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Once Upon a Time in Mexico

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See the two originals:  The amazing $7000 dollar film, El Mariachi and the big budget Desperado.  El Mariachi is one of the coolest flicks you will ever see. - CDM

An essential for any film lover, Rodriguez's book has been voted by film aficionados up there with Lumet's Making Movies. - CDM

Once Upon a Time In Mexico
by Bill Kilpatrick

Super

There's a scene in this film that said it all.

It's at a bullfight.  Men are in the stands, talking business, pretending not to be what they obviously are: bad guys of the first order.

One of them is a CIA operative (Johnny Depp), come to Mexico to encourage a coup d'etat that will leave both the president, and the challenger, as dead as a dish of roast pork.  It's an obligatory let's-go-over-the-plan scene that adds up to more than what we expect.

Why?

Because the conversation, about rigged situations, becomes all the more poignant when the bullfighter is set up.  Before he knows it, he's being gored, tossed and dragged around the arena like a ragdoll.

And we don't know whether to cringe or cheer.

Much of this film operates on the same basis.  We know the story is rigged.  It looks and smells like typical pulpy action fluff.  Yet the execution is so twisted, original and self-consciously cheesy, this film is an absolute joy to watch.

Personal Note.  I loved El Mariachi, the $7,000 personal project of (future) Spy Kids director, Robert Rodriguez.  I wasn't wild about Desperados, mainly because the purity of El Mariachi was tossed aside in favor of more traditional (and bloated) Hollywood dynamics--like replacing good pacing with atmosphere, effective plotting with special effects.

Fortunately, this third installment of the El Mariachi franchise, if not the pick of the litter, comes pretty darned close.  Though the story idea is a typical action yawner, I can't count the number of times Rodriguez forced a chuckle out of me--and I'm usually bored with action films.

There ought to be more movies like this one--not more movies about Mexican versions of Spy versus Spy, but more well-crafted cheese-fests.  Rodriguez knows how to serve up the cheese--with real spice.

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