Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Once Upon a Time in Mexico is even cooler and more stylish than Desperado, but with a needlessly overwrought and hectic story in which there is no time for the most important thing, which is thorough development of the characters who are the foundation of the film. The whole time is spent with someone arguing with someone else in secret or shooting at somebody. Robert Rodriguez tried to cram three hours of material into eighty minutes and the result is a rushed and at times unintentionally torpid mishmash that’s more suitable for fans of Spy Kids than Desperado fans. (29.10.2003)

Rodriguez has forgotten how to make good movies. The Hollywood air doesn't suit him and he should probably stop eating those burgers because a full stomach is bleeding his brain, he should go back to the light Mexican food. The lightness and straightforwardness of Desperado has disappeared, replaced by an incomprehensible cluttered plot and a lot of unnecessary characters. Rodriguez doesn’t know how to tell a story. And I'm not going to lie when I tell you that if you watch the trailer, you will see the vast majority of the film’s action sequences. What's very surprising is that even these are not very cleverly filmed, except perhaps for the escape of Banderas and Salma, which you can see almost entirely – yes – again in the trailer. Speaking of Salma: her presence in the film could be summed up in about five minutes of total time. Putting her name in the trailers is a good marketing move, but it's also kind of cheeky. And the rest? My favourite, Dafoe, is also only briefly present, Banderas is just Banderas, nothing new, Iglesias is alright and Depp? If it weren't for him, I'd probably have left the cinema. His "maintaining stability" is one of the few amusing, if very subtle, moments. Overall: weird and boring. Why the one star? For that beautiful Mexican music. And for the hope that Roberto might still remember his inventive and entertaining beginnings. (15.01.2004)

This is like Rodriguez filmed a much longer picture, but used just half of it and also arranged it in an order that has no head or tail to it. As a result, scenes that were evidently supposed to be a tribute to or “quote" from Leone turn come across like they are making fun of him and are incredibly embarrassing. Better to watch Desperado for the umpteenth time, rather than this. (06.08.2004)

For me, as a Desperado fan, quite a shock. Immediately after watching, I thought it was noticeably weaker than the previous installment, but still good, but now it is clear to me that Rodriguez took on too much. Banderas shoots just as accurately and stylishly, Salma is beautiful to the point of pain, but the rest is bad. Depp tries incredibly hard and seemingly fits into the party with his cool attitude, but his character is desperately unnecessary, just like everything else. Shootouts, one-liners, and desperate looks on a guitar background could have followed a straightforward path of revenge. This is a concoction trying to imitate Leone's partially politically oriented scripts in both its title and plot, but it fails practically in every direction. The action was wasted in this case. (28.04.2007)

Maybe if the production hadn't been so lazy and the movie had come out in the nineties, the reception would have been much warmer. This way, people's tastes have changed quite a bit and the jokes that used to work weren't as good anymore. Still, it's worth returning to this ride occasionally because the pace is still good, and the cast is extremely attractive even today. (18.08.2023)

The sequel does not reach the quality of Desperado. The action is even more daring and the plot is even more convoluted, not to mention the large number of characters that will just confuse the viewers. The clutter of sets and costumes can be tolerated, but Rodriguez's effort to be very cool started to annoy me. Eva Mendes and Salma Hayek are a pleasure to watch. Johnny Depp and Antonio Banderas are also okay. The rest is just average and routine work. (01.01.2004)