Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) is an action film by Robert Rodriguez and the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi. The film also stars Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Enrique Iglesias, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes and Rubén Blades.

Tagline: The time has come.

Although the film received mostly positive reviews, it was criticized for reducing El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to an almost secondary character in his own trilogy, and also for having an unnecessarily convoluted and confusing plot. Robert Rodriguez has however admitted that this was intended, as he wanted this to be The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the trilogy.

Despite those shortcomings, the film had much improved elements over the previous Desperado film. Banderas is no longer the only starring character, this time almost equally weighted with the charcter of Johnny Depp. The drama component, including character psychology, is deeper and better implemented than in the previous films. The photography, action scenes, the general plot, the music score (created by Rodriguez himself) and the general ambience of the movie are perceived by many as the best in the trilogy.

Rourke's, Blades', and Dafoe's characters, though not principal, are also a good addition to the movie's storyline and plot development. It's possible that the darker, more serious tone of the movie disappointed some fans of the lighter, action-packed previous films.

This film is presented as the concluding chapter of Rodriguez's "Mariachi Trilogy", however at face value there are two problems with viewing the films as a linear trilogy, as one would do with The Godfather or Back to the Future films:

1. Desperado is often considered a re-make of El Mariachi, not a direct sequel, this arises from the facts that if Desperado were taken as the 2nd part of a linear trilogy, some inconsistancies arise, and that in his commentary on the Desperado DVD, Rodriguez discusses the fact that he originally wanted to make the film as a remake of El Mariachi for an American audience, as opposed to a sequel. Rodriguez, in the same commentary, claims that he decided to make the film as a sequel, using flashbacks to explain necessary plot information from prior to the events in the film. Nonetheless, there is some amount of confusion in regard to specific plot points, such as how the character of Bucho actually links back to the drug-peddling consortium that killed El Mariachi's girlfriend in the first film.

2. At least two actors whose characters died in Desperado re-appear in "Mexico". Why this occurs is never explained during the movie, and it makes this film difficult to view as a sequel to Desperado rather than an entirely separate fable that happens to involve the "El Mariachi" character. Rodriguez has stated that he wanted to use those actors again, and choose to do so despite their "other" characters having been killed in Desperado. Similarly, the actor who played the El Mariachi character in the first film returns as a different character in Desperado. However, many attribute this problem to the accused inability, within critics of such a perceived problem, to accept actors as different characters within a trilogy. Opinion is divided on this subject; the problem is, truthfully, not a plot-based one.

The plot centers once again on El Mariachi, who is recruited by CIA Officer Sheldon Sands, to kill a military general (Marquez) who is being hired by a Mexican drug lord (Armando Barillo) to assassinate the President.

Sands recruits a retired FBI Agent (Jorge Ramirez) to kill Barillo and simultaneouly avenge FBI agent Archuleta who died at the hands of Barillo and a sadistic doctor, Guevara. He also hires AFN Agent Ajedrez to tail Barillo.

Sands' informants begin, however, to turn on him (and, in one case, on El). On the day of the Coup, Sands finds himself captured and blinded by his captors. He is forced to fight the cartel with a distinct disadvantage.

El Mariachi recruits two of his friends to assist him. Together they rescue the President who escapes with the two aforementioned friends. El kills Marquez, avenging his wife and daughter who died at Marquez's hands as well as preventing Marquez from taking power, while Ramirez kills Barillo.

Box office:
US Gross Domestic Takings: US$ 56,359,780

+ Other International Takings: $41,825,802
= Gross Worldwide Takings: $98,185,582