| ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO |
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| Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek return for Robert Rodiquez's follow up to his 1996 classic Desperado. Although some maintain that the movie was a remake of El Mariachi, Rodriguez considers the whole work a trilogy, Tarantino suggesting that it's his mate's Dollars trilogy and coining the name Once Upon a Time in Mexico in homage to Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. Desperado was a straight forward tale of one man's pursuit of revenge against the drug lords of Mexico; one of whom killed El Mariachi's love and shot a hole through his hand, ruinign his guitar-playing career. He put his guitar case to good use however, carrying an arsenal of weapons. Here Rodriguez (writing, directing, producing, scoring and editing once more) paints on a much larger canvas. Johnny Depps CIA agent Sands brings El Mariachi out of hiding to prevent a coup once a corrup General has assassinated the president. The deliciously sultry Salma Hayek only appears in numerous flashbacks, having been slain by General betwixt movies. It's a total waste, and seems to there so that Rodriguez can indulge his pre-occupation with Marichai's loss, handled far more deftly in the rpevious instalment. So, once more Banderas is a brooding presence, mourning another lost love and being once more forced to reluctantly shoot loads of bad guys in a variety of cool ways. In a way Banderas is wasted, his comedic ability left unused as he plays the whole thing too straight. Johnny Depp gets all the laughs, as in Pirates of the Caribbean. His feckless, irresponsible CIA man symbolic of America's interfence in the affairs of other countries, particularly when he is blinded. Somehow, the action, like El Mariachi himself, is still cool, but not as engaging as in Desperado. What you want is the iconic man himself in death-defying situations, only barely making it out alive. With the exception of Depp, the rest of the cast are too badly drawn to hold your interest. Entertaining, but overly ambitious. 7/10 |