Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Review by Clint Morris

The guitar playing, pistol packing 'Marachi' [Antonio Banderas] is back for another round of outsmart the bad guy.

This time, our subjugator is forced out of retirement by a fraudulent CIA agent [Johnny Depp] who wants him to intervene in an assassination attempt on the president of Mexico. 'El' agrees to thwart the plan of the drug lord [Willem Dafoe] but really has his own scheme - namely settling of scores - in mind.

For the most part, Robert Rodriguez's latest film works best as a cinematic account of just how far the former indy director turned Hollywood hotshot has come, especially when it comes to his "El Mariachi" trilogy.

The first El Mariachi movie was made with next to no money, the Hollywood remake/sequel Desperado was made with 'some' money, whilst the latest, Once Upon a Time in Mexico was evidently made with more money than the first two films put together.

But having a lot of bank to work with doesn't always mean the film's going to be better.

Desperado worked so well because it was a small flick with a great bag of tricks up it's sleeve, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico is determined to be so much more - whether the audience and fans of the first films like it or not.

It's big, it's ambitious, and it hides the goods until near an hour into the film.

Even then, there's a lot less exciting action scenes than there were in the last flick and much more uncalled for chatter leading up to them.

As for plot, there really isn't much of one, yet Rodriguez packs in so many dialogue scenes and so many characters you'd be confused to thinking there might be more at play than there actually is. There isn't.

To the film's merit though, there's still enough on show to entertain, mainly the all-star cast.

Not surprisingly, flavour of the year Johnny Depp steals the show as Banderas's corrupt agent, with his many costume changes and devilish lines.

There are also some exceptionally choreographed action sequences that'll have fans of the first film smiling from ear to ear. And, if its decapitations, eye removals, bloodshed and throat slicings you desire, there is more than enough on show to see.

Overall, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, though fun enough, isn't a shade on its predecessors and shoots more blanks than anything. How money changes people…

3 out of 5

Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Australian release: Thursday February 26th
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes, Danny Trejo, William Defoe, Enrique Iglesias, Cheech Marin.
Director: Robert Rodriguez.
Website: Click here.

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