Are you a Mexican or Mexican't?

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Shot, chopped, scored, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez

Antonio Bandera as El Mariachi
Johnny Depp as the crazy CIA dude
Salma Hayek as Mariachi's love interest and all-round kickass chick who's regrettably dead and only seen in flashbacks

Interesting bit characters actors:
Mickey Rourke and chihuahua
Willem Dafoe
Cheech Marin
Danny Trejo as the crazy Mexican dude that is in all Robert Rodriguez movies

Right off the bat, this movie gets total geek honors for actually including a Clash of the Titans lunchbox. That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a movie.

This movie is the third of a trilogy, following El Mariachi and Desperado, about a hitman, El Mariachi, who is famous for killing people while playing guitar. This plays out on the biggest canvas. Crazy CIA dude, Johnny Depp, wants to hire the best hitman in Mexico to assassinate a Mexican general. He is led to the mariachi, who is already pissed off at the general for killing his love interest. Let the games begin.

I love Robert Rodriguez' movies. The Spy Kids movies, From Dusk Till Dawn, the mariachi movies, and Planet Terror are all great fun. All of his movies are imbued with a sense of humor that appeals to me, especially the corniness. He's also interested in style more than reality, and physics. Thus, all of his movies feature characters that are capable of doing super human acts. Once Upon a Time in Mexico is the same. There is nothing on the level of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon choreography, but there are a few wire stunts that are tons of fun.

Johnny Depp is the highlight of this film. He goes through a ton of identities and costumes, often complete with different accents. The Marlon Brando voice he uses while pretending to be a padre is hilarious. He and Robert Rodriguez are perfect for each other. Depp is very good at making the crazy stuff he does very funny. Much of the humor comes just from the various t-shirts Depp wears through the film. At one point he shows up wearing a CIA t-shirt. After a few minutes the camera dips low enough that you can see the letters actually stand for Culinary Institute of Art. It's stuff like that that makes me love this movie.

I originally saw this in the theater when this movie came, and I was curious to see if I would enjoy it just as much this time, mainly because I remembered much of the entertainment coming from the surprises. I am happy to say that the movie was just as enjoyable this time around. Definitely a keeper.