at some point this weekend, i watched once upon a time in mexico... ... ... i really don't know what to say about it except that it's nowhere near as good as desperado. i had a lot of anticipation built up to see it, but heard about it when it was in the theaters and the anticipation vanished. most of the reports were similar saying that the movie was "ok" or "not that good" or, as i stated above, "not as good as desperado." the sad thing, for me at least, is that it should have been pretty awesome considering the lineup they billed. i mean, you have antonio banderas and salma hayek from the original and add johnny depp to the fold...it should be awesome. it was not.
the dialogue was slightly boring. in fact, i don't even remember most of the scenes in the show, let alone the dialogue. one line that stands out, though not to it being a literary masterpiece, was johnny depp (he's friggin' johnny depp for christ sakes, why was his dialogue written this way?) saying, "are you a mexi-CAN or a mexi-CAN'T?" yeah, i'm not making that up. it sucked. well, i'll not be that harsh...it was not good...average with my definition of average not being a good thing.
ok, let's start with the characters. johnny depp's character was boring...yes, this johnny depp role was not good compared to his potential/shown talent. his character was basically a rehash of characters he's played in other movies. take one part Blow, one part (quite small, tho) Fear and Loathing..., and then some of his other roles (i'm not well-versed on his cinematic repertoire) and you have exactly the same character as his in Once upon a Time... you know, i don't even remember his character's name...riveting, huh? now, i like johnny depp. i think he's done some kickass roles, but this is not one of them. antonio banderas was supposed to be the lead (i thought), but he wasn't in the forefront for the whole time. he was also playing the cliched role of former assassin/killer/soldier that repented of his ways in order to lead a clean life (a decision which resulted in a traumatic event in his life), but now has to take up arms again and kick some ass. how many times have i seen that? how many times have you seen that? moving on, salma hayek wasn't even in the story, she only existed in the flashbacks, but she still got high billing. confusing advertising.
the story in the movie is slow and i wasn't really interested. there was a good number of characters involved in the movie, but it's like i wasn't really introduced to them, so i didn't know them. who were these people that were getting such face time with the camera. who is enrique iglesias supposed to be? same with his drunken friend? why does this movie take place 20 years after desperado, but nobody looks older? these are questions i still have in my mind. the movie is sub-par. ok, not as harsh again...it was sub-par to my expectations, but average (once again). the action scenes were not great or innovative.
you know, i'd almost say there were too many characters in the movie...more like a character showcase than a story. i remember when this movie came out and the guys at work went to see it. the response was, "it started out decently, but i've never seen a movie fall apart as fast as this one. i would have walked out of there if i hadn't had any hope that it would get better." that's not verbatim, but close enough. the movie's no good. i give it a league-worthy 6.
Posted by godemperor at January 26, 2004 03:11 PM