Trama

Hitman "El Mariachi" becomes involved in international espionage involving a psychotic CIA agent and a corrupt Mexican general.

Return of the mythic guitar-slinging hero, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), in the final installment of the Mariachi/Desperado trilogy. The saga continues as El Mariachi makes his way across a rugged landscape on the blood trail of Barrillo (Willem Dafoe), a cartel kingpin with one last score to settle who is planning a coup d'etat against the president of Mexico. Enlisted by Sands (Johnny Depp), a corrupt CIA agent, El Mariachi demands retribution.

In the third movie of Rodriguez's "Mariachi" trilogy, a Mexican drug lord pretends to overthrow the Mexican government, and is connected to a corrupt CIA agent who at that time, demands retribution from his worst enemy to carry out the drug lord's uprising against the government.—Anonymous

Once upon a time... it is a time of trouble is Mexico. The Mexican president has declared war on the Barillo drug cartel, who has plans to fight back by backing a coup by General Marquez to overthrow the government. Agent Sands of the CIA is in the middle of it all trying to make sure Marquez do NOT succeed... by forcing the notorious hit man-for-hire El Mariachi (Antonio Bandares) out of retirement. El Mariachi, after the death of his wife and daughter years earlier (from the previous film 'Desperado'), no longer wishes to fight, but he may not have a choice. At Culiacan, Barillo and Marquez have set a trap for the president, and Sands want El Mariachi to take out Marquez after the coup. El Mariachi called upon his two brothers for the final showdown... To save the revolution. Who will remain standing at the end?—K. Chang

The film is based on the story of a drug lord Barrillo, who pretends to overthrow the Mexican president. Within the drama, another of the principal persons is a corrupt CIA agent Sands who at that time, demands retribution from his worst enemy in order to carry out the drug lord's uprising against the government. El Mariachi (Antonio Bandares) is recruited by Sands to take out General Marquez (has a huge score to settle with the Mariachi), who has major beef with Mariachi to begin with. He sends Cucuy (the muscle for Sands) to shadow and keep tabs on the Mariachi. Marquez is working with Barrillo, and is about to assassinate the president and assume power. Sands also convinces Jorge Ramirez (a retired FBI agent, who has old scores to settle with Barrillo) to come out of retirement and take out Barrillo and Dr. Guevera (personal Dr. to Barrillo, killed Jorge's partner a long time ago), who brutally tortured and killed Ramirez' FBI partner.—Nadusha <rodriguez@al.ru>

El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) is recruited by CIA officer Sheldon Jeffrey Sands (Johnny Depp) to kill General Emiliano Marquez, a corrupt Mexican Army officer. Marquez has been hired by Mexican drug lord Armando Barillo (Willem Dafoe) to assassinate the President of Mexico (Pedro Armendariz, Jr.) and overthrow the government during a period of unrest in Culiacan (the capital of Sinaloa) which is testing the presidency. The President knows the threat from Barillo and appeals to the people of Culiacan to come together and defeat Barillo and his forces who want to destabilize the nation. Nicholas, Presidential Advisor (Julio Oscar Mechoso) says that Barillo is a folk hero in Culiacan as he purchased vast tracts of lands and distributed it among the locals. The President says that people would know that Barillo is a mass murderer and has faith in the people's abilities to understand the truth. The President is confident that the people will stand up for what is right.

Sands approaches El Mariachi via his agent Cucuy. Sands knows that every cartel in Mexico wants El Mariachi dead. Meanwhile Barillo has found a lookalike and plans to undergo facial reconstruction surgery to make himself look like someone else, and the lookalike to take his place as the "official" Barillo.

