Depp once again steals the show in mediocre film

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Starring Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, Salma…

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Starring Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

“Once Upon a Time in Mexico” is the second sequel to director Robert Rodriguez’s homemade shooter “El Mariachi” (“Desperado” was the first). The first two films in the series were pretty simple. “Mariachi” was made with an unthinkably tiny budget of $7,000, and “Desperado,” though produced by a major studio, was still just a film about a vengeful, gun-toting guitar player taking on an army of unsavories. They were “flicks” – good ones.

Though Rodriguez’s first credit on “Mexico” labels it “A Robert Rodriguez flick,” the film – regrettably – tries to be something more.

The result is an overblown and overcomplicated intrigue film, the middle of which is bogged down by convoluted exposition setting up a stilted ending that’s supposed to be a statement of Mexican nationalism.

And I was just expecting to see Antonio Banderas shoot people.

The Mariachi (Banderas), going by “El” this time around, is recruited by inexplicably depraved, albeit charismatic, CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) into a plot to allow a presidential assassination to occur, and then to foil a drug lord’s (Willem Dafoe) subsequent coup d’etat. El is on board because the leader of the coup is an evil face from his past, a man from whom he’d like to take back a pound or two of flesh.

There are plotlines following not only El and the rest of his band – Enrique Iglesias appears packing a flamethrower and a killer haircut – but also the CIA, the FBI, a retired FBI agent-turned-vigilante (Ruben Blades), the president and the drug cartel, all crisscrossing in ways that aren’t always coherent. And at times, the film is actually dull, even with its frequent bursts of ultra-violence.

But there is a saving grace. Johnny Depp is cool beyond all cool in this film. Yes, it’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” all over again – when the actor isn’t on screen, you’re just waiting for him to return. Alternately homicidal and hilarious, his character is guaranteed to be one of the sickest bastards you ever root for in a film. His work alone is enough to make the film required viewing.

Even when his films fall short, Rodriguez must be saluted for how fully engaged in the process of filmmaking he is. On “Mexico,” he not only gets the “written and directed by” credit, but also a remarkable “shot, chopped, and scored by” credit – he photographed and edited the film, and wrote its score.

And man, can he make his actors look like badasses.