El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon A Time In Mexico (DVD)

Advantages: Johnny Depp
Disadvantages: everything else

...Once upon a time is a phrase that conjures up images of magic and mayhem. There's certainly plenty of mayhem in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but not much of anything else. Drugs lord Barillo (Willem Dafoe) is masterminding a plot to assassinate the Mexican president, mostly as a distraction from his planned clean getaway. He is aided in this by the corrupt and lunatic CIA agent Sands (played superbly by Johnny Depp). The idea is that he will use General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) to kill the President, but then he's afraid that Marquez will assume power, the last thing anyone wants. Sands hires the Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to take Marquez out after the assassination, knowing that the Mariachi and Marquez have old scores to settle. The scene is set for a succession of shoot-outs and double-crossings which result in a few surprises... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: amazing action, style and characters
Disadvantages: Can't think of any, Oh you have to buy it -it's not free

...Once Upon A Time In Mexico, an excellent all round action flick. Ranging from comic style action shoot outs, entertaining chase sequences, loads of quirky intriguing characters, very well told story and great final show down. I love it. The third film of a great trilogy. But don't worry if you haven't seen the first two, this film is just as understandable and enjoyable as a stand-alone as it is a finale. The other 2 films in the trilogy are El mariachi and Desperado by the way (both good but this one is the best). The films follows our hero El. A legendary guitar wielding gunfighter who, after the death of the woman he loved at the hands of merciless drug dealers in the first film of the trilogy (El Mariachi 1993), set about taking his revenge as a drug baron killing maverick cleaning up the country. Last words: great... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: The last action packed half hour
Disadvantages: The story is a little complicated for an action movie

...to exert himself too much with the role and this shows in his general demeanour. He out acts everybody else by some margin, though, and deserves top billing. Antonio Banderas should be better than he is, given that this is the second time he has played El Mariachi, and that he has worked with Rodriguez so many times before. He seems as if he's trying to match Depp for effortlessness, but doesn't have either the cool lines or the pure talent to quite pull it off. Sharing top billing as the female lead is Salma Hayek, and I can't quite work out why, as she's on screen for barely five minutes, all of these in flashback sequences. I can only assume she's there as a continuation to "Desperado", but is underused. The scenes she was in were vital for explaining motivation, but hardly explain her billing. What she's asked to do she does well... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful