Robert Rodriguez’s first film, El Mariachi, is a Hollywood legend. For $7000, the director made a feature-length film about a legendary Mexican guitar player and gunfighter known only as El Mariachi. The film wasn’t just good for the amount it cost to make -- it was good, period. The thing was, Rodriguez never meant for anyone to see it -- he intended it to be only a demo of his ability. Once the folks in Hollywood saw it, however, they snapped him up. He not only received a contract to direct "real" films, but El Mariachi got a theatrical run as well -- it was too good to leave unreleased. And when Rodriguez made his first film with a Hollywood budget, he essentially remade El Mariachi and called it Desperado, with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in the lead roles. But there’s more to Rodriguez’s story.

Hollywood legend also has it that, after seeing Desperado, Quentin Tarantino, of Pulp Fiction fame, told Rodriguez that with two such good films under his belt, he should finish the trilogy in Sergio Leone style. Rodriguez took the advice to heart, and now -- eight years after Desperado, 11 after El Mariachi, with time off to direct Spy Kids 1, 2, and 3-D -- he has released Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Banderas and Hayek return in the starring roles of El Mariachi and Carolina, accompanied by a great supporting cast that includes Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Willem Dafoe, Rubén Blades, and Eva Mendes.

Unless I missed it, Mexico doesn’t specify how much time has lapsed since Desperado, but we find out in flashbacks that El Mariachi and Carolina are now married and have a child. Those flashbacks, though, tell us something even more crucial, and why El Mariachi must again abandon his guitar and hit the road as a ruthless gunfighter. That’s enough of a start to give Rodriguez the ammunition he needs to stage the countless action scenes that are really what this series is about. Rodriguez is a master of creating action sequences. From direction to cinematography to editing to sound effects, he does it all with creativity, energy, and a cartoon-like frenzy that almost always includes a dash of humor.

That’s why I like this series so much -- it’s all tongue-in-cheek. I suspect that’s also why Tarantino and Rodriguez are (reportedly) friends: their approaches to film violence are similar. Once Upon a Time in Mexico is far more violent than Desperado or El Mariachi, and it’s been stamped with an R rating to ensure youngsters can’t see it, but, surprisingly, it’s far less offensive than much of what you can see on primetime TV today.

When Rodriguez falls down in Mexico, however, he does so in the way he’s done in all the films of his I’ve seen: he lets the story sprawl out of control. As in the endings of Desperado, Spy Kids 2, From Dusk Till Dawn, and The Faculty, there’s just too much going on at the end of Mexico for the audience to keep track of. Not only was I confused and overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters and the constant bombardments of explosions and gunfire, but when the credits rolled, I still couldn’t figure if some of the characters were on the good or bad side. A large budget might allow Rodriguez to take on more ambitious projects, but it doesn’t necessarily make him a better filmmaker. Because of that, Once Upon a Time in Mexico warrants only a modest recommendation.

While I don’t usually comment in movie reviews on the technical aspects of films, this one’s an exception. It was reportedly shot entirely in high-definition digital video -- a trend we’ll see more of in the future. I’ve seen a string of good movies shot digitally, including Rodriguez’s own Spy Kids 2, as well as George Lucas’s much-ballyhooed dud, Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones, but none has impressed me the way Once Upon a Time in Mexico has. Desperado, shot on film, was warm and vibrant, with reddish tones that looked simply gorgeous. It didn’t surprise me that it was released several times on DVD, the latest version being a Superbit transfer with enhanced video quality. I never thought that Rodriguez could match Desperado’s look with digital video -- but he has. In fact, had I not known that Mexico was shot digitally, I don’t think I would ever have guessed it. Once Upon a Time in Mexico doesn’t mark the death of film, but it does make the point that big-budget films can be shot digitally and still look as good as film does.

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