Machete Review
Written by: alex1176
Robert Rodriguez returns to his "Desperado" roots with this flick which originally appeared as a fake trailer on "Grindhouse" three years ago. Speaking of which, I absolutely loved that preview. It perfectly captured the tone of 70's exploitation revenge flicks. Now, I have no idea why Robert decided to make it into an actual movie, but it is a good one. And for the most part, it's a comedy.
Of course, that shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with Rodriguez's work. Like his friend Quentin Tarantino, he essentially makes comedies and "Machete" is his best one yet. It's not only a spoof of exploitation movies, but a timely satire of the recent events in Arizona concerning illegal immigrants. And yes, Rodriguez' movie does make the right wing, anti-illegal politicians the bad guys. Watching the trailer three years ago, I would've never thought an actual movie would've been made much less it being about a topical political issue. Also, three years ago, cell phone texting wasn't much of a news headliner and Rodriguez also uses it as a plot mechanism.
The movie starts out appropriately enough with a very "Grindhouse"-esque segment (complete with the "dirty film" look). Machete, a Mexican Federale, is given orders not to rescue a police deputy's daughter, but decides to do a "Dirty Harry" with his rogue actions. But instead of packing a Magnum, he carries a machete (!) to his wetwork. Once his family goes the way of the Dodo, Machete finds himself in Texas doing labor work with the illegals. A few minutes into the movie, a politican played by Jeff Fahey (reprising his trailer role) offers him lots of dough to off a Texas senator (Robert De Niro in his sillliest role ever) who opposes Mexican immigrants. But instead of being a very simple revenge story, Rodriguez makes it a very sprawling tale with plenty of characters recalling his "Once Upon a Time in Mexico".
One of the things I found very satisfying was how all the trailer scenes are seamlessly included into the film. It makes the movie's once fake trailer seem all the more real now. As far as the movie's presentation, it is over-the-top and gory. Unfortunately, the "dirty, scratched" look only appears in the prologue. Rodriguez' makes Machete a "Salt"-type character. Just like Angelina Jolie's badass spy, Machete can make a deadly weapon out of anything and can outrun the bad guys with style. Steven Seagal is the main bad guy and he's also Mexican! Seagal is quite funny and it's a hoot to see him go against Danny Trejo (Machete) for the second time in his career. Rent "Marked for Death" (from 20th Century Fox, the studio that made this movie) to see their first on-screen bout.
Along with Trejo and Seagal are big Hollywood names. You should all know them by now. Jeff Fahey and De Niro are great in their parts, but so is Don Johnson as a militia leader and Michelle Rodriguez as a taco truck owner/Mexican revolutionary. Jessica Alba looks good half-naked. Lindsay Lohan appears as her....um "self". Overall, I enjoyed "Machete" alot more than I did "The Expendables". I also liked it more than Rodriguez's well-made, but ultimately disapppointing "Predators". This is a movie that's about as fun as its "fake" trailer and "Grindhouse". Go see it!