Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Lists

Ratings & comments

full starhalf starempty starempty starempty star

Rodgriguez's 10 Minute Flick School featurette on the Mexico DVD is subtitled "Fast, Cheap and in Control"; he uses it to describe his own shooting-from-the-hip directorial style and to wax enthusiastic about the benefits of shooting digitally. The tragedy, of course, is the "in control" part: if the production had been wracked by unforeseen disasters, he might at least have had some excuse.

The film starts with an apology for its own excesses, as the informer Belini (Cheech Marin) tells Sands (Johnny Depp) that the story he has heard might well not be true -- it is in the nature of legends to grow in the telling. It descends into a confusing mess soon after, involving a coup, a retired FBI agent (Rubén Blades), an active CIA agent (Depp's Mr. Sands), a drug baron (Willem Dafoe), two women, several mercenaries and three mariachi, notably Antonio Banderas's "El". Most of them are interesting and well-acted; Depp's quirky, seemingly unbalanced Agent Sands is the biggest highlight.

The problem is that the film progresses as a series of disconnected set-pieces. All of them are stylish in their own way, but there is no consistency. By the time Sands is wounded -- and transformed into an eerie, eyeless gothic horror -- it's just about fallen apart. I'm starting to think that the reason Sin City is so much better than Rodriguez's other films is that he had Frank Miller to ground his flights of fancy in a solid narrative.

Extremely disappointing.

- Sam - 2007-09-23 06:33:03