Once Upon a Time in Mexico

A corrupt CIA agent Sands hires hitman El Mariachi to assassinate a Mexican general hired by a drug kingpin attempting a coup d'état of the President of Mexico.

Rodriguez's finale to his Mariachi trilogy lands as a mixed bag: stylistically alive in flashes but narratively incoherent, with Johnny Depp's scene-stealing turn as the rogue CIA agent emerging as the film's most-discussed asset. Critics who enjoyed it did so despite the plot, praising its pulpy energy and Leone-inflected swagger; detractors found the style hollow and the escalating violence a cover for a director running out of ideas.