Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
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A CIA agent recruits a legendary Mariachi to take down a corrupt general and a drug lord in a high-stakes mission in Mexico.
The story
El Mariachi is recruited by CIA officer Sheldon Jeffrey Sands to kill General Emiliano Marquez, a corrupt Mexican Army officer who has been hired by Mexican drug lord Armando Barillo to assassinate the President of Mexico and overthrow the government during a period of unrest in Culiacán. Many years before, El Mariachi and his wife Carolina confronted Marquez in a shootout and wounded the general; in retaliation, Marquez took the lives of Carolina and their daughter in an ambush. In addition to El Mariachi, Sands persuades former FBI agent Jorge Ramírez to come out of retirement and kill Barillo, who had murdered his partner Archuleta in the past.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
El Mariachi is recruited by CIA officer Sheldon Jeffrey Sands to eliminate General Emiliano Marquez, a corrupt officer working for drug lord Armando Barillo to overthrow the Mexican government. Simultaneously, Sands recruits former FBI agent Jorge Ramírez to eliminate Barillo. While monitoring Barillo, Ramírez teams up with an American fugitive, Billy Chambers. The mission is complicated when Sands's agent, Cucuy, betrays the operation, leading to El Mariachi's capture. El Mariachi escapes and gathers allies, while Ramírez is captured by Barillo's daughter, Ajedrez. Sands is also captured and blinded by Ajedrez but manages to survive. During the Day of the Dead, Marquez's forces attack the presidential palace. The Mariachis intervene to protect the President, and El Mariachi defeats Marquez. Ramírez eventually faces and kills Barillo, while Sands kills Ajedrez. The film ends with the heroes surviving and El Mariachi walking into the sunset.
- First release year
- 2003
- Runtime (minutes)
- 102
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Robert Rodriguez
- Writers
- Robert Rodriguez · writer
- Cast and characters
- Antonio Banderas · El Mariachi; Salma Hayek · Carolina; Johnny Depp · Sheldon Sands; Mickey Rourke; Eva Mendes; Danny Trejo; Enrique Iglesias; Marco Leonardi; Cheech Marin; Rubén Blades; Willem Dafoe
- Genres
- Western; action
- Themes
- revenge
- Tone and mood
- violent; pulpy
- Setting
- Mexico, specifically Culiacán during the Day of the Dead.
- Premise and plot tags
- neo-Western; action; coups d'état; drug cartels; Central Intelligence Agency
- Franchise connections
- Mexico Trilogy
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for Depp's performance, but criticism for its convoluted plot and the reduction of the protagonist's role in his own trilogy.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 66% · scale: approval rating · review count: 167; Metacritic · score: 56 · scale: 100 · review count: 34
- Production trivia
- It was the first big-budget film to be shot in high-definition digital video.; The script was written in six days.; The character of Agent Armando Archuleta is likely an allusion to a character from Predator 2.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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