Once Upon a Time in Mexico / Desperado 2 (2003)

Once Upon a Time in Mexico / Desperado 2 (2003)

3/10

Starring

Antonio Banderas

Salma Hayek

Johnny Depp

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (or Desperado 2) is a total bullcrap of a movie. Released eight years after Desperado (1995), it’s the final installment in the Mexico Trilogy. This movie wastes too much time focusing on everything except what matters. It feels like El Mariachi is just a supporting character in his own story.

The tale follows El Mariachi’s journey from the first movie through the second, but this one is overly stuffed with too many characters and subplots.
The running theme of him being lonely and seeking revenge for his lost love is the same here, but this time it feels old and overdone.

You have to stay on your toes in this movie because the plot is all over the place. It starts with a man obsessed with killing El Mariachi, which led to the death of his woman (Salma Hayek) from the second film. 
This backstory is told to another man (Johnny Depp), who wants to capture El Mariachi for his own shady plans. He succeeds early in the movie, but El Mariachi, though heartbroken over his lover’s death, is revitalized when he’s pointed toward revenge, like every action movie hero.

Johnny Depp’s character is just as dubious—he wants to control everything and uses everyone to achieve his ultimate goal. On top of that, there’s a gangster boss who’s into facial reconstructive surgery to stay alive and maintain his power.
You’d think that’s enough, but more subplots keep popping up, making the movie feel cumbersome and overly complicated.

I have one question for Robert Rodriguez: what happened to plain and simple?
That was the magic of the first two movies—they were straightforward and easy to follow. I didn’t have to worry about coups, facial reconstructive surgery, or Johnny Depp’s convoluted schemes. This movie tries so hard to be more than it should be.

Then there’s Eva Mendes, whose sole purpose in this movie is to introduce the facial reconstruction guy and then die later on.
Our hero has gone political, and if you think he’s all about madness with no love for his country, think again, my friend.

Don’t bother watching this final movie in the trilogy.

While the movie did make money for the studio, the ratio of box office returns to the production budget is much lower compared to Desperado (1995).

Desperado (1995)

Desperado (1995)

6/10

Starring

Antonio Banderas

Salma Hayek

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

There’s something independent movies have over mainstream ones: the freedom for producers to deliver their vision without compromise. Desperado is aimed at a mainstream audience, and unlike the first film, El Mariachi, the charm of a small production is gone, filled with A-list actors and too many gunshots.

The only film in the Mexico Trilogy I’d seen before now was Desperado. It wasn’t spectacular for me back then, and even now, it’s just good to watch—nothing groundbreaking. The story isn't fantastic, even though the acting performance is good, the plot does not unfold the way you will like it to. It has an uneven pacing, which can make the movie a bore sometimes. Robert Rodriguez didn’t hold back on the violence in this movie; gunfire is everywhere. Thanks to a handsome budget of 7 million (a huge leap from the 8,000 he used for El Mariachi in 1992), we get a more robust story.
The shootouts are better choreographed, and the effects are polished for the TV screen. With Antonio Banderas taking over the lead role, the last scene from the first film—where Mariachi’s girl was killed—was redone. This time, we see Antonio Banderas looking genuinely heartbroken and devastated by her death. Unlike the first film, this one is in English.

The movie’s plot is set up like this: El Mariachi is hunting for a man named Bucho. Bucho wasn’t in the first film, but he’s the head of the criminal gang responsible for the death of Mariachi’s girlfriend.
El Mariachi is all over town, killing Bucho’s men and anyone who tries to hide Bucho’s whereabouts.
In a new town, after a bar massacre, he’s saved by a woman (Salma Hayek), who sees someone escaping the bar trying to shoot him in the back.
She not only saves him but also tends to his wounds. They fall for each other, and as luck would have it, she’s Bucho’s girlfriend—mirroring the tragedy of the first film.

