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Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong violence, and for language
Starring
Antonio Banderas,
Salma Hayek,
Johnny Depp,
Rubén Blades,
Eva Mendes,
Willem Dafoe,
Mickey Rourke,
and
Enrique Iglesias
The saga of the mythic guitar-slinging hero, El Mariachi (Banderas), continues in Robert Rodriguez's bold, non-stop action epic.
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Adventure
|
Crime
|
Western
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Robert Rodriguez
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Robert Rodriguez
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 20, 2004
Video: January 20, 2004
Theatrical: September 12, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
101 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Mexico / USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
Excellent.
89
Austin Chronicle
Marrit Ingman
The movie gets goofy from time to time -- as when payola arrives in a vintage "Clash of the Titans lunchbox -- but the filmmakers and cast have the style and the swagger to back it up.
80
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Make no mistake, this movie is a mess. But, wow, what a mess! It's an exploding piñata, full of low comedy and high drama, deliriously colorful fight scenes and vehicle chases.
80
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Proves to be a whiz-bang kick in the pants.
80
Time
Richard Schickel
It's an exercise in style by Robert Rodriguez and not to be taken any more (or less) seriously than his giddy "Spy Kids" movies.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Jean Oppenheimer
Affectionately conceived, imaginatively staged and highly entertaining.
75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
A bloody fairy tale with no moral and a lot of juice.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Rodriguez is such a visual stylist, and the violence is so cartoonish, that the flurry of whizzing bullets and growing pile of bodies is not as offensive as it might be.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
I understood the general outlines of the story, I liked the bold strokes he uses to create the characters, and I was amused by the camera work, which includes a lot of shots that are about themselves.
75
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
It's the addition of Depp's corrupt CIA agent, Sands, that really makes this violent, over-the-top action film, with its maze-like plot, sing.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
In its wildly overwrought, burrito-Western way, is about as close to a home movie as you're likely to see in a megaplex.
75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
You don't want to miss Depp in this movie -- he knocks it out of the park.
70
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
God bless Johnny Depp. For the second time this year, the man has almost single-handedly redeemed an action movie that would otherwise be indistinguishable from the pack.
70
LA Weekly
Ernest Hardy
The movie is stolen by the gorgeous, droll and hilarious Depp. The movie crackles when he's onscreen and only fitfully sparks when he's not.
70
Variety
David Rooney
Evokes the mythic feel of Sergio Leone Westerns. Despite a convoluted plot that begs for cleaner lines, the wild shoot-outs, cartoonish violence and charismatic cast should lure action fans to theaters.
67
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
You ride along with a movie like this with a big, dumb grin on your face and no guilt. Not one of this summer's megabucks movies felt this frisky or fun.
63
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
It's a grisly, chuckling cartoon made on shots of tequila, Red Bull, and Sergio Leone.
63
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
If not exactly epic, the movie is certainly the biggest and most complex of Rodriguez's Mariachi trilogy, which began in "El Mariachi" and continued in "Desperado."
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Starts having the same effect as one too many tequilas: the Hong Kong-style stunts, the goofy wisecracks, the foxy presence of Eva Mendes -- all of it becomes blurry and numbing.
63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
An epic unhinged, and while its best sections suggest a Loony Tune done by Sam Peckinpah and Emilio Fernandez, "Mexico" needs to be even crazier than it is.
60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Banderas inhabits the role of the mariachi with a feral grace undimished by the seven-year gap between films.
50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Paying homage to Sergio Leone, "Mexico" aims too high and, in the process, becomes more like every generic, overplotted drug-cartel-and-revenge flick out there.
50
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
However many millions of dollars Rodriguez set aside for blanks and exploding squibs was a waste. Depp's salary, on the other hand, was money well spent.
50
Film Threat
Kevin Carr
If only there had been more Salma Hayek.
50
Premiere
Addison MacDonald
The entire film is a thrown-together collection of gunfights and in-jokes. The film is more concerned with expanding this universe of seedy tequila bars and dusty city streets than it is in telling a narrative story.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Ray Conlogue
A clear case of huevos con hubris.
40
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
Depp's performance reminds us that, yeah, it's only a movie -- just not a good one.
40
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
An overstuffed would-be epic.
40
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Having already looted the Peckinpah and spaghetti-western archives, the director now quotes his own quotations, in service of not a sequel but a vociferous reiteration.
38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Needs a story.
30
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The result is a dull and campy 97-minute bloodbath offering little distinction between good guys and bad.
30
Slate
David Edelstein
The whole movie is like that: showy stunts, explosions, over-the-top acting, fiesta colors, lurid angles, and a sense of nothing--nada--at stake.
30
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
The only thing missing is a coherent story -- or even, for that matter, an interesting idea for one.
25
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
The film's deliberately overblown cartoonishness and its gleefully pandering adolescent cruelty never blend into the enjoyable style of, say, a good spaghetti western (Rodriguez's acknowledged model), or even a bad Quentin Tarantino movie.
 The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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