Machete Review
Machete
Directed by: Ethan Maniquis & Robert Rodriguez
Written by: Robert Rodriguez (written by), and Álvaro Rodriguez (writer)
Starring: Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez is one lucky bastard. When he and Quentin Tarantino released Grindhouse in 2007, there was a lot of talk about how much money it lost. In spite of its well-known contributors and generally favorable reviews, the exploitation homage tanked, to put it lightly. The double-bill failed to reclaim even half of its $67 million budget over the entire international run.
Maybe that’s why I’m so surprised Machete got made. Or maybe it’s my surprise at how much fun I had that’s bleeding over — who can tell? Grindhouse still ranks among my most memorable theater experiences, and Machete, a feature-length expansion of the faux-trailer that played between the two films, picks up precisely where Planet Terror and Death Proof left off.
Here, Rodriguez co-directs with his long-time editor Ethan Maniquis, but for all intents and purposes, it feels like Rodriguez is pulling the strings. Double-dipping in the sometimes corny, frequently outrageous, and purposely campy lost and found of cult seventies B-movies is a weird choice for the director, and one that runs the immediate risk of overstaying its welcome. Fortunately, Machete earns its existence and then some with a deranged and offbeat mash-up of tawdry action, black comedy, and current events.
It’s no wonder Rodriguez, being of Mexican American dissent and having grown up in San Antonio, Texas, has illegal immigration and border control on the brain. But the way he creatively parlays today’s hot button issue into the silly, cobwebbed genre film of yesteryear is his real stroke of genius. Granted, his sense of humor skews more slapstick than satire, with a levity that might annoy political purists, but it’s all in good, tasteless fun.
At heart, Machete is cinematic wish fulfillment for a social subset we’ve never quite seen represented: the Mexican day laborer. Machete (a grizzled Danny Trejo) is our near-mute anti-hero who’s hired by an aide to a political hopeful, only to unwittingly stand as proxy in an assassination attempt — it’s a shot in the leg that gives Senator McLaughlin (Robert DeNiro) the shot in the arm his anti-immigration campaign needs. The film eventually climaxes with an appropriately gratuitous (but admittedly overlong) Mexican/redneck battle royale.
The overall success of such sequences highlights exactly what I disliked about this summer’s other action throwback, The Expendables. All you can hope for from films like these is some modicum of creativity, and where Sylvester Stallone stutters, Rodriguez concocts a slew of inventive executions, the most notable of which involves the use of human intestines to propel down the side of a building. The dark humor also sets it apart; it keeps the film far and away more engaging than The Expendables in its often stifling self-seriousness.
Weirdly, both films also feature gags about texting, and again Rodriguez mines the more entertaining moment. Sorry, Stallone, but it’s tough to top a line like “Machete don’t text.”
Still, Machete can hardly be called perfect, and to a large extent it represents a success for Rodriguez both redundant and unchallenging. It is a minor victory, to be sure, and yet Machete may be even better than the film that spawned it. That the director managed to repeat himself repeating the actual seventies exhibitionists and still come away with a handful of fresh surprises and laughs is remarkable in itself.
Like Grindhouse, it isn’t a film for everyone. If you take any stock in the box office numbers, apparently it isn’t a movie for anyone. Sensitive stomachs need not apply, and those expecting more than a cartoon discussion of border control will be sorely disappointed. But that Machete exists at all is a minor miracle for the rest of us — that is, if you can muster any more enthusiasm for this particular, charming breed of unapologetic schlock.
Maybe the biggest surprise of all was the depth of my own reservoir. Robert Rodriguez is one lucky bastard, and so is his audience. – Colin
Comments (8)
Not as gory or violent as it could have been. I thought the object in the kitchen would have been used in a more integrated way.
I get what you are saying though Colin about Rodriguez being redundant: Machete is fun but it really lacks edge and feels a bit harmless. But asides that fact the movie ran like clockwork and fun as hell.
Posted by alechs on September 8th, 2010Any movie where the hero breaks someone’s arm while eating a burrito is alright with me!
