Review of “Machete”
Machete kills. Machete kills again. These final words of the film would also pass as a suitable introduction to what is an irreverent, bloody and comically brash tale of revenge and racism on the USA-Mexico border. Machete the man is a stoical killing force who manages to attract the attention of nasty men and scantily dressed babes with guns as he goes about his dirty work. Machete the film is a brutal and freewheeling parody of the violent 1970’s B-movie movement, and probably one for the dedicated fans of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
Full of deliberately over the top performances by everyone from Robert De Niro as a rabid right-wing politician, to Lindsay Lohan as tacky topless eye-candy, the film follows the fortunes of undercover crime buster Machete (wonderfully underplayed by craggy faced Danny Trejo) who is left for dead after falling foul of a drug lord named Torrez (Steven Seagal). Re-emerging three years later, Machete is hired by anti-immigration forces to help get Senator John McLaughlin (De Niro) into power on a “stop the infestation” platform. But when Machete is spotted by an immigration officer (Jessica Alba) he finds himself in a blood-splattered feud between way-right vigilantes led by Von (superbly played by Don Johnson) and the poor honest Mexican workers of “the network” that has been secretly set up by sexy taco-seller Luz (Michel Rodriguez). In the best sequences of the film, Machete calls for a little help from his priest brother (Cheech Marin), a religious man who lives by the double-barrelled shotgun. With everyone armed to the teeth and becoming increasingly desperate, there’s only one possible way for the action to head.
Back in 2007, Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino created their Grindhouse double feature, evoking the era of exploitation cinema. In between Rodriquez’ brilliant parody Planet Terror and Tarantino’s uninspiring Deathproof, played the trailer for the then non-existent Machete – and it left Rodriguez fans wanting more. Machete is certainly more: buckets of stylised gore, oodles of tongue-in-cheek one-liners, deliberately “bad” editing, and added scratches and nicks to make the film appear suitably worn. But sometimes more is just less, and whilst there’s fun aplenty in the slice-and dice action scenes, the slim through-story of Machete frequently looses traction. If you’re looking for strong narrative you may be disappointed, but I suspect most viewers will just be after the frequent kick-starts that come with the comic zing of blade through flesh.
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