Starring ANTONIO BANDERAS, JOHNNY DEPP, SALMA HAYEK, WILLEM DAFOE.
Directed by ROBERT RODRIGUEZ.
Ace, arty director Robert Rodriguez made something of a low-key movie called 'El Mariachi' in the early 90's designed to go straight-to-video on the Mexican market, but such was the movie's surprise success, he went on to tell the story in a much glossier, Hollywood-gleamed manner� and that movie came to be known as Antonio Banderas-starrer 'Desperado.'
While Rodriguez also scored a huge hit with the crazy 'From Dusk Till Dawn,' he's of Tarantino stock� i.e., he makes few movies - but the movies he does direct come with much hype, as has 'Once Upon A Time in Mexico.'
Far more epic than 'Desperado,' 'O.U.A.T.I.M' sees Banderas back as the killer Mariachi - and startlingly he looks to actually be playing his acoustic guitar by way of a complex flamenco technique, Godammit. If computer trickery isn't being used, he could forge a dual career as musician and be the envy of every Actor's Guild member for being so frankly multi-talented.
As a maniac for high caliber shoot-outs and crazy car chases here though, he can't go far wrong. Likewise, Johnny Depp is honestly perfectly cast as a cool go-getter mixed up in big money deals, drugs and a cesspit's worth of shit deeper than any journey ever attempted to the centre of the earth.
As if 'Pirates of The Caribbean' hadn't already made Depp the wimpish hero of 2003 action blockbusters and the talk of Hollywood, in this movie he is just as naturally hilarious, especially after both his poor eyes are sickly gouged out and his reliance on a kid for directions down the street messes with his mind and invites bloody violence his way with sensational aplomb.
The softly sunny Mexico locations used to such stunning effect herald Once Upon A Time's epic feel, and the post-bloodbath end is neatly inspirational and executed with relevant pride and dignity, reminiscent of 'Braveheart.'
The intense blood and gore aside, the amazing action set pieces have to be seen to be believed just as much as the can-do-no-wrong Depp does: as yet another bad, stark-raving sad fallen soul who you bizarrely feel deadly sorry for. 4/5 (Steve Rudd)