USA, 2010: Machete

[Conde Koma]

Machete
USA, 2010
Genre: Action
105 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985694/

Danny Trejo stars as Machete, an ex-Federale agent who gets caught in a political assassination plot. Left with no options, he takes to the streets and starts a revolution.

Based on the mock trailer from the double-feature Grindhouse, Robert Rodriguez pulls out all the stops in bringing this B-movie to life on the big screen. If the Expendables played the campy action movie straight, Machete indulges the genre with massive special effects, lots of blood and gore, and unabashed sex appeal. The bloodshed and body count is so excessive that it makes Stallone’s summer blockbuster look like Toy Story. Expect lots of cringe-inducing moments, most at the hands of the hero’s favorite weapon. There are moments of absolutely hilarious uses of human anatomy throughout the movie, which makes me wonder if it should be labeled as part comedy. While some of the more obvious digital effects can be distracting, most of the film’s work is strictly practical, leaving a much stronger impact on the audience. The movie doesn’t shy away from tits, either. Embracing the sex appeal that made action movies through the 70s and 80s so popular, there are hefty amounts of nudity and mostly fully clothed lady shots for the horndog demographic. It never crosses the line into gratuitousness, and manages to stay relatively tasteful. The mood of the film is kept pretty high and energetic thanks to a fantastically fun soundtrack provided by Chingon, Rodriguez’s own rock band.

While not the deepest plot in the world, Rodriguez makes it work with a great cast of character actors, from Robert DeNiro to Jessica Alba to Steven Seagal. Trejo does an amazing job in his first leading performance; he was born to play Machete (or rather, Machete was born to be played by him!). Michelle Rodriguez also gives an impressive showing as a leading lady, playing well off of her scenes with Alba and Trejo. One-liners and hero shots abound, giving an epic scope to what you expect to be a pretty small story. The characters are all fairly flat, but supremely entertaining regardless. Everyone has their own quirks and moments of badassery, fleshing out their world in signature Troublemaker Studios style. It’s refreshing to see everyone willing to get their hands dirty in a movie like this, really giving all the characters time to shine.

Trejo plays great as an action hero, and the quality of the fights are equal parts brutal and absurd. Limbs, heads, and bodies go flying from the start, setting the tone of violence for the rest of the film. It would have been nice to see Seagal’s Japanophile villain in action more, but his showdown with Machete is still immensely entertaining. If you’re a fan of violence taken to ridiculous comic book style extremes, you absolutely must go see this movie. It’s fun, fast, and one hell of a ride.

[Nicko1]

Nice.

I have been hoping for this since Planet Terror.

[MuayThaiBri67]

You forgot to mention the anti-american one liners in the movie such as “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!” and scenes of Hispanics hacking up white people. Now don't get me wrong I like a good cheesey action flick myself, but the racial undertones in the movie were there.

[Soldiermedic]

You forgot to mention the anti-american one liners in the movie such as “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!” and scenes of Hispanics hacking up white people. Now don't get me wrong I like a good cheesey action flick myself, but the racial undertones in the movie were there.

If anything, this makes me want to see it even more. I enjoy a good gringo body count. It makes up for the 80's.

[The_Beak]

You forgot to mention the anti-american one liners in the movie such as “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!” and scenes of Hispanics hacking up white people. Now don't get me wrong I like a good cheesey action flick myself, but the racial undertones in the movie were there.

It is a MEXplotation film some of that is to be expected and dude the border did cross us.

But i feel you.

I always hated watching old westerns because Whitey McPale would always shoot up loads and loads of mexican henchmen.

But about the movie i think my impossibly high expectations of this movie ultimately ruined it for me.

The Machete vs. Katana showdown was a diappointment.(Aikido disarms machete lols. angry, hate filled lols)
Lindsey Lohans Character was just tacked on to the movie and only slowed down the film.
Michelle Rodriguez is hotter than Jessiaca Alba
ONE. ONE fucking Luchador and he's a bad guy with less than a minute srceen time.
Next movie should have Cain Velasquez as a Luchador/ex-cop out for justice with Roger Huerta as the villainous "Matador" and hopefully a cameo by El Guapo.

I'm really pissed that Robert Rodriguez would reveal in his movie that all Mexicans know each and communcating thourgh a network with other Mexicans with the ultimate goal of taking over of the USA. WTF Cabron.

[Styygens]

I want to see this.

Do DeNiro and Seagal share any scenes? Part of me guesses yes. But the rational side of me says no, because I figure that such a meeting would cause the universe to implode, and since we're all still here...

[MuayThaiBri67]

If anything, this makes me want to see it even more. I enjoy a good gringo body count. It makes up for the 80's.

I'm more of an equal oppertunity body count person myself. :copdance:

[Conde Koma]

You forgot to mention the anti-american one liners in the movie such as “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us!” and scenes of Hispanics hacking up white people. Now don't get me wrong I like a good cheesey action flick myself, but the racial undertones in the movie were there.

The only white people getting hacked up are political scumbags and border vigilantes who hunt down people like they're on safari. This isn't a racial undertone, because if you sympathize with those people, I'm gonna say there are more issues for you to sort out than the filmmaker.

Do DeNiro and Seagal share any scenes? Part of me guesses yes. But the rational side of me says no, because I figure that such a meeting would cause the universe to implode, and since we're all still here...

Alas, they do not. I'm sure the boys at Troublemaker foresaw such an implosion and prevented it from every taking place.

[MuayThaiBri67]

The only white people getting hacked up are political scumbags and border vigilantes who hunt down people like they're on safari. This isn't a racial undertone, because if you sympathize with those people, I'm gonna say there are more issues for you to sort out than the filmmaker.

Alas you make it personal and ignored anything I said. Border vigilantes were basically a swipe at the Minutemen who never have committed any acts of violence againt illegals. If so then please provide a link to a major media outlet on the story not something from a Larasa web site. Now back to my previous statement. I clearly said that you failed to mention the racial undertones of the movie. If you didn't see it well then thats on you. I clearly saw it in the movie, and am offering a different opinion then you. My overall opinion of the movie is that it is a pretty one diminsional action flick. That is worth a view, but not at movie theater prices. Just wait for the dvd.

[Conde Koma]

Alas you make it personal and ignored anything I said. Border vigilantes were basically a swipe at the Minutemen who never have committed any acts of violence againt illegals. If so then please provide a link to a major media outlet on the story not something from a Larasa web site. Now back to my previous statement. I clearly said that you failed to mention the racial undertones of the movie. If you didn't see it well then thats on you. I clearly saw it in the movie, and am offering a different opinion then you. My overall opinion of the movie is that it is a pretty one diminsional action flick. That is worth a view, but not at movie theater prices. Just wait for the dvd.

If minutemen have never committed any acts of violence against illegals, how are the border vigilantes a swipe at them?

racial undertones implies there's some kind of hidden racial message being broadcast through the movie. i can sorta see where you might go with that, but as I mentioned, it's not like the movie is making some unfair portrayal of whites because the villains of the film are so far removed from the norm.

if you wanna make a compelling argument for some kind of "anti-white-america" message in the movie, please explain your reasoning. if it's just some awkward feelings you have after watching, i can't say you have very strong footing for such a claim.