Bucho discovers she’s protecting El Mariachi and attacks her store, burning it down. It’s here that El Mariachi sees Bucho for the first time.
From this point, the movie includes a cameo from the actor who played El Mariachi in the first film, and that’s it for this summary.

The acting here is far better than in the first film, and you can tell from the production quality that this movie had more money behind it.
In the end, after watching this, I still have more appreciation for Robert Rodriguez and what he was able to achieve with the first film. That said, this movie is a classic of the 90s.

El Mariachi (1992)

El Mariachi (1992)

6/10

Starring

Carlos Gallardo

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

The Mexico Trilogy, Robert Rodriguez’s brainchild, begins with El Mariachi, a movie that tells a tale of mistaken identity. Made in 1992 with a production budget of less than $8,000, Rodriguez used amateur actors and low-budget effects to bring this story to life.
Rodriguez wrote, directed, produced, and even handled the cinematography and editing for this film. Shot in Mexico and entirely in Spanish, this movie laid the groundwork for 1995’s Desperado, which starred Antonio Banderas and had a much larger budget.

The movie’s plot is straightforward, and no amount of gunfire is spared. Two men work together on a job, and one screws the other over. The one who got screwed, Azul, ends up in jail, while the betrayer, Moco, remains free.
Moco calls Azul in jail, claiming he’s sending help to break him out. Instead, he sends three hitmen to kill Azul. The plan backfires when Azul kills the hitmen, breaks out of jail, and goes after Moco, dressed in black and carrying a guitar case full of guns.

On the other side of the story, we have a young mariachi looking for work. He’s also wandering around town in black, carrying a guitar case. Moco spreads the word among his men to find and kill Azul, describing him as a man in black with a guitar case.

You can guess how the mistaken identity starts and how the mariachi is forced to pick up a gun to defend himself.

For me, Columbia Pictures, which took over the movie and invested more in post-production to make it marketable in the U.S., are the real winners. This movie spawned two financially successful sequels for them.
El Mariachi is significant for setting a Guinness World Record as the lowest-budget film to earn over a million dollars at the box office. It also paved the way for the rise of independent films in the ’90s.

That said, as you can guess when it comes to movies like this, the plot is not that great, and a lot of times the movie is predictable. You can tell also that the dialogue needed work, but sill I appreciate the effort it took to make this film.

Out of the three movies in the trilogy, El Mariachi has the highest critic approval rating. From my perspective, knowing the movie’s background makes me appreciate the work done on it even more. The lead actor, who plays the mariachi looking for work, delivers a performance that makes it hard to believe the cast were amateurs. Everyone involved seemed determined to stand out, and in my view, they succeeded.

This is one of the best things about independent films, the makers have absolute control of how things will be.

The Legend of the Naga Pearls (2017)

The Legend of the Naga Pearls (2017)

5/10

Starring

Wang Talu

Zhang Tianai

Directed by Yang Lei

Well, this movie was surprisingly captivating. I was really interested in figuring out what it was all about. Why did a man have a blue glow on his hand? And what’s all this talk about winged people?
The questions were answered, and knowing the movie was set in a fictional world called Novoland made it easier to accept the many impossibilities that unfolded.

This Chinese fantasy adventure film was produced in a way that makes it easy for everyone to enjoy and follow. That said, it was very predictable. No matter how hard the movie tried, it couldn’t shake off that shadow of predictability. Still, I’ll give it credit for making the effort.

The plot starts with a tale of how winged people and humans once lived side by side. The winged people decided they wanted dominion over the humans, and a war broke out. The humans won, killing many winged people, while the peaceful ones were allowed to live among humans.
We’re introduced to a young boy with a blue glow emanating from his hand. He was bullied as a child, with other kids cutting him to see where the glow came from. He grows up to become a thief, calling himself the Saint of Thieves.

Many of the winged people lost their ability to fly after the war due to the lack of a particular substance their wings need. One winged person, Vlad, whose wings are still intact, is plotting to regain dominance over the humans. He and his crew decide to acquire a weapon that will help them achieve this. To activate the weapon—a doorway to another realm that will release creatures to kill all humans—they need two items. Vlad already has one, obtained by killing a prince and raiding his collection of rare artifacts. The second item is a blue pearl called the Naga Pearl.

