• Release Date: 2011-01-04
• Genre: Adventure
• Artist Name: Pedro Armendariz, Jr., Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Danny Trejo, Gerardo Vigil, Rubén Blades, Cheech Marin, Salma Hayek, Marco Leonardi, Eva Mendes, Enrique Iglesias
• Director: Robert Rodriguez
• AMG Rating:
• MPAA Rating: R
• Category: Feature Films
• Cautions: Graphic Violence, Adult Language
• Year: 2003
• Running Time: 101
• Movie Country of Origin: Unspecified
• Available Language: English
• Subtitles: Eng/Fre/Por/Spa
  

Director Robert Rodriguez returns to the characters of his breakthrough hits El Mariachi and Desperado in this grand scale south-of-the-border action-adventure saga. Sands (Johnny Depp) is a rogue CIA agent who is working in cahoots with Mexican officials who've caught wind of a plan by corrupt military leader General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) and ruthless drug kingpin Barillo (Willem Dafoe) to assassinate Mexico's president (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.). Sands needs to recruit a gunman to take out Barillo's assassins before they can complete their mission, and through barman Belini (Cheech Marin), Sands learns of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), a fabled musician turned vigilante with a remarkable talent for violence, and a score to settle with Marquez. El Mariachi is living quietly in hiding after the death of the woman he loved, Carolina (Salma Hayek), but Sands lures him back into action through the promise of a final showdown with his nemesis Marquez, forcing El Mariachi to retrieve his guitar case (containing a mighty arsenal) and once again do battle against the lawless. Robert Rodriguez not only directed Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but he wrote the screenplay, handled the camera work, edited the film, and composed the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Adventure, Action

Vigilantes, Assassination Plots, Lone Wolves, Political Corruption, Out For Revenge

Quirky, Tense, Humorous, Slick, Stylized, Flashy

DVD Features

• Robert Rodriguez audio commentary
• Ten-minute flick school
• Inside Troublemaker studios
• Deleted scenes with optional commentary
• Ten-minute cooking school
• The anti-hero's journey
• Film is dead: an evening with Robert Rodriguez
• The good, the bad and the bloody: inside knb fx
• Blu-ray exclusive: the cutting room

DVD Chapters

• None Specified

Review

Robert Rodriguez' Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a tribute to Sergio Leone in much more than just name only. What he takes from the master is a desire to pump up genre clichés until they achieve an almost kabuki-like level of significance. There are many individual sequences that work quite well in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but Rodriguez loses the fun after about 40 minutes. Johnny Depp's CIA agent is darkly humorous and gives the film some much needed comic relief, but much of the film is given over to Antonio Banderas brooding about his lost wife and child, and solemnly preparing to do what he has to do. This is a darker, more serious film than the two previous films in the franchise. A streak of Mexican nationalistic pride gives the film some thematic weight, but also leads to some easy audience pleasing moments that fail to replace the humor and charm of Desperado and El Mariachi. Once Upon a Time in Mexico will satisfy fans of Rodriguez distinct style and talent for action sequences, but it also feels like he used up all of his sense of fun while making three Spy Kids films in three years. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi