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For the second time this year, Depp steals a film with a perfectly balanced performance--goofy and thoughtful at the same time, impeccably delivering hilarious dialog and perfectly timing each encounter. He's the real centre of this story, and he carries it beautifully right to the startling finale. Meanwhile, Banderas is terrific in a role that has become a cultural icon; Hayek is only seen in extensive flashbacks, but manages to infuse the film with a spicy energy; and the rest of the cast create equally memorable characters (including, surprisingly, Iglesias). Everyone has a distinct motive--revenge, honour, money, power, escape, love--driving them through the carnage and destruction to a shrewdly idealised conclusion.

This is billed as "A Robert Rodriguez Flick", and indeed he does virtually everything; the credits say he wrote, directed, "shot, chopped and scored" it! This singular vision shows in the strength of the film's various storylines and thematic threads. And it works on three levels that merge strangely but sure-handedly: as a zany comic farce, as a violent action movie and as a political examination of American intervention in Latin America. Yes, really! It's full of running gags, elaborate interrelationships and over-the-top yet always coherent action mayhem. Rodriguez handles all of this with a freewheeling style that's sometimes completely unhinged, chaotic and hard to follow. But it's always mind-bogglingly entertaining, keeping its focus on the characters and their motivations, and never losing track of the overall narrative. His music is gorgeous and emotive. His editing is pointed and inventive. And his cinematography is drenched in sunshine, echoing Sergio Leone's classic imagery amid striking Mexican locations. And when in the end it becomes an almost wistful fable about the salvation of Mexico as a country, he's got us right where he wants us. Brilliant.