Once Upon a Time In Mexico appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Note that this doesn’t represent the film’s theatrical aspect ratio, as Mexico ran in theaters at 2.35:1.
Robert Rodriguez shot the film at 1.78:1 on hi-def cameras and then cropped it to 2.35:1 for theatrical exhibition. He went back to 1.78:1 for home video due to the relatively small size of TVs circa 2004.
Which doesn’t explain why this 2024 Blu-ray doesn’t replicate 2.35:1. I guess Rodriguez figured it’d remained 1.78:1 for 20 years so why change now?
Whatever the case may be, Mexico presented an attractive picture that became held back solely due to the nature of the era’s digital cameras. These impacted sharpness in a mild way.
Although the movie always exhibited positive delineation, it felt slightly lacking in terms of true fine detail. This left the image as largely concise but not quite tight enough to get to “A” level.
I noticed no concerns connected to jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes also failed to appear. Print flaws seemed absent. I noticed no signs of grit, marks, or other defects in this clean transfer.
Colors presented a strong aspect of the transfer. Rodriguez gave much of the film a lush look that promoted warm red and golden tones, with some teal tossed in as well. The hues always came across as rich and firm.
Black levels were also deep and taut, and shadows demonstrated good clarity. Outside of the slight softness related to the digital cameras, I felt satisfied with the presentation.
I also liked the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Once Upon a Time In Mexico, as the soundfield seemed engaging and active. The track used all five channels quite aggressively, as the mix featured a lot of distinctive material.
Music showed good stereo imaging and offered a fine sense of environment. The film’s many action sequences created a lot of opportunities for dynamic elements, and it did so well.
Occasionally I thought these seemed a little too “speaker specific”, but they mostly blended together well and formed a fairly seamless feeling of placement. The surrounds kicked in with a great deal of material, especially via the many gunfights.
Audio quality appeared solid. Speech was consistently natural and concise, and I noticed no issues related to edginess or intelligibility. Music seemed a little subdued at times but mostly came across as acceptably vibrant and dynamic.
Effects were consistently clean and accurate, and they packed a nice punch when necessary. Bass response seemed solid, so lows were deep and tight and didn’t suffer from excessive looseness or boominess. Ultimately, Mexico offered a very good soundtrack.
How did this 2024 Arrow Blu-ray compare to the original BD from 2011? Both picture and audio felt very similar, if not identical.
The Arrow release mixes old and new extras, and we open with an audio commentary from Rodriguez, who offers a running, screen-specific piece. A veteran of many other commentaries, Rodriguez is a master of the form, and he offers a typically excellent track here.
Rodriguez covers many topics but mostly focuses on the rushed nature of the production. We find out how quickly he created the flick and also hear about many elements of the movie like casting, writing the script, the score, production design, and locations.
Rodriguez loves to tout the merits of high-def cameras, and he tells us how those affected the shoot. We even find out different actors considered for some roles and the director’s thoughts on a possible sequel to Mexico. Rodriguez rarely pauses for breath as he gives us yet another rich and detailed discussion of his work.
Another echo of prior Rodriguez releases, Ten Minute Flick School actually runs nine minutes, five seconds. It packs scads of information into that span, as we get a great look at how Rodriguez shot Mexico on the cheap.
He narrates the program as we watch raw film footage, effects work, and finished clips. Rodriguez touches on many techniques he utilized during the production.
He already chatted about more than a few of these in his commentary, but the fact we can watch them as well makes “School” more valuable. It’s a briskly paced and very informative piece.
An addition element offers a glimpse Inside Troublemaker Studios. In this 11-minute, 24-second featurette, Rodriguez takes us through the home garage he converted into his audio and editing studio.
He shows us all the equipment and demonstrates how he uses the items. This is another good tool to depict how Rodriguez manages so many jobs on his flicks.
For more of the multi-talented Rodriguez, we go to the Ten Minute Cooking School. In this five-minute, 50-second program, the director demonstrates how to make puerco pibil, the dish prominently featured in the movie. It looks too complicated for a lazy-ass like me, but it’s fun to get these tips.
In another featurette, we examine The Anti-Hero’s Journey. This 18-minute, five-second program offers footage from the set and interviews with Rodriguez plus actors Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Salma Hayek.
They chat about the roots of the earlier films, this one’s route to the screen, stunts and the characters. The actors tell us a little about working with Rodriguez “Journey” seems fluffier than I’d like, as we hear too much generic praise.
A lot of the other information already appears in the commentary. Still, some of the behind the scenes shots work well.
Shot at a Q&A from the summer of 2003, Film Is Dead: An Evening with Robert Rodriguez runs for 13 minutes, 20 seconds. Essentially this covers the director’s love for hi-def filming.
He talks about his use of the format and strongly touts it as the way to go. We already heard a lot of this in the commentary, so “Dead” gets tedious pretty quickly, as it seems more like a religious movement than a real discussion of the issues.
Apparently Rodriguez doesn’t do everything on his movies, so The Good, the Bad and the Bloody: Inside KNB FX shows that studio’s work on the flick. This featurette runs 19 minutes, four seconds as we see behind the scenes footage and interviews with Rodriguez, special make-up effects artists Shannon Shea and Jake Garber, special make-up effects supervisor Greg Nicotero, KNB lab technician Harrison Lorenzana, and actors Depp.
Next we find eight deleted scenes that fill a total of seven minutes, 47 seconds. None of these add much to the proceedings, though we get a few more funny bits from Depp.
These can be viewed with or without commentary from Rodriguez. He gives us some quick notes about the sequences and usually – but not always – tells us why the pieces got the boot.
The remaining extras are new to the Arrow release, and The Revolution Will Be Digitized goes for 12 minutes, 41 seconds. This one offers more from Rodriguez.
We find thoughts about the gonzo nature of the production and some specifics. Inevitably, we find repetition with the other features, but Rodriguez nonetheless makes this a lively chat.
Troublemaking spans nine minutes, 50 seconds. We get info from associate editor/visual effects editor Ethan Maniquis.
The reel looks at Maniquis’s collaboration with Rodriguez as well as his work on the film. He brings us a useful discussion.
Two trailers complete the disc. We get the “sanitized” green band clip as well as the “R”-rated red band promo.
Note that although everything from the 2011 Blu-ray reappears here, the isolated score/sound design/commentary track from the DVD remains MIA. Its absence continues to disappoint.
A fairly slapdash affair, Once Upon a Time In Mexico includes some sporadically entertaining and clever bits. However, as a whole the film seems too erratic and patched together to ever become something generally winning. The Blu-ray provides strong visuals and sound as well as a positive collection of supplements. I’m not wild about the film, but this release presents it in a strong way.
Note that this 2024 Arrow release of Once Upon a Time in Mexico comes only as part of a three-movie “Mexican Trilogy” package. It also includes new Blu-rays of El Mariachi and Desperado as well as a 4K UHD for Desperado.
To rate this film visit the prior review of ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
