Cast makes 'mexico' a frisky fiesta
Having burst on the scene in 1992 with an indie slam-dunk ( "El Mariachi"), director Robert Rodriguez's career has since consisted of a not-quite-as-good, bigger budget remake-sequel ("Desperado"), a half-good Tarantino-flavored vampire flick ("From Dusk Till Dawn") and one solid family film ("Spy Kids") with two tepid follow-ups.
In other words, Rodriguez hit the ground running, but his films have mostly gotten sloppier over time. Perhaps it's the result of having complete autonomy; crafting his films at his own studio in Texas, Rodriguez writes, directs, edits and even scores his films himself. Maybe he needs some advice from other professionals.
His latest, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," attempts to recall the blackly comic ultraviolence of his first two films and, to a large degree, succeeds in its task. But although Rodriguez offers up some crackerjack action sequences and a killer cast, the plot is so convoluted and carelessly constructed that it falls considerably short of its predecessors.
Shot using a 24-frames-per-second, high-definition digital camera, "Mexico" revisits the almost mythical world of the guitar-playing gunslinger El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas). Since we last saw him in "Desperado," El (as he is called) has lost his wife (Salma Hayek) in a bloody adventure with a corrupt Mexican general.
We see this through flashback -- Rodriguez has coyly said that there's an "imaginary" third movie between the two films, and that's what's referenced in El's memories. It would have been nice if he had actually made that film, because it's not really made clear what his intention with this back story is, and things are sometimes a bit confused.
Stealing the movie from Banderas at every turn is Johnny Depp as a CIA agent named Sands, who plays on the Mariachi's desire for vengeance as part of his own plan to stop a drug lord (a deeply tanned and delightfully hammy Willem Dafoe) from killing Mexico's president.
Coasting in a groove somewhere between his performances as Hunter S. Thompson's alter ego, Duke, in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl," Depp looks like he's having the time of his life. Whether shooting a cook in the head to ensure the quality of his favorite pork dish or giving a pep talk to his flunkies -- "Are you a Mexi-can ... or a Mexi-can't?" he demands of Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo -- he makes it look almost too easy. As in "Pirates," he's a delight every moment he's on screen.
Double- and triple- and quadruple-crosses make the blood-spattered story hard to follow at times, and Rodriguez's casting of big (and semibig) faces such as Dafoe, Enrique Iglesias and Mickey Rourke in tiny roles misleads the viewer into thinking that these characters are more important to the plot than they really are.
Fortunately, every time the film threatens to demand too much thought, another gorgeously choreographed, John Woo/Sergio Leone-inspired action sequence comes along to pull the audience back into a mindless thrall.
"Once Upon a Time in Mexico," released more than two years after filming ended, lacks the pizzazz and focus of "El Mariachi" or "Desperado." But see it for Depp, see it for the action, and enjoy an energetic -- if flawed -- return trip to Rodriguez's particular spaghetti-western world.