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Once Upon A Time In Mexico
2003
With ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez follows the further adventures of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), the guitar-and-gunslinging hero who has been leading a quiet life, but longs to get revenge for the murder of his love (Salma Hayek). When quirky CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) roots out El Mariachi for a .. Read more
| Starring | Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Ruben Blades |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Rodriguez |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller |
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Once Upon A Time In Mexico
With ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez follows the further adventures of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), the guitar-and-gunslinging hero who has been leading a quiet life, but longs to get revenge for the murder of his love (Salma Hayek). When quirky CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) roots out El Mariachi for a special assignment, he comes out with all pistols blazing. Soon, a retired FBI agent (Ruben Blades), a drug kingpin (Willem Dafoe), a criminal on the run (Mickey Rourke), and a double-dealing fed (Eva Mendes) are all in on the action, which involves a plot to kill the Mexican president and shift the balance of power in Mexico.
Handling the writing, direction, cinematography, and just about everything else, Rodriguez has crafted a tribute to the spaghetti Western films of Sergio Leone by placing his outlaw hero from DESPERADO and EL MARIACHI in an epic setting populated by numerous characters. Although it can be challenging to keep track of the unfolding subplots, the scenes involving Depp's badly dressed secret agent are the most intriguing and entertaining. Meanwhile Banderas eases back into the lead as the vengeful Mariachi, and Hayek and Blades make the most of their small but significant roles.
| Starring | Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Ruben Blades, Eva Mendes, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke, Cecilia Tijerina, Danny Trejo |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Rodriguez |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 41 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Subtitles | DVD: Dutch, English |
| Released | DVD: 08 Mar 2004 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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While you can see why director Robert Rodriguez might want to remake his 1992 ultra-low-budget debut El Mariachi as Desperado (1995) to take advantage of a studio-sized budget, remaking it yet again would seem to indicate that he's stuck in a groove. But that's almost exactly what he's done in this third outing, which again stars Antonio Banderas as the wandering South American minstrel with an arsenal in his guitar case to take on evil drug lords. He's aided and abetted this time by an unorthodox CIA agent (Johnny Depp) who's the most entertaining thing in the film, possibly because he's the only genuinely original element. The action is certainly spectacular and inventive — Rodriguez is one of the best editors of mayhem around — and Salma Hayek is suitably sultry, but none of this can quite make up for the feeling that we've seen all this before.
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An involved story in which everyone double-crosses and shoots each other, often at the same time; the violence is numbing, the narrative labyrinthine, and the result is close to boredom.
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Most helpful member's review
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23 out of 25 people found this review helpful
Good, bloody fun
Once Upon A Time In Mexico continues a story that began in the Spanish language film El Mariachi and continued in Desperado. El Mariachi is a mysterious and tormented legend, a guitar player who becomes an accidental hitman. This time around he returns from retirement to prevent a coup d’etat, and to take vengeance on the murderer of his wife and daughter.
Antonia Banderas reprises his role as the unfortunate El Mariachi, and is suitably brooding and intense, although unfortunately not terribly sympathetic. The real star of the show is Johnny Depp, who stole the show in the recent Pirates of the Carribean. He plays the psychotic CIA Agent Sands with gusto and glee and nabs all of the best lines. Also good to see is Latin crooner, Enrique Iglesias, another musician with a nack for gun play.
The plot lacks any coherence, and verges on the ridiculous so often that this film is just as fantastical as the Spy Kids films, although there’s a lot more blood on show here. But then, plot was always something of an afterthought in the Mariachi films, and frankly there are enough fantastic set pieces, amusing cameos and great lines for it not to matter.
This is no masterpiece and is slightly less enjoyable than its predecessors, but it still makes for fun viewing and is worth a look. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Watch El Mariachi instead!
This was awful. In less than 15 mins I knew it would be bad but I persevered out of curiosity (regretably). Having seen all three films it seems the bigger the acting names (and this has many well-known actors), the worse the film is! Watch El Mariachi with the unknown cast then don't bother with the sequels - it's a million times better than this rubbish and better than Desperado. Despite the very talented Johnny Depp, it's not worth seeing even out of curiosity.
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News and features
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Depp in talks to play Pancho Villa
- 04 Dec 2009
Johnny Depp is in talks to become the latest big name to play Mexican bandit revolutionary Pancho Villa in a new movie. The movie star is slated to lead the cast of Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica's biopic, The Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers. The Spanish-language film will be shot partly in Mexico in 2011 and Depp's Once Upon A Time In Mexico co-star Salma Hayek is in negotiations to co-star, according to Variety. If the film comes together, it won't be the first Read more
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Once Upon A Time In Mexico
With ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, filmmaker Robert Rodriguez follows the further adventures of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), the guitar-and-gunslinging hero who has been leading a quiet life, but longs to get revenge for the murder of his love (Salma Hayek). When quirky CIA agent Sands (Johnny ...
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