Another Great Performance by Johnny Depp in Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Written: Sep 19 '03 (Updated Sep 25 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: Johnny Depp
Cons: Very violent at times. Slow places. Some things not explained.
The Bottom Line: Once Upon a Time in Mexico could have been better. Johnny Depp was wonderful in his role and his fans will probably want to see the movie just for that.
dragonfire88's Full Review: Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Over the years, I have seen several movies that Johnny Depp has been in. I’ve enjoyed the movies, but I was never really a fan of Depp. His presence in a movie wouldn’t convince me to go see it if I wasn’t otherwise interested in the movie. That changed earlier this summer when I saw Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. I loved him in that movie. Shortly after I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, I started to see previews for Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Right at first I had no desire to see that movie. Then I realized that Johnny Depp was in it. That changed my mind. I have not seen El Mariachi and I’ve only seen bits of Desperado on television. When that movie originally came out, I didn’t want to see it. It was on television recently, and that was when I caught part of it, so I did know a bit of what had happened before. I had a small idea of what to expect, but my expectations weren’t that high, so I wasn’t that disappointed. People who had higher expectations may feel differently.
Sands was meeting Belini in a small bar in Mexico. Belini had information for Sands about a man, known as El Mariachi. Sands was planning something and was looking for a man to help him. According to Belini, Sands needed El Mariachi. Belini shared a story about El Mariachi and a woman. Men working for Sands, lead by Cucuy, tracked El Mariachi down in a small town. The two talked and Sands explained how a drug dealer, Barillo, had hired Marquez to kill the new President of Mexico. Sands wanted El Mariachi to kill Marquez. Sands talked about keeping things in balance. Sands said he would be in contact with El Mariachi later.
It was shown that Sands was CIA. Sands also had a meeting with Jorge, a former FBI agent who had a history with Barillo. Jorge’s partner had been tortured and killed by Barillo’s men. Sands shared that Barillo was planning something his doctor, a man who had been in on the torture. Sands seemed to want Jorge to go after Barillo. Sands had some other meetings and was planning something. Jorge started watching Barillo and his men. Jorge discovered that one of Barillo’s men, Billy, was wanted in the US.
El Mariachi decided to help Sands with his plan. El Mariachi shared a past with Marquez and wanted to get revenge. El Mariachi contacted two friends, Lorenzo and Fideo, to help him. Some law enforcement agency in Mexico was planning to go after Barillo. Ajendrez was the only woman involved in the operation.
Cast
Antonio Banderas - El Mariachi
Salma Hayek - Carolina
Johnny Depp - Sands
Mickey Rourke - Billy
Eva Mendes - Ajedrez
Danny Trejo - Cucuy
Enrique Iglesias - Lorenzo
Marco Leonardi - Fideo
Cheech Marin - Belini
Ruben Blades - Jorge
Willem Dafoe - Barillo
Gerardo Vigil - Marquez
Pedro Armendariz - El Presidente
Julio Oscar Mechoso - Advisor
Robert Rodriguez - Writer and Director
Once Upon a Time in Mexico was released on September 12, 2003. The movie was 102 minutes long. It was rated R for language and violence. This is not a movie that children should see. There was a mix of Spanish and English used throughout the movie. Subtitles were shown when characters were talking in Spanish. The subtitles didn’t bother me since there weren’t a lot of them, but some people could feel differently.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico could have been better. The plot was somewhat interesting, but it did drag in too many places, mostly when Johnny Depp wasn’t on screen. I was entertained by the movie, but I have seen much better movies. I didn’t hate, but I didn’t really love it either. I just feel so-so about it. But I did really like Johnny Depp’s performance. He made the movie more interesting and bearable for me. He was the only reason I wanted to see the movie and I did enjoy his performance. There were more negatives than positives to the movie for me.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico was a very violent movie. Extremely violent in some scenes. Violence in movies doesn’t bother me that much, but there were times in this one when it did get to be a bit much. Belini told a story about El Mariachi at the beginning of the movie that contained violence. There were many shoot outs in the movie, including one that took place in a church. In that particular scene, El Mariachi was shown climbing up a wall in the church like he was Spider-Man or something. Another man followed him up, but had a bit more trouble. That just looked ridiculous to me. Many people where shot, and it was shown when they were shot. Blood was splattered around a lot. Some of the characters in the movie were very viscous and didn’t hesitate to kill others. Something very nasty was done to a character near the end of the movie. I’m not sure how much of that was actually shown on screen since I had my own eyes closed right then, but it was clear what was going to happen. The aftermath of what happened was shown. That wasn’t too bad, but it was still disturbing what was done to the character. There were also a few other things that were shown that weren’t really violent, but they still were not pleasant to see. There were a few gory things in the movie. There were several explosions in the movie, especially near the end. This movie will be entirely too violent for some people. Children should absolutely not see this movie under any circumstances.
