Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Rating:
Summary: not perfect but damn cool
Review: Once upon a time in mexico is a very fun flick.there is not enough action,but the cast makes it worth while. the extras steal the show and make you wanna grab a camera an have some fun. i hope they make a part 4 .

Rating:
Summary: JUST PLAIN BAD
Review: People, this movie's plot went in so many directions it was impossible to keep up with it all. The story line twisted so many times it literally ruined the movie. Depp was convincing and funny and Banderas was his typical shoot em' up self, but these things just couldn't save the movie from its bizarre, all-over-the-place plot. Rent this one.

Rating:
Summary: One bloated, bloody mess.
Review: Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" is the last of the "El Mariachi" trilogy that introduced the director to the cinematic zeitgeist, and he has stuffed it full of characters, subplots and faux Mexican patriotism in a grab for prestige. Too bad half the film is missing. An ardent supporter of the "freedoms" of digital filmmaking, Rodriguez had the material - and, presumably, the digital canvas - to produce a violent, angry epic, Sam Peckinpah style, as long and hard-boiled as you like it, if a little short of the Sergio Leone masterpiece to which the movie's title refers. Instead, "Mexico," at less than two hours, equates to a series of glancing blows, and is generally an incoherent mess.

Antonio Banderas, guitar player/hitman of the previous film, "Desperado," returns, essentially, to shoot guns for CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) who's looking to stir up trouble for the Mexican president. Sands plays twelve angles at once, pushing the buttons of the Mariachi, a foxy cop (Eva Mendes), a Mexican drug lord (Willem Dafoe), an ex-FBI agent (Ruben Blades) with a score to settle with the drug lord, and the drug lord's right-hand American creep (Mickey Rourke). And a general. And the president. And the president's advisor, a modern Brutus. And Enrique Iglesias. And on and on.

Depp is unquestionably the movie's star, and Rodriguez seems to have written more into Agent Sands then the rest of the movie combined: Is it necessary for Depp to offer a speech, however cute, on the type of shredded pork he prefers to eat in Mexico, then shoot the chef for making it too well, when a military coup is one of the movie's backdrops? The half-cocked, androgynous approach that clicked in "Pirates of the Caribbean" falls flat here; to quote Sands Chuck Berris is a wee bit more believable spy. Banderas is a sweaty cipher, Dafoe is barely there. A bewildered Rourke can't seem believe he signed up to pet a little dog as his performance. Blades puts a little meat on his role, but even he is a plot soldier, getting a paycheck, pulling his gun when required.

In his apparent nirvana over a digital workshop in his garage, Rodriguez is getting sloppy. His movie is littered with violent showdowns that haven't bothered to build up a pretext for their existence. They erupt, splatter, sputter. His rapid-fire editing obliterates the continuity of every gunfight. There are inspired ideas - Agent Sands meets a particularly grotesque-yet-heroic end - but the heart of "Desperado" has been traded out for delusions of grandeur. Rodriguez has managed a trilogy, all right: "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" is an unsatisfactory western, action and noir film.

And now I mention Salma Hayek. It's important to understand Hayek headlined the advertising campaign for this movie, made the talk show/magazine rounds, had star billing above Depp, no less. In "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," blink and you'll miss her. Think I'm kidding? Cheech has more screen time, and his character dies. For that matter, so does Carolina, Hayek's persona - before the events in the movie even occur. Most movie marketing is cynical. Few ploys are this cheap.

Rating:
Summary: A bit of a letdown after Desperado.
Review: The best time to watch Once Upon a Time in Mexico is right after watching Desperado. There are lots of in-jokes and references you'll miss unless the first movie is pretty fresh in your memory. (Check out Carolina's shoes, for instance.)

Unfortunately, this is also the worst time to watch it, because I found myself comparing the two, and unfortunately the sequel doesn't live up to its predecessor's promise.

