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| Three long-haired stars with sultry looks adorn this earthy-red poster for Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico |
Guitar-playing hit-man El Mariachi becomes involved in a Mexican state coup, drug villains and lots - LOTS - of weapons.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is written, co-produced, directed, photographed, edited and scored by great Texan filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi (1992)). It is the final film in his Mariachi trilogy that also comprises El Mariachi and Desperado (1995).
The plot is confused and hard to recount, as the masculine, action-packed trilogy ends disappointingly here. Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a film that isn't much fun, isn't ever exciting, but instead reeks of indifference and superficiality; it is also a raining of stars over a specific country (Mexico) that was already going apart at the seams with homicidal violence when the film was made and released due to the criminal drug cartels, which the film tries to milk some pulpy entertainment out of - making it even less fun.
Rodriguez had impressed to the point of getting a star parade of Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2 (2010)), Antonio Banderas (The Body (2001)) and Willem Dafoe (A Woman (2010)) and many more to fall into this wretched action soup here. The film nevertheless has incredibly sexy turns from Johnny Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)), Salma Hayek (Americano (2011)) and Enrique Iglesias (How I Met Your Mother (2007, TV-series)), as well as some photography, stunts and special effects tricks that work. Rodriguez had become a technically superior filmmaker at this point in his career, - but he forgot (or perhaps ignored) with Once Upon a Time in Mexico that all the work still comes down to making a good film.
Related posts:
Robert Rodriguez: The Faculty (1998) or, Teacher Encounters of the Third Kind
1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza
Desperado (1995) - Rodriguez' second Mexico actioner is a sexy, latino fireball
Four Rooms (1995) - Rodriguez, Tarantino & Co. fail with LA hotel anthology comedy (segment)
Watch 3 minutes from the beginning of the film here
Cost: 29 mil. $
Box office: 98.7 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.40 times its cost)
[Once Upon a Time in Mexico premiered 27 August (Venice Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. Rodriguez reportedly wrote the script in 6 days. Shooting took place from May - June 2001 in Texas and Mexico. It was allegedly the first big budget film to shoot in be shot in HD digital video, a change that Rodriguez since championed and stuck with in subsequent films. The film opened #1 to a 23.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4), grossing 56.3 mil. $ (57 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 7.1 mil. $ (7.2 %) and the UK with 4.4 mil. $ (4.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Rodriguez returned with 5 shorts prior to his theatrical return with The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D (2004). Banderas returned in And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Imagining Argentina (2003); Hayek in After the Sunset (2004); and Depp in Secret Window (2004). Once Upon a Time in Mexico is fresh at 66 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Once Upon a Time in Mexico?
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