Review of Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) by Victor T — 01 Jun 2015

In 1992, Robert Rodriguez surprised audiences and critics with his low budget but promising directorial debut "El Mariachi", three years later he continue the story with mixed results in "Desperado" and in 2003 he ended the "Mexico Trilogy" with his version/attempt of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly": Once Upon a Time In Mexico.

After the events of "Desperado", El Mariachi is contacted by a CIA agent called Sands who assigns him the suicide task to stop an overthrown of Mexico´s President.

The Mariachi Trilogy has been known for being campy, fun and exaggerated films so Robert Rodriguez decided to end his attempt/version of "The Dollars Trilogy" by making an epic conclusion but the result was less than stellar. "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" counts with all the fun/characteristic elements of its predecessor- The campy vibe, Rodriguez energetic/improvised directing is as good as last time, the inventive/over the top action sequences, acting that is fun to watch, and gorgeous locations- but this final installment takes them to a new level of absurdity by introducing a ridiculously overstuffed plot that takes away the charm of its predecessors, unnecessary characters, a handful of subplots that go nowhere, comedy that manages to get some laughs, bizarre and questionable choices, a laughable attempt to add some drama into this insane comedy/action film, a lackluster finale that's not worth all the buildup and El Mariachi is completely overshadowed by every character in this film, thus making this film a pointless addition to the "Mexico Trilogy". But even with all those issues, "Once Upon a Time" manages to remain fun throughout its running time, even if the quality is inferior compared to the first couple instalments of this trilogy.

"Once Upon a Time in Mexico" is straightforward fun and entertaining mess of a movie. In my opinion this is the weakest instalment of this fun trilogy but if you enjoy the last films you will definitely like this film more than I did. An average, mindless and creative action "flick" that's charming throughout its running time.