The most entertaining part of the whole film, however, was probably the thrilling gun fights. Beyond belief, but so damn cool to watch. It was choreographed and played with such determination and thought, looking beyond just the guns themselves to come up with a terribly interesting set of hero battles. The thoughtful reality of it particularly caught me. It wasn't just the knee-jerk hollywood reaction just to make things blow up to affect the enemies, and simply use an endless spray of bullets. The extras don't even always get hit right away. The bullets themselves are used and are specific, like choreographing a sword fight instead of pyrotechnics display. The bullets are used as if each one was important and had a purpose, and were handled as if they actually had only a limited number of them in the chambers. Reloading or getting a new gun was part of the adrenaline dance. So to say the least, I was unusually impressed with it all.

Go, enjoy, have fun. 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' unfolds with such thought and grace among the conspiracy, backstabbing, gun fights, and Mexico that its hard not to enjoy yourself on some level. It's not some grandly original film, but it isn't supposed to be any great thought-provoking drama or ground-breaker. But its not exactly empty either!

THE FILM ADVERTISED HAS BEEN RATED




BY EATING PEANUTS REVIEWERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
EPRAA Ratings System

Website Review: (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/onceuponatimeinmexico/) Very pretty once you actually enter it, but resource intensive animation causing slow navigation, and limited content once you get to it. It is rather useless, don't even bother. Not even any wallpapers!

(Review ©2003 by Joshua Parkinson, posted originally at http://www.eatingpeanuts.com)