You know those movies where the plot is confusing, and there are too many characters to care what happens to whom, but in the end, the movie is just so damn cool that it just doesn't matter? Once Upon a Time in Mexico is one of those movies.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico picks up where Desperado left off, with El Mariachi (Banderas) wandering the dusty cities of Mexico with naught but a guitar for his companion. Wait a minute…didn't the last one end with him and Salma Hayek together? Well, apparently, somewhere between the two, they had a daughter, and then they were both killed, leaving poor Antonio alive to avenge them. Sound familiar? Then suddenly we have Sands, (Johnny Depp) a crooked CIA agent, who brings El out of retirement in order to take down General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) who is scheduled to assassinate the Mexican president, who is trying to put an end to the drug cartel led by Barillo (Willem Dafoe) who is being hunted by an ex-FBI agent, Jorge (Rubén Blades) whose partner Barillo tortured and killed years ago. I think Eva Mendes might have been in it somewhere too…but who really cares. All the while, Sands attemps to turn all the tables so that he can end up with the money that was intended as the assassination payoff….or something like that. You know what. The story sucks. There's way too much going on at once for anyone to care what's really happening or who's killing who. And that's ok. Because for the time this movie does work, you won't care about all the times it doesn't.
Unsurprisingly, the show is stolen by Depp, whose flamboyantly cool-natured performance from beneath the brim of his tourist hat and quirky mannerisms makes Sands every bit as cool as he looks. Banderas is not a great actor, but this is seemingly the role that was made for him, as he reprises it perfectly, even if he does look tired most of the time. Most of the cast works (even Enrique. "Practice shooting, not drinking."), but Depp is so great that you'll hardly care about anyone else, most notably El Mariachi himself. I found myself at times forgetting Banderas was even in the movie. The payoff here is Depp and the action scenes.
If you thought the gun fights in Desperado were cool, then you ain't seen nothing yet. Guns are extensions of the characters' arms (and sometimes even the arms themselves are extensions), as everyone on the screen resembles the bastard child of John Wayne and Dirty Harry. Choreographed violence becomes a veritable ballet of shell casings and explosions…and it's those moments that make the film worth it even if Rodriguez seems to have lost the ability to conceive a concise plot.
Robert Rodriguez has talent. He did, after all, shoot El Mariachi at age 23 on $7,000. As a director, he works wonders with a camera, and provides some of the most fun you'll have at the movies with explosions and guns. His characters are stylish and they know it. Regardless of whether they can act or not, the fact that they look cool in leather and sunglasses is good enough for him. It's just a shame he lost himself in the fun and forgot about the story. In the end, the movie feels satisfying, if only for its visual success and Depp's performance. See it, but don't bother trying to follow it or you'll end up ruining it for yourself.
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