***Official ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Craig: Mclaren]

entertaining but this was Johnny Depps movie. Every scene with his character was a classic. Perhaps they should have made a film about his character instead? Great cast though.

 

[Ross Williams]

Count me in as another one of the disappointed. First off, Salma was hardly in it. What a rip-off!! Don't sell her as one of the big points, if she's barely in 10 min, she was even billed 2nd in the credits. The action scenes were all pretty lame. Most of them consisted of the annoying Michael Bay type editing. Gun shot, guy flying, explosion, motorcycle jumping, another gun shot, repeat... I thought the action in Desperado was way better on a much lower budget.

I also thought there was way too much going on in the story. It was like a 3 hour epic condensed into 2 hours. Too many plotlines, not enough time. As much as I love Johnny Depp, I thought this should be a story focused on El Mariachi. Salma gets killed, and we barely scratch the surface of his revenge plotline.
I heard that Rodriguez wrote the script in a week, it sure felt like it.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

What an awesome ride. Anybody who says that it didn't make any sense is just reeling from getting a complex plotline where loyalties changed by the minute when they had themselves prepared for a brainless action flick.

The creativity in the violence was awesome, and the movie was also hilarious throughout, if you get Rodriguez's humor. The scene with (SPOILERS)Johnny Depp driving down the road with the legs of the corpse hanging out of his trunk(END SPOILERS) had me in stitches. The cinematography was also awesome... we have gotten shots like this since the Golden Era of Westerns. Sure, it's no Oscar winner or anything, or even a spectacular cinematic achievement. But is spectacular entertainment, and one of the best rides I've had at the movies in a while.

(And while it wasn't entirely successful, the creativity and induviduality of RR means we get an entirely different experience from Hollywood)

 

[Steeve Bergeron]

Very disappointing! OUaTiM doesn't have the charm that Desperado has. It would have been a lot better if the storyline would have focused more on El Mariachi's revenge. I like Johnny Depp as much as anyone here, but his character has way too much screen time. This is supposed to be a movie about El Mariachi, it sure doesn't feel like it.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The thing is, the movie is NOT about El Mariachi. It's about whatever RR wants it to be about. It's HIS movie! No offense, but just because you didn't get what you expected/wanted doesn't mean it's not what it's supposed to be.

Anybody who says that it didn't make any sense is just reeling from getting a complex plotline where loyalties changed by the minute when they had themselves prepared for a brainless action flick

I agree 100%. I know several people who hated the movie because it wasn't what they expected or because they didn't understand it.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

The El Mariachi character is developed through 2 other movies, so there's no point in developing him further.

I also do not understand the comments about lack of character development. Along with El Mariachi, all the other villains have their own personal motivations and their actions fully and clearly explained.

~Edwin

 

[Steeve Bergeron]

The saga of the mythic guitar-slinging hero, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), continues in Robert Rodriguez’s bold, non-stop action epic ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO.

This is from OUaTiM's official website. No offense, but I guess it's supposed to be about El Mariachi. Looks like RR chopped too much.

 

[Henry Carmona]

Well said Morgan!

 

[Chad Ferguson]

I found this to be a horrible show! Weak script, too many characters(which is when a good script helps) Cheesy action, and not in a good way like Desperado. Depp's character was funny in the first 2/3 of the movie then it got supper cheesy! I really feel this movie is just spy kids with guns. Right now I think R.R. is just moving too fast. Almost literaly chopping up the movies and scripts he makes. He cost cutting ways once again show up on the screen big time. The only that impressed me was that for the most part the DV quality was very high, only a couple times did it really show that it was DV.
During Depps sequence when he is shot to the ground and looking up with no eyes, I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously, I tried so hard but it was horrible.

And this movie also wins the best Michael Jackson look a like contest. Perhaps COlumbia will release an unrated edition that adds an hour of story, but hopefully they release the DC of Desperado first. Did anyone else feel that they totally wasted an amazing cast here?
Thank you

 

[Erik Pontius]

I've heard this mentioned before. Why is this considered a remake when the story of Desperado has the Mariachi (now Banderas) still seeking revenge for the actions in El Mariachi (then played by Gallardo)?

