THE saga of the mythical gun-slinging hero El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), reaches its dramatic conclusion in the blood-soaked finale of Robert Rodriguez's action-packed trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Evil drug cartel king Barrillo (Willem Dafoe) and corrupt General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) prepare to overthrow the Mexican president and seize control of the country.
Politically-minded CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) masterminds an elaborate plot to sabotage Barrillo's assassination attempt. The corrupt US agent woos El Mariachi out of self-imposed retirement to kill both Marquez and Barrillo before they stage the coup.
Sands sends along hard man Cucuy (Danny Trejo) to ensure the hit goes as planned, much to El Mariachi's annoyance: he already has two trusted sidekicks, Lorenzo (Enrique Iglesias) and Fideo (Marco Leonardi).
To confuse matters further, Sands also primes retired FBI agent Jorge Ramirez (Ruben Blades), whose partner was brutally tortured by Barillo's physician Dr Guevera (Miguel Couturier), to kill both the drug lord and the medic.
When the dust settles, who will be left standing?
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is clearly a tribute to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, yet still retains Rodriguez's trademark tongue-in-cheek humour and love of overblown action set-pieces.
The fight scenes are brilliantly staged, including a bravura sequence which sees El Mariachi and his beloved Carolina (Salma Hayek) escaping across rooftops and down balconies under a hail of bullets, while chained together.
Editing is as slick and snappy as ever and Rodriguez underscores every scene with the frenetic thrum of flamenco guitars and maracas.
The plot - supposedly an analogy for the relationship between Mexico and America - is frustratingly and needlessly complex. By contrast, character development is sparse.
The ensemble cast ease back into their roles, and Depp once again pickpockets the entire film with his quirky, comically deranged supporting turn.
Rodriguez employs a series of flashbacks to reveal how El Mariachi and Carolina fell in love, married and had a child. In this way, anyone who hasn't seen either of the first two films - El Mariachi, Desperado - should be able to understand the back story.
For sheer visceral thrills, Once Upon a Time in Mexico is hard to fault.
Rating: 6/10
DAMON SMITH
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