Opposing Vlad’s plans is a winged woman named Raven, who works as a security authority in the human world. Her brother, however, works with Vlad. Another key figure is a human prince seeking revenge for the death of his kin at Vlad’s hands. The third member of the trio is Ni, the thief with the glowing hand. He’s the one who found the Naga Pearl, as his hand seems to have a connection to it. Ni and his team know the pearl spells doom if Vlad gets it, so they’re on a mission to destroy it, while Vlad and his crew are hot on their trail to retrieve it.

The set design is beautiful, and you’ll get plenty of eye candy throughout the film.
As you can see from the plot above, it’s pretty predictable, and the movie feels like it was made to set up sequels. What I don’t get is why they didn’t do more to make it less predictable. I’m not sure if the movie was a hit in China, but I don’t see it becoming a word-of-mouth must-watch.

Instant Family (2018)

Instant Family (2018)

7/10

Starring

Mark Wahlberg

Rose Byrne

Direced by Sean Anders

Instant Family promises to be a cool movie, with enough heartwarming drama to keep you entertained—and maybe even make you cry.
The movie delivers on those promises, and I enjoyed practically every moment of it. It’s a feel-good film about how adopting a child (or children) can turn into a nightmare. But this nightmare isn’t just played for laughs—it’s a raw, emotional journey. The couple who take on the role of parents regret their decision at first and try everything to change things. Soon, they start arguing with each other, and before long, they’re making things worse when they’re trying to make them better. But in the end, it all works out.

The plot follows Pete and Ellie Wagner, a married couple who are happy together without kids. They haven’t decided whether they want children yet, but they’ve agreed to think about it much later in life.
Their family teases them about it, and they can handle it—until Ellie goes online and reads about adoption. She gets hooked on the heartwarming stories and pictures, and she and Pete attend an adoption seminar. There, they’re won over by a touching story from a family who adopted a daughter.

They decide to go for it—and they go big, adopting three siblings. It turns into hell for them. They have to learn how to care for children who’ve been raised in unconventional ways. One of the kids is a teenager who just wants to be left alone. She’s been the one taking care of her younger brother and sister since their mom is a drug addict and hasn’t been any help.

The Wagners learn, in the most heart-wrenching way, how hard it is to raise a family—and how difficult it is for kids in the foster care system to adjust to new homes.

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne play Pete and Ellie Wagner, the parents who thought adoption would be easy. Their story is the heart of the movie, and their acting is out of this world. With a plot that could easily fall flat with subpar performances, this movie is perfectly cast from top to bottom.

Instant Family can get a bit too sentimental at times, with some emotional moments feeling forced. The humor works but sometimes undercuts the heavier themes, making the real struggles of the foster care system feel a little too simplified.

For me, Sean Anders—the director, producer, and co-writer of the movie—has done something I appreciate as much as his 2013 film We’re the Millers.
Here, he takes the plot away from the conventional, overly positive portrayal of adoption (like in Despicable Me) and delivers a dose of reality.
The movies he made between We’re the Millers and this one—like Horrible Bosses 2 and Dumb and Dumber To—weren’t great. Even the Daddy’s Home series didn’t do much for me after We’re the Millers. But Instant Family is much better, and I tip my hat to him for it.

This is a good movie to watch anytime. You’re guaranteed to feel good afterward.

Gran Torino (2008)

Gran Torino (2008)

7/10

Starring

Clint Eastwood

Directed by Clint Eastwood

When a movie like Gran Torino graces the screen, it just blows you away. I was curious about how the movie handled the Hmong people, so I went online to read about the production. The cool thing is that Clint Eastwood cast Hmong actors, including amateurs, which is very obvious in some scenes.
The movie is a keeper, and the comedy hits you in ways you won’t expect. While it’s primarily a drama, it has some thrilling moments, and the way the story unfolds makes you not want to miss a single thing.

