Review of Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) by Sean P — 27 Jan 2010

From January 28, 2007:

As it turns out, Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a complete yawnfest with bad storytelling and no innovation. The two cardinal rules of sequels are 1) Recycle as much as possible and 2) More is better. This movie leaned heavily on the first rule and not so much on the second. While it is impressive that Robert Rodriguez took on not only writing and directing but also editing and scoring, it wasn't enough to make this sequel, or this series, enjoyable.

The ridiculous plot ruins the film. Johnny Depp plays a rogue CIA agent looking to profit from an inevitable coup d'etat of the Mexican presidency by a drug cartel run by a man named Barillo (Willem Dafoe). In order to set a plan in motion that will not only derail the coup but also result in money for him, he goes about hiring El Mariachi, whom he learns about from some guy played by Cheech Marin. Except that Cheech was in Desperado, and his character died. He was the bartender in the bar where Buscemi (Steve Buscemi) first tells the story of El Mariachi. Does he have a twin brother? Was his unexplained reuse/recast supposed to be funny? It wasn't.

Now cut to El Mariachi and Antonio eight years later. His hair is shorter, and he's hiding out in a village because apparently, him and Carolina, who he married and had a daughter with, caused quite a stir as some sort of deadly Bonnie and Clyde vigilantes attacking drug cartels and their members, including one run by a General Marquez. Well, the good general didn't like this, so he ended up killing poor Carolina and their young daughter. Thusly, El Mariachi is again despondent and ready to seek revenge, and lo, Agent Sands presents him with the opportunity.

It really is all downhill from there, with a good deal more recycling of stunts and story arcs offered in Desperado. None of the gun battles were more impressive than in Desperado. The payoff was even less satisfying. The peripheral characters, such as Billy (the guy with the dog), cluttered the film, and the acting was not good. In fact, the actor who did the most talking was Johnny, and while his quirky interpretation of this character (he even said savvy...was this released before or after the first Pirates of the Caribbean?) was appreciable, it didn't do anything to help this movie other than give rise to a few funny lines, such as, "Are you a Mexi-Can or a Mexi-Can't?" All in all, this film does little more than offer a new vehicle for El Mariachi, but apparently, he can only be motivated by revenge from the death of his loved ones, which makes the character extremely uninteresting and two-dimensional.