True. It is not a full on re-make of El Mariachi... but we have similarities between the two films. The same locations (the bar is the same from El Mariachi, the same street in Boys Town is used with some set dressing), another mythological "big than life" character of El Mariachi is created.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I thought the flames from explosions looked bad, too pixelly-looking.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The film might have been advertised to be different (it is about El Mariachi, but not SOLELY El Mariachi; it's not a non-stop action movie, there's lots of talking) but that's not entirely on RR's hands. The marketing department of a film studio can do whatever they really want if the director has no interest in doing everything for the film.

Besides, I still liked the movie the way it was, regardless of the advertising.

 

[Keir H]

I agree fully with Ross's assesment of this movie, we walked out and my girlfriend mentioned that "honey I know you are going to by this movie" (she knows how much i like action films)but I told her Desperado was far better in almost every way. THe action was on the cheesy side with a few decent moments. IN fact, I think if you are going to put JDepp in this movie as a headliner, you might as well evolve the story around him instead of so many other major stars that clutter the storyline. (Defoe,Banderas, both of whom work I enjoy)

 

[Doug Miller]

Bah, some of you are being a bit too hard on this. Comparing this to the Evil Dead trilogy is pretty close to dead on. I enjoyed the movie as a whole. I got a kick out of the humor, action looked good, pacing was good. I just had a good time.

I think one thing that stood out to me on this, was the whole interpretation theme. Both Desperado and Mexico start more or less with El Mariachi as an urban legend. To me, Mexico felt more like it was a story that had been retold again and again -- the same way Cheech's character explained how everyone said he was the biggest Mexican ever, but was really only 5'9" or 5'10". The movie was over the top (similar to the "exagerated" flashbacks) I know, I know, over analyzing... sorry.

Two more things I'll say: 1) Complaining about Salma being in it for 12 minutes while having a staring bill. Do you think it was a big cheat to have Janet Leigh have billing on Psycho to be killed off in the first half hour? What about Steven Segal in Executive Decision? Whoa... Janet Leigh, Steven Segal... I don't ever want to see those two names in the same paragraph again. 2) Desperado is definitely an El Mariachi sequel, but I can understand why people might see it as a remake. Gee. El Mariachi meets a girl, who is a former girlfriend of the local druglord. They fall in love. El Mariachi must kill the druglord and free the town. That said though, yeah, it's still a sequel.

Doug

 

[Ross Williams]

Do you think it was a big cheat to have Janet Leigh have billing on Psycho to be killed off in the first half hour? What about Steven Segal in Executive Decision?

Janet Leigh was the star of Psycho for the first 30 min, then they kill her off, it was a major twist. If they'd done that much with Salma I would have been happy. 30 min in she gets killed, that sets of El Mariachi, would have been cooler. Instead of making it some kind of "mystery" as to what happened to her.

And comparing Leigh and Hayek to Steven Segal, is like comparing apples to a steaming pile of dog crap. I was happy when Segal bought it in that film.

I did enjoy OUaTiM. I just didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would. On my 2nd viewing, I'll be less critical and probably enjoy it for what it is. It's still better than 90% of the crap out there.

 

[Zack Scott]

COmpared to Desperado...OUATIM has no chance. But I knew that going in. But I still had a great time at the theatre. I belev that it's a nice tribute to Sergio Leone and the types of flicks that he made (The Speghetti Westerns) where there isn't a real good guy or bad guy and every character has his own agenda. I felt that there may have been more story in Rodriguez but couldn't get it out. (maybe he didn't get final cut on this one but I some how doubt it). However we stayed through the end credits and there could be a fourth movie coming. Maybe a final duel between Johnny Depp and El Mariachi. MAbey we'll have to wait another 7 years. WHo knows.

 

[Chris Dias]

Well I just saw this tonight and I didn't like it. I don't really have much to say that hasn't already been said, but sombody mentioned something about Johnny Depp's CIA shirt so in case anyone didn't notice, it said Cleavege Inspection Agengy under it.

 

[Jeff*S*C*]

Well I know i'm late on this but I finally saw the movie last night and being that Desperado is on my top 5 list and I've been waiting for this movie for like 8 years I gotta speak on it. What the hell happened to my Mariachi?? You could have easily just changed his name and the movie could've just stood on it's own. The flashback story...now that's the movie I was looking for. What happened to R.R.'s creative ass gun fights or even creative ass guns (I wanted to see the crotch gun in action this time )? People getting blown back 20 feet on every shot did get annoying. Way too many useless characters. Ok i'm done. Everything I didn't like has been said before. The more I think about it the more I feel disappointed..