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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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EXECUTIVE BRIEFCASE

EXECUTIVE BRIEFCASE

by Michael Lyster

“ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO”

Sony Pictures. Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Ruben Blades

The best thing about “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” isn’t Antonio Banderas as the laconic, mythic, gun-slinging El Mariachi. It’s not even sultry Salma Hayek. It’s Johnny Depp as a dissolute CIA agent and Ruben Blades as a score-settling retired FBI man. Depp steals the show as the corrupt, sardonic Sands, who delivers bribes in a “Clash of the Titans” lunchbox and wears a fake arm to hide a gun in his real hand underneath.

In one laughable scene, he wears a CIA T-shirt to a bullfight in a case of the most obvious disguise being the least so. Blades as Jorge is the most realistic, likable character in what largely is a cast of caricatures. The plot is at times confusing and boils down to El Mariachi saving Mexico’s crusading president from a cartel-backed coup. Along the way, he avenges the death of his wife (Hayek) and daughter.

The violence is excessive and hard to watch, with bombastic gunfights, torture and random killings. The soundtrack, scored in part by director Robert Rodriquez, is a nice mix of Mexican flavored orchestral pieces, Latin pop and even a love song sung by Hayek.

,Michael Lyster

RATING: TWO SUITCASES




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