Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Film: Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Imdb User Rating: 6.1/10

Premise: Once upon a time... it is a time of trouble is Mexico. The Mexican president has declared war on the Barillo drug cartel, who has plans to fight back by backing a coup by General Marquez. Agent Sands of the CIA is in the middle of it all trying to make sure Marquez do NOT succeed... by forcing El Mariachi himself out of retirement... El Mariachi, after the death of his wife and daughter, no longer wishes to fight, but he may not have a choice. At Culiacan, Barillo and Marquez have set a trap for the president, and Sands want El Mariachi to take out Marquez after the coup. El Mariachi called upon his two brothers for the final showdown... To save the revolution. Who will remain standing at the end? Written by K. Chang

Blog review: Some filmmakers seem to want to do the same movie over and over, Sam Raimi, Kevin Smith and RR. Fine, you want To bookend your story but come on El Mariachi, Desperado and now this thing, I can't even fathom why this was made but Johnny Depp signed on so hell lets throw a shitload of money and see what we can do. I respect RR for all the hard work he does, Troublemaker studios is him in his garage doing special effects by himself, he is an independent filmmaker in a studio environment. The movie is supposed to be his homage to Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in the west, but it falls short. The lines were forced, the acting over the top to say the least. Stories told in flashbacks and we're to assume we can connect the dots. No, no thank you.

The Movie Drop off point: First off the scenes are so dumb, a remote controlled guitar case? Seriously folks are we to think that's cool. They don't have running water in parts of Mexico but our El Mariachi is a whiz at electronics? When I saw that I was ready to leave or at least head out to a Gipsy Kings concert. RR totally over thought this film. The others were tight well thought out little adventure movies, this was just like receiving your lottery winnings and seeing what you can make up as you shot. Their was nothing interesting about this film. Okay Johnny Depp gets his yous taken out okay great... Still leaving me with nothing here.
Recommendation: Enjoy a choco taco in the park and save your money, 3 out of 10.
Film Recommendation: Sin City (05) El Mariachi(93) Django (72) or any real western