Machete

If you are like me and the five other people who went to see Grindhouse in theaters, you will probably agree that the fake trailers were arguably more entertaining than the double feature of Planet Terror and Death Proof. Of all the trailers, the one that was far and away the most memorable to me was Machete. With its awesome tag line ("They f#*#ed with the wrong Mexican") and the casting of Danny Trejo, the trailer was funny and believable. I was not at all surprised when I heard Robert Rodriguez was developing the story into its own feature.

They did a remarkable job in staying true to the original trailer! Same Machete, same bad guy, same Cheech. It is awesome how lots of the stuff they shot for the trailer made it into this film. It is pretty clear Rodriguez was planning on expanding it all along.

The film is exactly what you would expect. Lots of gore, lots of exploding things, lots of hot, mostly naked girls. In short, a very loving homage to the seventies exploitation flicks (If African American entries are "blaxploitation, is Machete "mexploitation"?)

The main difference here from the trailer is the casting of the other main roles. Rodriguez did a superb job rounding up a big name cast including Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, and Lindsay Lohan (I know, I know, but she basically played herself so it worked).

De Niro plays a parody of George W. Bush, a Texas senator who is dead set against illegal immigration, favoring an electric fence and even more radical measures. Ex-Federale Machete is hired to assassinate the senator, but the whole plot falls apart and he must go on the run from the authorities as well as the man who hired him.

Along the way he encounters many luscious ladies, including Alba and Michelle Rodriguez, who operates a Taco truck by the hardware store and might have some ulterior motives.

The whole package of the film is hard to fault. The plot is a one dimensional revenge saga, the gore is over the top, and the serious scenes are intentionally cheesy. It all works on the level of "tribute", and it works well. Don't see this movie if you are in the mood for serious drama. If you are interested in learning fun new ways to rappel down three stories (hint: the human intestine is 60 feet long!), then you need to see this film.



Attendance: 3/5
Crazy Fan Boy Factor: 0/5
Crowd Response: 4/5

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Production Value: 3/5
Humor: 4/5
Action: 4/5
Close up cut-away of something sharp: Its going in someone's face later




Overall: 8/10