OUaTiM starts out well enough, reusing some of the characters in such a way that really gives the story a the feel of a fable promised by the title. That quickly gives way to extremely contrived and senseless political plots. El Mariachi's motivations are part revenge, part nationalistic pride, which greatly muddies things. His foe, General Marquez, is a caricature, which would be fine if Rodriguez had stuck with the fable style. Plus, El Mariachi is almost a supporting character, and his charming presence from Desperado is sorely missed. Depp's character, Agent Sands, is very entertaining, but his storyline felt rather muddled.

However, it's fun to see Banderas and Sayek together again. She looks fantastic, by the way. The music is really pretty good and the production values are good. There's enough action to keep your interest, even as you're wishing for more substance.

Rating:
Summary: Narcotrafficos, presidentes, and b-movie galore...
Review: The joke is wearing thin, folks..What joke? The one about making a b-movie with an expensive cast and then overhyping it to surrealness through trailers and press reviews trying to make it seem as the next "Godfather".

There's no doubt that Rodriguez (that would be the guy who tried to direct this) has a knack for putting together very original action scenes. Then again, I've seen sport-shoe commercials with great action scenes but i don't consider them vehicles of greatness, if you get my drift. Back to Rodriguez, there's a scene towards the beggining of the film, that involves an improbable escape from a window of 5-storey building from 2 people who are chained together. Stretched by the hair to be sure, but nevertheless very imaginative especially when they go crash-landing onto a moving bus passing underneath without even registering a scratch or without losing any make-up.

That's basically how the whole flick flows. Exaggerations upon more exaggerations, shoot'm up and shoot'm down, hey throw in some good ole pointless explosions, let some extras run about while someone from the cast (don't matta who) mows them down in droves, get a nicely tanned cast for the necessary pseudo-sex appeal, and voila! You've got a Mariachi to go with extra cheese please.

Now, if you're the type of viewer that adopts an attitude such as:
-to hell with the plot, lemme just turn off my brain for a couple of hours, and watch a shootathon gone berserko

then this is definetely THE movie for you. You found it, you deserve to watch it. Anybody else however might be slightly dissapointed and just a tad bored. Your age might play a role in the equation as well (but that's not a lock...).

Other than that, forgive me for being ignorant in the art of movie-making, but what is a cast like that doing in an utter b-movie like this??? J.Depp does try but as far as i know (and i dont know much) b-movies don't look good on anybody's resume. A.Banderas does what he does best which is using his hair very effectively, W.Dafoe hides (wisely) behind a mask in the vague hope he won't be recognised, and Mickey Rourke adds another long nail in the coffin of a career buried in the depths of the 80s...

There are other actors too, but they serve as target practice mostly.

What i loved most about this majorly forgettable joke-on-celluloid was the hilarious attempt of the scriptwriter to put some philosophical lines in the mouths of the sufefring actors. The result of this effort was the type of philosophy you hear in toothpaste commercials: "because your teeth deserve a better tomorrow". I do have a lingering suspicion that the scriptwriter was not a Taoist.

Lastly, why 2 stars then for such a wreck? Well, I feel forced to acknowledge that Rodriguez did an incredible job giving the word "exaggeration" a whole new meaning. When i saw J.Depp having gone blind and still outshooting his opponents ..without blinking, i thought "wow, this tops it all"...

A grandiose b-movie yes, that will still fail to make the top-10 of it srespective category.

Rating:
Summary: TERRIBLE!!!!
Review: The only reason I gave this movie 2 stars is because of Johnny Depp. As always he overshadows everyone else in the movie with his dark humor and personality, despite the All Star Cast (Banderas, Hayek, Ruben Blades,Enrique Iglesias,etc.).But this movie turned out to be just a confusing and senseless bloodbath.

Buy it only if you are a J.Depp fan. If you are looking for a fast paced fun action movie get Kill Bill Vol.1 or check out 2004's remake of "Dawn of the Dead", both are much better.

