
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Mickey Rourke, Willem Dafoe, Eva Mendes, Ruben Blades, Danny Trejo, and Enrique Iglesias
Directed By: Robert Rodriguez
Once Upon a Time In Mexico is the third and final installment in Robert Rodriquez’ “Mariachi” trilogy. This storyline and character is what gave Rodriquez his start as a director and he owed it to himself (if to no one else!) to make this film the ultimate capper. He does not fail to do so. Longtime fans will recognize Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo from the characters they portrayed in Desperado (the second in the trilogy), but do not be swayed by this fact: the actors play different roles in this film.
I have to point out that I am not altogether comfortable with calling this a “trilogy”, per se. I think most fans will agree with me that Desperado was really more of a higher budget remake of El Mariachi, which Rodriquez made for around $7,000. I did find it amusing, however, to see the original actor who played “El” (Carlos Galardo) showing up in Desperado as one of the “team-of-three”. I do not recall seeing him in Once Upon a Time…. but I do believe he worked as part of the crew. In this last episode, we find our stalwart anti-hero trying to live a peaceful life in a quiet and dusty little Mexican village that the viewer is led to believe is far from the violence and drama exhibited in the other films. But a rogue CIA agent, played expertly by Johnny Depp who once again commits grand theft movie here, seeks “El” out to employ him as a hired gun in a grand scheme to play a drug lord (Willem Dafoe) against the President of Mexico. It’s a rather complicated storyline, believe it or not, so watch it closely, kids. Mickey Rourke just adds to the overflowing cool quotient by playing a criminal on the run that is now in the employ of Dafoe’s drug lord. Eva Mendes is sizzling in her time on screen as is the always-desirable Salma Hayek. Enrique Iglesias takes his place as one of “El”’s “team-of-three” and is only mildly annoying. There is enough gunplay and explosions in this film to satisfy even the most hardcore action film aficionado, and I loved how my surround sound system sounded while watching. This is a near perfect film to best test your home theater system, trust me. The DVD extras were pretty interesting as well, including a walk-thru of how to make Depp’s character’s favorite dish in the film and an excerpt from a film school discussion given by Rodriquez in LA not long after Once Upon a Time…. wrapped. There is even a brief tour of Rodriquez’ work areas and the equipment he uses, sure to bring drool to the mouth of any audio/video geek.
I don’t want to give too much away of the storyline because there are a few twists and turns that fans will appreciate, I think. Suffice to say that if you are an action movie fan or have seen the other two films and enjoyed them, you will love Once Upon a Time…. I would definitely give this one two devil horns and a pointy tail way up.
~ Vaya Con Diablos