Once Upon a Time in Mexico looks great on the surface, but it's not without some serious flaws. There are a couple of things that I just don't like in this one. The first thing is
William Dafoe. Why is an actor of irish blood playing a Mexican? He just looks odd and creepy looking. Kinda like an actor with a sh*tload of pancake makeup on with a bad fake mustache. It just doesn't look good and draws way too much attention to itself. The second thing is the plot. Where the first two films were simple (....a man seeks to avenge the woman he loved), this one takes that simple plot, but wraps it up in a Government coup d'état with every side playing each other. It's trying to hard to be clever and in the process just becomes incomprehensible, with the 3rd Act just a bit too long for my taste. Lastly, it's the lack of
Salma Hayek. Her character is actually killed off prior to the events of
Once Upon A Time, and we only see her in flashbacks. Kinda odd that she would even get 2nd billing behind
Antonio Banderas, given how little screen time she has here.
As always, Robert Rodriguez has a cast of who's who, this time on board is
Johnny Depp, Rubén Blades, Eva Mendes, Mickey Rourke and
Enrique Iglesias. Both
Cheech Marin and
Danny Trejo return as well, but they are playing different characters from
Desperado. The movie does offer some good moments. Plenty of set pieces and gun fights (although not even in the same class as
Desperado). Still worth a
Rent for sure.