Rating:
Summary: A film chopped, shot and scored by Robert Rodriguez
Review: The story behind "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" is that when Robert Rodriguez made "Desperado" Quentin Tarantino told the young director that he was clearly following in the footsteps of spaghetti western director Sergio Leone. Whereas Leone had made "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More" before moving up to the epic scale of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and "Once Upon a Time in the West," Rodriguez had made "El Mariachi" and "Desperado" and now needed to move up to the big leagues and make a film that would have to be called "Once Upon a Time in Mexico."

This 2003 film does have some similarities to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," if you want to think of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), Sands (Johnny Depp), and Barillo (Willem Dafoe) in those three roles. However, there is a hidden film between "Desperado" and this one that involves the death of El Mariachi's wife, Carolina (Salma Hayek), that we see revealed in flashbacks. "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" has CIA Agent Sands compelling El Mariachi to thwart the assassination of the President of Mexico (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.) set up by drug lord Barillo.

Wanting to come up with his own version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" is a big order because that is my all time favorite western, and certainly Rodriguez loves to have the camera explore every part of Danny Trejo's face the way Leone liked to pan from a wide angle shot to an extreme close up of Charles Bronson's face. But inviting a direct comparison between the two films points out the one fault that Rodriguez has in this career is his story construction. Certainly you have to admire all the things Rodriguez does behind the camera, from holding the steady cam, writing the original music, designing the production, supervising the special effects, and editing the film (you wonder sometimes how he can stand to let anybody else do anything on his side of the camera). But the technical virtuosity that he displays does not extend to coming up with a story worthy of the epic scale.

In other words, Robert Rodriguez needs to find his Bernardo Bertolucci (or even his Dario Argento) to help him come up with a story worthy of this talents. Rodriguez has a visual style and flair that few can duplicate, and the extras on this DVD, such as "Ten Minute Flick School" and his commentary track, are clear evidence of his passion for making films. Nobody else has filmmaking in their blood the way Rodriguez does, but he really needs somebody to sit down and help him hammer out his scripts (and apparently his dialogue given how often Depp went off on his own according to the commentary track).

This does not take away from enjoying the cinematic style of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," or the fun Rodriguez has with his HD camera as he "chopped, shot and scored" this film. He can do better and hopefully he will, but there is no denying the pure joy of filmmaking that he exhibits. No wonder the people who work with him keep coming back for more.

Rating:
Summary: Johnny Depp Saved this film!
Review: This film was amazingly awsome, and usaully I'm not a big fan of drug-dealing, mass murdering, high speed chases and whatnot. But I tell u, some parts in this movie got me to sit through it, but it was mostly Depp. He was such a touchy character, Agent Sands, that could make you laugh and gasp in his own unique way. When he was onscreen, I was grinning ear to ear thnking, man, this is gonna be good, and when he was offscreen, I was thinkin, I wonder what he's gonna do. Now, I have a lot of respect for Antonio Banderez, and I'm drawing a blank from the other movie I saw him in. But honestly, withought depp, this movie would have been a bore to sit through. And even though I am a kid, I don't get bored easily. Not to mention Johnny's great looks.....

Rating:
Summary: I'm walking my beat...Mexico is my beat, and I'm walking it
Review: This move is REALLY FUNNY. Some of my girlfriends don't like it because it is so full of guns and shooting and random people dying all over the place, but really, some moments in this movie just made me laugh so hard. For example, Johnny Depp driving his car down the highway, a cigarette in one hand, the wheel in the other...and his third detachable arm dangling out the window. I still have no idea what this movie is about, even after watching it twice, and it doesn't matter, because no one really gets it. It's all about the pulp-western style and stylized violence and laughing at Mickey Rourke and his stupid ugly dog and the huge belt buckle with the marijuana leaves on it. A very good movie for its entertainment value. It's got it all...tons o' action, lots of laughs, tequila aplenty...and Johnny Depp.

Rating:
Summary: I grew out of this a long long long time ago
Review: This movie is for grown-ups who still enjoy watching cartoons and kung fu movies.
I do not.