‘Machete’ Not for The Faint of Heart
Back in 2007, filmmaker pals Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez embarked on a cinematic experiment known as Grindhouse. This movie going experience included two feature-length films shown in the theater back-to-back just like old B-movies. Spliced in front of and between the films were fake movie trailers that guest directors like Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, and Eli Roth shot to fill space. Machete, the trailer that preceded Robert Rodriguez’s film Planet Terror, was shot and directed by Rodriguez himself though.
The trailer for Machete advertised an exploitation style action film about an illegal immigrant (Danny Trejo) double crossed and left for dead. After recovering, the title character Machete decides to seek bloody revenge against those that betrayed him. Even though it was not an actual movie, Machete wowed audiences with its brutal subject matter and wild visuals. Not long afterward, Grindhouse fans demanded that Machete be made into a feature-length film, however it look Rodriguez a couple of years to make the project happen.
Essentially the story is the same as the trailer originally advertised, with a few additional embellishments. Machete is hired by a criminal to assassinate a U.S. Senator (Robert De Niro) whose hard-line stance on illegal immigration threatens profit margins for those who employ these people for low-cost labor.
His employers however have no real plans to kill the Senator, only to drive up his popularity through the assassination attempt, and since they need a scapegoat for the crime, that’s where Machete comes in. What the criminals fail to realize though is that they have messed with the wrong Mexican; Machete is a former Federale, a badass Mexican police officer who knows how to kill the bad guys with bravado.
Like other Robert Rodriguez films, thankfully our title hero does not have to fight alone. He has some help from a couple of strong female characters that kick as much ass as he does. Machete finds allies in an immigration control agent (Jessica Alba), with a soft spot for him and in a freedom fighter played by the tough as nails Michelle Rodriguez. These two characters in trademark Robert Rodriguez fashion are strong-willed, women that know their way around guns just as well as their male counterparts.
As a full length movie, Machete is delightfully over-the-top with its many explosions and extensive gore that skillfully pay homage to the exploitation genre. With all its blood and guts, it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, however its stinging social commentary about illegal immigration and its unapologetic attitude about its gratuitous nudity and violence make it incredibly entertaining. My only real complaint is that pacing of the film lags in a few places, but overall Machete is a wicked fun movie with enough blood, guns, and girls to satisfy fans of the Grindhouse genre.