Here’s the story: Walt, an old man, is struggling to make the best of his life. His wife just died, and as a war veteran, she was the only thing that gave his life stability. Her death pushes him over the edge, leaving him bitter and hating life—and everyone in it. That is, until one day, his neighbor, a young Hmong boy named Thao, tries to steal his car. Walt stops him, and without realizing it, he thwarts Thao’s chance of joining a gang.
The gang comes back, pressuring Thao to try again. When Thao’s family objects, the gang turns violent, and Walt steps in with a gun to save the day.

The next day, the Hmong community tries to show their appreciation, and Walt meets Thao’s sister, Sue. Later, he sees her being harassed by thugs and steps in to save her again. Slowly but surely, Walt gets pulled into their lives. The Hmong people start to feel like his own family, and the movie shifts from cool to great.

Clint Eastwood was ahead of the game in this one, delivering an acting masterpiece. The movie started with a limited release but went on to make over ten times its $25 million production budget.

The film also shows how Walt decides to tackle the problems in his community. As an old veteran with strained relationships with his own children and no connection to his grandchildren, the only people who know anything about him are his neighbors—the same people he mutters racist remarks at.
Thao becomes like a mentee to him, and soon, both Thao and Sue manage to break through Walt’s tough exterior. He becomes willing to put himself on the line to protect not just them, but the entire Hmong community from the gangs.

Gran Torino has a pretty predictable plot and can feel a bit outdated in how it handles cultural differences. Clint Eastwood carries the movie, but some of the younger cast members performances are not as good.

This is a movie that, if you missed it back in December 2008, you should definitely watch now. It’s still amazing and hits all the right notes. If you’re familiar with Clint Eastwood’s work, you’ll know to expect some deep, dark, and truly sad moments in this film.

Space Cowboys (2000)

Space Cowboys (2000)

6/10

Starring

Clint Eastwood

Tommy Lee Jones

Donald Sutherland

James Garner

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Space Cowboys was one of those movies I looked forward to seeing back in 2000. I couldn’t resist the trailer, which promised a ride where four men who missed their chance to go to space finally get their shot.
I had seen Armageddon (1998) and loved it, and this felt like a new version of that—except with older guys destined to make it to space no matter what. When I finally watched it, I was impressed by the movie’s intensity. Unlike Armageddon, where most of the drama happens on the asteroid, here the drama unfolds long before they even get launched into space. The lies of the crew, and all the needed attention moving from one character to another, to make the movie stick out in your mind was masterfully done. To the point that, if the characters never made the flight, the movie was still worth watching.

The movie’s plot doesn’t pretend to have the same urgency as Armageddon, where the world was at stake if the team failed. Here, the American government is simply trying to help the Russians fix their communication satellite. This lack of urgency made the movie dull at times, and the only thing that helped to move things along, is the cast members performances.
The plot is straightforward and, at times, predictable. The satellite in question is old, and the new engineers can’t figure it out. So, they decide to bring in the man who designed the original guidance system to help solve the problem.
That man and his crew are what make this movie enjoyable. Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones lead the charge with fantastic performances, and Donald Sutherland throws in some occasional laughs.

The story begins in 1958, with two U.S. Air Force pilots and aspiring astronauts, William "Hawk" Hawkins (Tommy Lee Jones) and Frank Corvin (Clint Eastwood), testing a modified X-plane. Hawk decides to break a height record, causing the plane to crash. Their commanding officer reassigns them, and with the Air Force no longer in charge of space flight—now handled by NASA—Frank’s team of four misses their chance to go to space.

Fast forward to the present, and there’s a problem with a Russian communication satellite that’s decaying fast. The only solution is to go up and fix it. With time running out, Frank suggests sending his old four-man crew, who never got their shot at space.

The movie did well financially at the box office and was well-received by critics. Watching it now, it’s still one hell of a good drama.