Robert Rodriguez comes out with a 3rd installment of the El Mariachi
story. This time El Mariachi seeks revenge for the death of his
family, and becomes a hero to save Mexico.
Unlike the predecessor Desperado, Mexico is a stand alone movie.
It takes place years after Desperado and el Mariachi (Antonio Banderas)
is living a life of solitude in a small village of guitarists. Agent
Sands (Johnny Depp), enter the picture as a CIA agent playing both
sides of the law, gets el Mariachi out of hiding by convincing him
to after the man who killed his love Carolina (Salma Hayek). A new
president of Mexico has been elected and is set out to go after
the biggest drug cartel in Mexico. Unfortunately for him, the kingpin
Barillo (Willem Dafoe) would rather try to overthrow the government
than have his empire get sought after. Within the struggle of political
power in Mexico el Mariachi is thrown in the middle and become the
unlikeliest of heroes.
Once upon a time in Mexico is an action-packed shooter all the
way through. Each scene is one showdown after another. It has plenty
of blood, gore, and all the goodies that come in random gun battles
and more. Unlike Desperado, there’s plenty of humor to go
around as well. Johnny Depp plays another cool and charismatic role
of the summer though he’s just in there for comic relief due
to the seriousness of the other characters. Banderas is as cool
ever as el Mariachi and Hayek, though hotter than ever, plays a
semi-cameo role in this movie. Director Robert Rodriguez does what
he does best in this movie in his elaborate gun battles and action
sequence. Though as a sequel, it still does not add up to the caliber
of its predecessors. Overall, this was an exciting, though sometimes
cartoonish movie. It included a lot of funny scenes which made it
fun to watch as well. I give it a B. |