It is a story without much imagination. It has an often confusing script with too many twists and double-crossings. Yet, writer-filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's newest atmospheric film, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, offers plenty of entertainment.

Rodriguez, whose Spy Kids 3 is winding down with a $105 million gross in North America, can expect another sizeable hit.

Thanks mainly to engaging performances by Johnny Depp and Antonio Banderas, pulsating music, spine-tingling chase sequences, and an interesting landscape, the film could be a substantial hit in September, a fragile month for movies, with several good weeks of business to follow.

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Never mind what your final assessment of the film is, you may find it difficult to resist the amazing sequences that show Banderas and Salma Hayek escape a building and save their lives by swinging from floor to floor even though they are chained at the wrist.

In this final instalment of the Mariachi/Desperado trilogy, Rodriguez presents the mythic loner El Mariachi (Banderas), with a guitar and gun, being drawn into newer adventures.

Because Rodriguez fills the movie with too many characters and plot twists, the film is never able to attain half the intensity of the leaner and sharper Sergio Leone classics of the 1960s, including For A Few Dollars More, starring Clint Eastwood as the classic loner.

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One of the key reasons why the film gets bogged down is because Rodriguez did practically everything behind the camera. Had someone else written the script and edited the film, it could have had more coherence, tension and fun.

The Rodriguez saga continues as El Mariachi traverses a rugged landscape following the trail of Barrillo (Willem Dafoe), who is planning to topple the president of Mexico, perhaps in the hope that his drug business will boom.

Enlisted by Sands (Johnny Depp), a corrupt, colourful CIA agent who has tracked him down to a tiny village in northern Mexico, El Mariachi has to fight bloodthirst, greed, and revenge.

Slowly, we understand a few more things about the mysterious El Mariachi, especially his relationship with his wife. This is one of the weakest characters in the film. While Salma Hayek looks appealing, she has very little to do. The flashback scenes do not really enhance the film.

And Dafoe is cajoled into non-stop hamming.

While Banderas plays anguished loner with a certain amount of conviction, Depp emerges as the film's most interesting character.

Depp's scenes with Belini (Cheech Marin), a man of strong addictions and plenty of imagination, add a lot of comic relief to the film. He certainly relishes playing the highly roguish CIA operative. Though his performance is never as spectacular as in his smash hit Pirates Of The Caribbean (which continues doing wonderful business worldwide, having grossed nearly $500 million), he still has a big role in making the new film more interesting than what the script envisioned.

CREDITS
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Cheech Marin
Writer-Director: Robert Rodriguez
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Rating: R for strong violence and for language
Distributor: Columbia Pictures