There were some flashbacks used in Once Upon a Time in Mexico to explain a few things. The flashbacks themselves didn’t bother me as they did help to explain some things. I had no trouble telling when a flashback was occurring. However, when I saw previews for the movie, it seemed like Salma Hayek was going to be a main character like she was in Desperado. That wasn’t the case. She only turned up in flashbacks. She was also given billing above Johnny Depp, who was in much of the movie. I thought that was a bit misleading. One of the flashbacks showed something that happened to El Mariachi and Carolina, but it didn’t seem to be that important to the movie. It was just an excuse to show more action and have a huge explosion.
There were times in Once Upon a Time in Mexico when the camera action was very jerky. It jumped around between shots too fast at times, especially when the action was going on. That made it difficult to tell what was going on at times. There were a few unique camera angels used, and there were some nice shots that showed off the beauty of Mexico. At one point, a character is drugged. When he wakes up, the camera is in his position looking up toward who is there by him. That shot was blurred, like the character’s vision was still messed up from what happened. Earlier in the movie, I noticed something very small in a shot that bugged me a bit. The camera was following behind a character, who then shot someone. A small spec of what was used for blood ended up on the lense of the camera, so for the rest of the shot there was a spec of blood floating through it. I don’t know if that was just overlooked or it was left in deliberately for some reason.
There were a few suspenseful moments in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but it really wasn’t a suspenseful movie overall. Some things did happen that I didn’t expect. One thing that happened was very predictable though. The first time Barillo was shown, he met with a man for some reason. I thought immediately that he was planning to do something - I’m not saying what because I don’t want to spoil anything for people who want to see the movie - and I turned out to be right. Frankly, I’m surprised that Sands didn’t figure it out. He seemed to be a smart guy, but he totally missed that. Sands had been established as a character who didn’t miss anything, but he ended up missing something that was quite obvious.
I felt that there were a few things that weren’t explained in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. It was told what Sands was doing at the time, at least somewhat. But I did wonder what took him to Mexico to begin with and what had set him off on the path he was on and how he hooked up with a few other characters. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the events in Desperado and what was going on in this movie. I wondered how exactly El Mariachi and Lorenzo knew each other.
There was a little bit of humor in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but this wasn’t a funny movie overall. There were just a few little things here and there that made me laugh a bit and helped to lighten the mood at times. Most of those moments came from something said by Johnny Depp’s character. At one time he was talking on his cell phone and asked the other person “Can you hear me?”. That made me laugh because it made me think of the cell phone commercials with that guy always popping up and asking that question. Near the beginning of the movie, Sands did say savy to another character, something that Depp’s character said many times in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Depp’s character used some different disguises and voices a few times in the movie, and a few of those made me giggle a little. This was mainly a violent action movie, so people in the mood for a really funny movie should look elsewhere. There were only a few small moments of humor here and there.
The acting in Once Upon a Time in Mexico was all right, though some actors were better than others. Some, like Salma Hayek, were barely in the movie, so she didn’t have much to work with. She only said a handful of lines. Willem Dafoe really wasn’t in much as Barillo either. His hair was a lot darker, and he looked strange to me with that hair. This role was different from the one he played in Spider-Man and from the voice he provided for a character in Finding Nemo. Johnny Depp was wonderful as Sands. He became the character, like he did with the role of Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Sands and Jack were different, though there were times when I wasn’t sure what either of them were up to. This was another wonderful performance for him and I am now officially a fan. He was amazing, especially near the end of the movie. This has been a good year for Depp.
Mickey Rourke turned up as Billy in a few scenes. I didn’t recognize him, though I haven’t seen that many of his movies. Eva Mendes was good in the role as well. I didn’t remember ever seeing her in any other movie, but when researching the cast of the movie, I discovered that she was in Exit Wounds. I don’t remember seeing her in it, but it has been almost two years since I saw that movie. I also discovered that a few other actors have been in some other movies I’ve seen. Some were only in small roles, so I don’t remember seeing them in the other movies. Enrique Iglesias made is acting debut in this movie. He didn’t have much to do, but he was good in his part.
CHARACTERS
El Mariachi - He was a legend in Mexico. Stories were told about him and how he carried a guitar case full of guns. He vanished for a while, but was willing to go after Marquez to get revenge. No other name was used for him.
Sands - CIA agent who was in Mexico for some reason. He was plotting something involving many people, including the president, Marquez, and El Mariachi. He had a lot of intersecting plans going on, and he seemed to be able to juggle them all. He was good at disguises.
Barillo - A major drug dealer living in Mexico. He was planning something. The authorities and the president wanted to get rid of him. He wanted to get rid of the president.
Marquez - A general working with Barillo.
Jorge - A retired FBI agent contacted by Sands. Jorge’s former partner had been tortured and killed by Barillo. Jorge wanted to get Barillo.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico was an ok movie, but it could have been better. I really enjoyed Johnny Depp’s performance. For me, the movie was worth seeing for his performance alone. Others may not feel the same way since the movie did have some problems. Fans of Depp will probably enjoy it.
Leaping back into action, gun-slinging, guitar-toting hero El Mariachi is back in town in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, as director Robert Rodriguez del...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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