Posted by Big B on September 8th, 2010I kind of didn’t like this movie. The first 10 min had me sucked in but then came the political parady or whatever the whole Mexican illegal bla bla bla bla was about I was cool with it till I realized it seemed to be an empty repeditive filler for the action. Now about the action there is a substantial amount ( tons of beheadings) but it was so cg and once u see it once in the movie it gets unsatifying, kinda like playing an old video game on the ps1 and realizing how bad the graphics really r aftr playing 360 so long. The dialogue was bad and I can see how it was suppose to be that way but that Jessica alba speech where she finally says ” we didn’t cross the border the border crossed us” that was the nail on the coffin for me, I just cringed a little. I think this movie was attempting to be humorous but I may have laughed once no more than twice through out. Finally the final battle was anticlimactic, I was under whelmed I just kept on hoping something would happen that was somewhat cool or just bad ass but nothing it was pretty stagnant. I was really waiting for this review to see other opions on this. I was really excited going in cause I liked grindhouse alot specially death proof and I’m a fan of Robert Rodriguez but I was disappointed, probably cuz I was expecting something else. Srry this was long but I had to unload. All on all I give the movie a 4 out of 10 it was almost like black dynamite but I liked that one better cuz I laughed more, PS lindsay Lohan could of and should of bn replaced by a mannequin, it would have bn at least amusing.
Posted by Cakadoodle on September 8th, 2010complaining about the dialogue and “bad graphics” is a little ridiculous for a movie like this isn’t it? The dialogue is supposed to be bad and cheesy, and the action is supposed to be ridiculous. I guess you missed the part of the review that said this movie’s not for everyone.
Posted by Mike on September 9th, 2010@Mike
This film’s about as stupid, classy and self-aware as The Expendables, yet this gets 3/4 stars while the Expendables receives a vitriolic tirade? What kind of double-standard is this.
What I’m having trouble contemplating is where points of derision in the Expendables are now turned into positives. And when they’re not positives, are brushed under the carpet with a little “hey, don’t judge it too harshly, it’s just a campy gory homage!” band-aid.
If you ask me, both are incredibly juvenile action homage films that didn’t live up to their hype. But I’m curious as to what this film has that The Expendables didn’t, Colin cites “creativity” but doesn’t justify it nearly enough. I’m morbidly curious as to what he thought of Shoot Em Up.
Posted by Steve on September 9th, 2010@Steve It’s not much deeper than that one worked for me while the other didn’t.
Machete’s action has more personality, sure, but I also think the scenes themselves were better paced. The action in The Expendables was disengaging in both its repetition and especially its duration. Machete is punctuated by memorable moments.
There are no characters in the Expendables. Outside of the fact that so many names were culled from the action archives, there is nothing distinct about a single person in that movie, whereas Machete revels in caricature. Its players are broad, loud, and silly–But at least they’re distinct.
Lastly, in terms of story, I’d much rather watch some goofy riff on current events than whatever the hell was going on with Stallone and Statham on dictator island.
Oh, and was Shoot ‘Em Up the one with Clive Own and the carrot? Where he throws the bullets into the fire? I haven’t seen the whole thing, but even sandwiched in a channel-surfing marathon, that’s more memorable than anything The Expendables offers.
Posted by Colin on September 9th, 2010@mike yea i said that the dialogue was suppose to be stupid and funny but the only thing the dialogue was was stupid the bad graphics was a metaphor for the horrible cg so i dont know why u quoted me on that, and i like grindhouse and gory cool movies. like i said im a fan of robert rodriguez. i loved desperado and it had no cg wat so ever that i no of and it was a great action flick, so i was expecting this movie to be “meant” for me but the action wasnt exiting and the dialogue terrible
Posted by cakaoddole on September 9th, 2010Did no one notice that the character Machete was also on the character list for all the Spy Kids movies made by Rodriguez, and played by the same actor?
Posted by herlygurl on October 11th, 2010Leave a Reply