Once upon a time in Mexico

May name eez Pablo Hombre III and I am zee stereoteepical Mexeecan – a revoluthionary, an ace gunfighter, a sweeet lover and a consumer of lots of hot cheelies.

Roberto Rodriguez the director of zis movie called me up to be in eet, but alas that week my donkey Piccalo she was not so well, so I had to stay home weeth her, she eez fine now zanks for asking."

Once upon a time in Mexico is the sequel to Desparado, the excellent film with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, both of whom reprise their previous roles here. Banderas playing a mythical mariachi whose gun skills are legendary throughout Mexico. Salma Hayek is the gorgeous gun totting kick ass love interest.

Johnny Depp is an unconventional CIA agent in Mexico trying to settle some scores and make some cash. He finds the Mariachi and hires him for a hit, in the meantime the President is in danger and there is a bad General on the loose.

The plot just about hangs together, mainly thanks to Depp who is really excellent, and funny. If you have seen him in Pirates of the Caribbean you might pick up on his pirate catchphrase in this movie - ‘savy’. Also look out for his selection of t-shirts, like the ‘I’m with stupid’ one with the arrow that points at his crotch. He has the best lines and the best fake moustaches:

"Are you a Mexican or a Mexican't?"

‘Once upon a time in Mexico’ doesn’t have as much comic book style violence in it as Desparado, the action is quite realistic and towards the end with the military coup is going down it could almost be documentary footage. This meant that for me the violence didn’t sit so easy, and the end of the film is quite tragic in a greek tragedy kind of way, no incest but the eyes…OUCH THE EYES!!!

Having said that the film is really good fun, the inclusion of Johnny depp in the cast is much needed. Banderas is not so charismatic in this film and he looks an odd shade of orange for most of it and Hayek unfortunately doesn’t feature enough. The cast is quite eclectic, Willem Dafoe is a bit wasted as the nasty general, he just looks a bit menacing but never really has any good lines. Mickey Rourke is funny as a has-been crook hiding south of the border, always good to see an old face, restructured or not, show up in movies.

Enrique Iglesias has quite a big part (steady laydeez) as a member of the Marichi’s shooting pose, and he’s quite good, and handy with the flame thrower guitar case.

There are some neat stunts, the one where the Mariachi and Selma are chained together, swing down together from a balconied building is particularly cool.

Once upon a time in Mexico is a really interesting sequel, adding depth where the first film was a fun shoot out. Robert Rodriguez continues to make excellent movies and I wonder if we will hear from the Mariachi again...

Pablo Hombre III