Machete

As I was in the theater watching "Machete", I could not help but see certain scenes and keep a list in my head of people who would hate this movie. When Machete (Danny Trejo) takes out the knife whose nickname he bears and cuts people's heads off, "people who hate violence in movie" made my list. When Sartana (Jessica Alba) takes a shower and leans against the wall in a way that millions of men probably fantasized about, "most, if not all, women" found its way onto my list. When Padre the Roman-Catholic priest (Cheech Marin) says "God has mercy. I don't." to a guy before blowing his brains out with a rifle, I couldn't help but mentally pencil in two other groups of people: Catholics, and people who hadn't seen "Grindhouse" (2007) when it came out in theaters three years ago.

Well, I love violent action films, I think Jessica Alba is gorgeous, I am Catholic but am not easily offended, and I was one of a surprising few who saw the aforementioned ambitious tribute to B-movies of the 70's and 80's. Therefore, I enjoyed "Machete" a lot, but I imagine others would have to take it with a grain of salt.

"Machete", based on a fake trailer made exclusively for "Grindhouse" that director Robert Rodriguez decided to expand into a feature-length film, is not meant to be taken seriously. If anything, it's a clever film with a lot of great action sequences, intriguing characters, many interesting subplots, and a good story at its base. For starters, it also has an impressive roster of talented actors in it. There is an interesting mix of the usual Rodriguez players (Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey), really good actors (Robert De Niro), notoriously bad actors (Steven Seagal, Don Johnson), and talented players that have made some bad film choices over the last few years (Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan). The funny thing is that, good or bad, most of these actors seem perfect fits for this movie, and work well off each other.

Trejo may have been an action star if he came to fame in 1970's cinema. Nowadays, it's not unusual to see good looking celebrities like Tom Cruise and Ryan Reynolds headline action films. Thankfully, Rodriguez, like Quentin Tarantino (who co-produced this film, but for some reason, remained uncredited) saw something in this 66-year-old ex-convict, because Trejo makes a great lead for an action film. Just one look at him, and you may want to start running. He's rugged, doesn't take any crap from anyone, and it is what action stars should be. It's just too bad the villains in this movie are not aware of that fact, and there are many villains.

There's Torrez (Steven Seagal), a drug kingpin who betrayed Machete while he was a Federale in Mexico. There's Booth (Jeff Fahey) who hires Machete to assassinate a Republican senator (De Niro) who's staunchly against illegal immigration. There's also a corrupt border patrolman (Don Johnson) who kills illegal immigrants with no mercy. Although Jessica Alba plays an INS agent, you really can't stay mad at her for long.

Although "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror" found a separate following on DVD, "Grindhouse", which combined the two films along with fake previews, did not do well at the box office despite rave reviews. So the timing may have been bad for "Machete" had it not been for the controversial Arizona immigration law that coincidentally coincided with this film's release. Whether or not this movie can be seen as a Hispanic-American revenge fantasy is not up to me to decide, although Michelle Rodriguez's turn as Luz, who is suspected of aiding illegal immigrants, raises some interesting questions. The film does seem to forget that it's a parody of exploitation films of years past at times, but never ceases from being fun. Just as Rodriguez brought "Machete" from a coming attraction to a feature film, I hope Rob Zombie does the same for his "Werewolf Women of the SS" preview.

Machete is Robert Rodriguez's film based on his mock trailer made for the double grindhouse release of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof and his own Planet Terror. B-Grade superstar Danny Trejo stars as the title character. Those that have seen the mock trailer, or the grindhouse films, know the style of yester-year that Machete is representing. Cheap, nasty, and funny is the order of the day for this kind of film. Rodriguez clearly knows his genre and audience. He goes all out with this over-the-top action flick. The story is, of course, ridiculous. Machete is betrayed by some "above the law" dudes and has to get revenge by slicing and dicing whoever gets in his way. The film does what it says on the cover. Don't go in expecting a glimmer of subtlety or characterization. Go in expecting action, titties, action, blood, titties, oh and action. This would be all well and good except for some slight problems. The unashamedly preachy messages against the Mexican/United States border does get a bit tiring, as does the repetitive nature of the violence (after some interesting action set- pieces they all become similar, except towards the end). Also, this kind of film needs to be much snappier and shorter. It's around twenty minutes too long so that the humor and overall style tends to drag on a bit. Machete holds it's tongue permanently in cheek and Danny Trejo milks every scene as much as he possibly can. Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez and Lindsay Lohan all make for good eye candy and there are some very funny moments. All in all, this exercise in grindhouse excess should keep the fans of this style very happy, even if it can slightly bore others.

In Mexico, the determinate federal agent Machete Cortez (Danny Trejo) opposes to the order of his chief and drives with his partner to the hideout of the drug lord Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal) to rescue an abducted woman (Mayra Leal) that is witness against the gangster. However, he finds the witness naked on the bed but he is surprisingly betrayed by her, and his wife and daughter are murdered by Torrez.

Three years later, Machete is an illegal immigrant in Texas that wanders on the streets seeking job in the Day Labor Site. He is hired by Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate the boasting right-winged Senator John McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), who is against the immigrants and defends the construction of an electrified fence along the border with Mexico. Machete receives one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the assignment, but he gives the money to Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), a Mexican woman that sells taco in her truck and manages the underground Network that assists illegal Mexicans and helped Machete three years ago.

When Machete is ready as a sniper in a tower, he finds that he has been betrayed and set up by Booth, who actually is McLaughlin's adviser and plotted the scheme to improve the statistics with the sympathy of the electors to McLaughlin. Once again Machete survives and discovers that Booth supports the vigilantes led by the cruel Von Jackson (Don Johnson) and is associated to Torrez. Now Machete seeks revenge against his enemies and becomes a myth.

"Machete" is a funny action movie and THE FILM of Danny Trejo that perfectly fits to the anti-hero. The story follows the style of B- movies, with exploitation and ultra-violence, but has a cast that is a constellation of stars. There are memorable lines (my favorite is when the priest says "God has mercy, I don't") and details, like the name of the garage (Machete's Chop Shop). I have just watched this film on DVD, and the deleted scenes shows many details of the story that unfortunately have been deleted in the edition, like the twin sister of Sartana Rivera "Sis", or Rose McGowan as the assassin "Boots McCoy". My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Machete"

Note: On 22 September 2015, I saw this film again.

The big hour of Danny Trejo (Machete) has finally arrived. Yes, this is the first movie where the ex-convict and a man who's face looks like a Moon's landscape, is in a leading role. He does well in his role. This is exactly what he is good at. And it is killing (bad) people. He is doing that extremely stylish I gotta tell you. Just look at the first scene.

Robert Rodriguez has his own earmark. This is something you know what to expect, but you still looking forward to see, cause you wanna see how is he doing that this time. It's called riot. A crazy rumble which is out of control. It happens here too. And it's solid and quite fun.

This is a good entertainment. It's not for everybody. Rodriguez fans love it, others just feel a bit entertained.

Before you watch this movie, take a look at the director's name again. Its a Robert Rodriguez movie through and through. Its one of those movie that has zero logic and purely comes under the tag of guilty-pleasure.

Watch it for stupidly beautiful action sequence, beautiful girls like Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan being hot. Let me mention Michelle Rodriguez separately once more, not just because I always had a celebrity crush on her, but also because of her appearance in the climax scene. Pure Wow moment.

In short this a guilty pleasure movie, supposed to make no sense whatsoever. Shout out to Robert De Niro. He was... interesting..