Machete - Movie No. 16

Machete

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Starring: Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez and Robert De Niro

Year: 2010

Watched: 15/1/11

What the fudge is it?

Machete is a big badass Mexican. He is hired to take out a senator (De Niro). Before he can carry out his assassination he realizes he has been set up. Like every bad ass wronged hitman he decides to get revenge on the men who set him up. Funny bloody rampages ensue.

What i thought...

I am a total Rodriguez fanboy and i say that with a lot of pride. My nerdy fanboy obsession began when i was in secondary school. It was in secondary school that i think i started properly watching films mainly due to the influence of my older siblings. To cut a long story short thanks to empire and the wonder of VHS rentals i was introduced to El Mariachi, desperado and eventually the fantastic From Dusk Til Dawn. Yes i just described From Dusk Til Dawn as fantastic! Which i still think it is. I feel i should also mention that i loved The Faculty and Sin City too. If Rodriguez is anything he is a film fan, he makes films that embrace whatever genre they are in. Not ripping off or getting bogged down with the sound of his own words like some directors (Smith and Tarantino). I have always thought he makes films that he would like to watch instead of self indulgent homages to his own obsessions.

For anyone who isn't familiar with the birth of Machete, it all began with Grindhouse. To accompany the under rated planet terror and sadly disappointing death proof Rodriguez and Tarantino created mock trailers. One of these trailers was for an Mexican exploitation gorefest named Machete. Fast forward 3 years and we have a finished film by the same name.

Like Rodriguezs last venture into exploitive madness Machete sports a fantastic cast. i will get to the performances in a bit.....Machete is a hitman for hire, he takes a job to assisinate a local senator. Before he can pop the senator someone take a pop at machete. Slightly pissed off Machete begins to hunt down the men who set him up.

From the get go the film has an old shitty VHS feel to it. The lighting, action and dialogue all reminded me of a terrible action movie that you would find yourself watching just before every channel on the TV would sudden start trying to sell you ab machines. The action is hilarious and fantastic all at the same time and is accompanied by some fantastic cheesy guitar riffs. Shades of From Dusk Til Dawn and planet terror run through all the action scenes and on several occasions i found myself giggling at how silly it is to see a man perform the John McClane firehose trick with a mans intestines replacing the hose.

Danny Trejo is fantastic as the bad-ass machete. As Machete kills his way through hordes of men in the name of revenge a plot involving border control and immigration emerges. This is where the film drops the ball and almost begins to become something it shouldnt attempt. The tale of revenge and killing is fine without the complications of trying to give a message. i understand at the route of most exploitation movies there is some form of message be it a small one but Machete does pile on the message a little too much.

Although i though the added padding of the immigration and border control story was not needed it does introduce Jessica Alba as the sexy U.S immigration officer Sartana and Michelle Rodriquez as a taco making revolutionary Luz. Both women are fantastic and deliver the terrible dialogue and awkward sexual tension with great ease. Lindsey Lohans performance although short is perfectly fine, it would be nice to see her play a few edgier characters like this if she can stay out of rehab, brothels, asylums or wherever she spends her spare time.

Apart from Trejo standing out as Machete the best performance belongs to Jeff Fahey as Booth, many people will most recently remember him as the cool pilot from Lost. Booth is such as jerk and Fahey plays the perfect mix of cowardly and sinister throughout. For me the only disappointment in terms of acting was De Niro, the character of Senetor McLaughlin isnt the best but it seems that De Niro is still in that mode of playing someone doing a impression of the famous Bobby De Niro. With something like this you would expect someone like Bobby to go to town and pull something cool out of the bag but alas he doesnt. There are little sections of brilliant when you would look at Senetor McLaughlin and swear it was George Bush, if only he had have gone with this the whole movie.

For me the film rides a very thin line between being an exact homage of those terrible back of the shop VHS's and a daft personal project with a message. Rodriguez just about manages to steer Machete in the right direction. The action is hilarious and i laughed more than i have with any comedy recently. By no means perfect but i had a ball watching it. For fans of hammy action and exploitation muck this is a must see and remember....they fucked with the wrong Mexican.

Overall

Rodriguez knows how to make a genre fest of a movie without turning it into an overly indulgent love letter. Full of all the slap stick and fun that you would expect from any VHS found in the bottom of a bargain bin. Almost loses its way by trying to have a message but I throughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Laughs, Sex and Gore galore!! A masterpiece of a trashy film.

4/5