Rodriguez should let go of this mariachi story line now (maybe he has; I'm not familiar with his more recent output). The image of the wandering guitar player--the mariachi-- harking back to the days of the medieval troubadours has a certain amount of wistful charm. Too bad Rodriguez could not do something more imaginative with that image, but once again he depends entirely on violence and stunts. This viewer found it all achingly dull. Rodriguez's technical expertise can be appreciated by cinephiles, but the rest of the audience is looking for a coherent story and will get bored with all the shooting and blood. Antonio Banderas is a big impressive man and a capable actor, but he is ill-used in stuff like this. Johny Depp was better as the drag queen in Before Night Falls.
Review of Once Upon a Time in Mexico
