I wonder what it would be like to meet Robert Rodriguez, the writer, producer, director, composer, editor and cinematographer of the new action movie Once Upon a Time In Mexico. He must have a split personality. On one hand, he has a goofball imagination best shown in the Spy Kids trilogy. On the other, he is often over-the-top and gruesome.
There is a plot in Once Upon a Time In Mexico, but it's way too complicated and muddled to go over without having to draw a map. El Mariachi, returning from the movies El Mariachi and Desperado, has been in seclusion for a few years after the brutal killing of his wife, Carolina, and their daughter. He is coaxed out by the quirky CIA agent Sands, who wants him to kill the man who killed his wife, General Marquez. Marquez is staging a coup d'etat, overthrowing the current president of Mexico, ordered by the drug lord Barillo. But the General can't take the throne, which is where El Mariachi comes in.
Also thrown into the plot is a retired FBI agent, Barillo's American henchman, a shifty Mexican agent in the midst of an affair with Sands, a Chihuahua and Enrique Iglesias.
And the plot isn't really that important. It ties the action sequences together, some of which are quite amazing. The best one is when El Mariachi and Carolina (in one of many flashbacks) are forced to swing their way down from a five-story building, all the while being handcuffed and shot at. The fluidity of the editing in the scene is perfect.
You can imagine that with such a complicated plot, there is a massive cast to go with it. Antonio Banderas is in the "lead" role and reprises his role as El Mariachi. Banderas is able to emote without dialogue; a mere rolling of his eyes gives away more emotion than a monologue ever could. Although she's second-billed, Salma Hayek as Carolina is in about 10 minutes of the movie and has three to four lines.
Willem Dafoe, in a costume reminiscent of Charlton Heston in the classic Touch of Evil, plays the vicious drug lord Barillo, who wants all of Mexico to be his. Mickey Rourke (making a comeback, I guess) is the henchman, Billy Chambers, who is getting disgusted with his line of work.
Rourke is fine in the role, but he isn't given a lot to do. Ruben Blades, as the retired FBI agent, gives a strong dramatic performance as a man unwilling to be corrupted. Eva Mendes is devious but underused as the Mexican agent, Ajedrez. Enrique Iglesias and Marco Leonardi does a fine job of providing adequate comic relief as El Mariachi's sidekick.
And then there's Johnny Depp.
As Sands, Depp does a low-key but great job of making this movie his. Some will tell you that Depp has stolen the movie away from Banders, but I beg to differ. Depp is given the most lines and screen presence of any of the characters. Some of his lines are damn weird ("Are you a Mexican or a Mexican't?"), but that's what's so great about him. What's even more surprising is that by the film's end, Depp has turned into a triumphant anti-hero, even getting his own sidekick in perhaps the strangest gunfight ever. You have to see it to believe it. We're rooting for Depp by the film's end. It's a testament to his dynamic versatility in acting.
Much news has been made about how Rodriguez filmed the entire movie in digital video, instead of using film. The verdict is that, for the most part, this is one of the most beautifully shot films in a long while. During an incredibly fast-paced scene, for example, you can notice how digital pales to film, but the way that Rodriguez edits (or "chops") his movie, you really have to look hard.
Once Upon a Time In Mexico is not for everyone, to be sure. The film contains gratuitious graphic violence. Hundreds are shot or killed here, but it's not to be taken seriously because Rodriguez makes this as cartoonish as possible. Still, the blood and gore can be a bit off-putting, as in the aforementioned climactic gunfight for Depp. Without giving anything away, let's just say his fate is quite Oedipal and quite gross.
But what is proven by this movie - and that little-known pirate flick from a few months back - is that Johnny Depp needs to work as often as possible. Without Depp, Once Upon a Time In Mexico is a sometimes-confusing action movie. But with him, it is elevated to a quirky black comedy with tons of action.
Josh Spiegel is an entertainment reporter for the Web Devil. Reach him at joshua.spiegel@asu.edu.
