The third in a triad of Robert Rodriguez films centering around a Mexican guitar player with a much-rumored knack for gun fighting. Here he is lured by a CIA agent (Depp) into murdering a drug lord, but only after the drug lord has killed the President of Mexico.

A much anticipated release for fans of Rodriguez' past works, which also includes collaborating with Quentin Tarantino on Four Rooms and From Dusk Till Dawn. From the self-ingratiating opening titles to his familiar directing style, Rodriguez never lets you forget that this is his baby.

The far ranging stream of characters used to tell this story is quite daunting. What is worse is that no one seems more important than anyone else. The result is something akin to Snatch, meets Pulp Fiction, meets Zorro, meets The Wild Bunch. If that sounds like too much for one movie – it is. I must say, I did enjoy the casting of these characters though. Blades, Defoe and Rourke are nice additions to go along with Rodriguez favs Trejo and Marin. Enrique Iglesias is a notable exception to the casts' talents, however. I never need to seem him act again. By far, the most interesting thing about this movie is Depp's irreverent CIA agent character. He was pure fun to watch.

I just did not buy El Mariachi here. What exactly is this character supposed to be? Is he a dedicated family man? A patriot of Mexico? A mysterious Robin Hood type? A peace-loving musician? A gun-toting bandit? A revenge seeking maniac? Well, I was being told he is ALL of these things (and perhaps more). I am not buying it, I say - find a direction, plant your stake in the ground and make it work. The plain truth is this guy is barely interesting enough to carry one film-let alone three. Just because El Mariachi speaks very little and carries a gun is not enough to make him interesting and mysterious.

And El Mariachi's wife, played by a sexy Selma Hayek, is an inconsistent character too. In two flashback scenes we first see her bust into a bar and throw four knives with one hand into the foreheads of some bad guys. Later on we see her cowering in fear in the moments before she and her child are murdered. I HATE STUFF LIKE THAT!

But you are seeing this movie for the action, right? Despite some cartoonish sequences, most will be satisfied with the action of OUATIM. Highlighted by a scene where our hero is tied to his wife as they traverse out of a fifth story building while bad guys shoot at them.

If you can somehow ignore the awful characters and dialogue and the over-cooked plot, you can find some really good points in the film. Rodriguez uses great photography and lighting to tell the story. Quite a bit of fun peppers the script too, like Depp using a child’s lunch box to transport money. In the tradition of quality over quantity, it is the cast that really saves the film. These add up to support the unmistakable style in this film. And that on it's own warrants inclusion in Only Good Movies.

Written, Directed and otherwise developed by Robert Rodriguez.