Belini (Cheech Marin) tells Sands the story of El Mariachi. Many years before, El Mariachi (who used to carry a black guitar case, with a guitar inside it. But the guitar itself was a weapon) and his wife Carolina (Salma Hayek) confronted Marquez in a shootout and wounded the general. Carolina used to be with Marquez, but when Mariachi was captured by Marquez in the shootout, Carolina betrayed Marquez by shooting him in the heart and going with Mariachi. But Marquez did not die. In retaliation, Marquez took the lives of Carolina and their daughter in an ambush. Due to this, Mariachi has a deep hatred for Marquez and has the right motivation to hunt him down and kill him by any means necessary. Sands pays Belini $10,000 for El Mariachi's contact information. After meeting El Mariachi, Sands calls him to a church. Here, Mariachi is attacked by assassins sent by Sands to test his shooting and survival skills.

In addition to El Mariachi, Sands persuades former FBI agent Jorge Ramirez (Ruban Blades) to come out of retirement and kill Barillo, who had murdered his partner Archuleta in the past. Ramirez was tracking Barillo for 2 years before Archuleta was killed. Archuleta was captured and tortured for 2 days straight, after being pumped full of drugs. Furthermore, AFN operative Ajedrez (Eva Mendes) is assigned by Sands to tail Barillo. Ajedrez is not given any meaningful assignments by the local police as she is a woman.

Nicholas is working with Sands to eliminate the President. Sands is not interested in saving the president, but he wants to ensure that Marquez is killed just after he kills the President. With Barillo killed by Ramirez, Sands believes it will give Mexico the enema it badly needs. Sands wants Ajedrez to keep tabs on Barillo as he (Sands) plans to escape Mexico with the 20 MM pesos that Barillo has promised to pay Marquez. Sands wants Ajedrez to join him.

While monitoring Barillo's activities, Ramírez meets Billy Chambers (Mickey Rourke), an American fugitive who has been living under the protection of Barillo but can no longer stomach the horrible tasks he's been forced to carry out for him. Ramírez convinces Chambers he will provide him protection in exchange for getting closer to Barillo by tagging Chambers' pet chihuahua with a hidden microphone, and Chambers agrees to complete the deal by surrendering to U.S. authorities once Barillo has been taken down.

Sands' agent, Cucuy (Danny Trejo), originally hired to keep an eye on El Mariachi, instead turns and tranquilizes El Mariachi and turns him over to Barillo, also offering to reveal the details of Sands's plan. Cucuy, however, is promptly killed by Chambers (On Barillo's orders) while El Mariachi escapes from captivity and calls his friends Lorenzo (Enrique Iglesias) and Fideo (Marco Leonardi) to assist him in his mission.

While monitoring Barillo's activity outside a hospital, Ramírez notices armed men storming the building and follows suit. He discovers that a group of doctors have been gunned down and Barillo has bled to death as a result of a botched facial reconstruction but realizes that the corpse on the operating table is a body double before he is knocked out and kidnapped by the real Barillo and Ajedrez, who reveals herself to be Barillo's daughter.

Sands realizes that his mission has been compromised, but is too late, as he is captured by Barillo (who is actually going through a proper facial reconstruction) and Ajedrez - who drill out his eyes before sending him out. Despite his blindness, he manages to gun down a hit-man tailing him with the aid of a Chiclets boy (by giving him a fistful of dollars and then asking him for directions to shoot the hit-man).

As Culiacan celebrates the Day of the Dead during the President's visit, Marquez and his army storm in and attack the presidential palace. Marquez's troops, however, are met with resistance from not only the President's bodyguards, but also the citizens of Culiacan and the Mariachis. Sands had instructed El Mariachi to allow the President to be killed before attacking Marquez, but the Mariachis, concluding that the President is a good man, intervene early and protect him.

Marquez enters the presidential palace, only to once again confront El Mariachi, who shoots out his kneecaps before finishing him off with a head-shot. Ramírez, who was released from captivity by Chambers, faces Barillo. After Barillo guns down Chambers, Ramírez and El Mariachi kill the drug lord. Sands manages to shoot the sadistic Ajedrez dead outside the presidential palace. Ultimately, Lorenzo and Fideo walk away with the cash that Barillo was using to pay Marquez, and help the president safely escape the attempted coup. Ramírez says goodbye to Sands and walks away, having avenged his partner's death. El Mariachi then gives his share of the cash to his home village before walking into the sunset.