Once Upon A Time In Mexico review

Once Upon A Time In Mexico is the third episode of writer/director Robert Rodriguez's burrito Western series that began with 1992's El Mariachi and was followed by 1995's Desperado. This time round his budget may have increased (El Mariachi reputedly cost $7,000), but little else has changed. Rodriguez "shot" and "chopped" the film in his distinctive rough and ready style where the look is everything and the content more an afterthought. The result is the most exhilarating and brazen of the trilogy.

One advantage OUATIM has over the previous two is the presence of Johnny Depp. The film's broad approach enables Depp to indulge his more outlandish tendencies in his role as renegade CIA agent Sands. As with Pirates Of The Caribbean he illuminates every scene, though he is not alone in the competition for the hammiest performance. Other notable contenders are Willem Dafoe as the ruthless drug lord Barillo and Antonio Banderas as the smoldering El Mariachi.

With its twanging guitar music and lingering close-ups, the title isn't the only thing borrowed from Sergio Leone. The violence, which is incessant, is bloody and graphic, but also of such an exaggerated and cartoonish nature that it's more amusing than disturbing. But what Rodriguez boasts in artistic and visual flair, he lacks in cohesion. OUATIM is strung around a vague story involving the proposed murder of the Mexican president in a military coup headed by a General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) and aided by Barillo. Trying to protect El Presidente are Sands and El Mariachi, who has his own vendetta against Marquez following the murder of his wife (Salma Hayek) and daughter.

Figuring out who is on whose side is a worthless exercise as allegiances switch according to who happens to be holding the gun and because all too often the gun goes off rendering the answer redundant. It's the manner in which the guns go off, along with the rich variety of demises, which is at the core of the film's appeal. To watch El Mariachi serenade a crowd with his guitar before transforming it into a machine gun and blowing everyone away with nary a scratch, is to accept the absurdity and enjoy it. The action sequences are as whimsical as they are inventive, and Depp's performance is hilarious, but the lack of story means that even they aren't quite enough to sustain interest interminably.