Mexican Fiesta
Machete is a fun movie to watch
If you’re looking for something serious to watch, don’t bother with this one. It’s not a thought provoking film with some gathering epiphany in the end. Machete goes for the throat. It rips into the heart of filmmaking and lets it bleed. It’s great.
But I have to admit that I’ve had more fun watching Machete than ten other movies put together. In a lot of ways, I’ve enjoyed this one more than the year’s best film Inception because the latter seems to be weighted down by some serious notions. Inception is like going to your school class during the day and needing to read up on your homework.
However, Machete is like going to your lunch break and having a good laugh.
Robert Rodriguez directs, produces and co-wrote this blood splitting piece which takes on the spirit of the old grindhouse pulp films from the 1970s and exploitation flicks. The film first appeared in a fiction trailer attached to the excellent double feature grindhouse piece Planet Terror/Death Proof. Rodriguez directed the first. Quentin Taritino directed the other.
Machete shares some similar qualities of the grindhouse features: splices being cut into the film or some parts of it having an aged look to it. Part of the fun of the film is how much gore and nudity is in it. Worth the ticket price right there.
The story centers on an ex-federal agent in Mexico whose code name was Machete played by Danny Trejo. His face is so hardened by lines that it is like seeing a mountain being carved by the harsh winds. You have to admire the stony ridges of his features that reminds you of the craggy rocks of the Arizona setting. Trejo reminds me of Nick Nolte in terms of physical appearance.
This is Trejo’s first starring role. His character becomes caught in a maelstrom of politics and backstabbing that causes him to lose his job and now does yard work for money. He is a man who has been on the top and sank to the bottom.
However, a business deal opens up to lure Machete into targeting a US Senator McLaughlin who is sending out illegal immigrants away from the country. Machete accepts the deal. But he is double crossed in the middle of the assassination attempt that frames him as a bad guy. Now he must hunt down the real bad guys who have openly raged war against Mexicans. The deeper he gets into the system, the closer he gets to the drug lord who was behind the entire scheme.
The casting in the film is great. You wouldn’t see this kind of cast in other movies: Steven Segal, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan and Don Johnson. They all looked like they were having fun in the film. It can be contagious seeing several people getting together having a few good laughs. And hoping the audiences will feel the same way.
Yes, it’s stupid fun.
But it works.
It’s interesting to note that the film did precipitated the coming problems of illegal immigrants just short a year—that is now becoming a hot issue in places like Arizona and Texas. The film does throw the Mexican culture in a good light. And it’s interesting to learn about as well. I still don’t understand the reason why Michelle Rodriguez character broke the egg and placed it under the bed. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. There are a lot of fun exchanges between Jeff Fahey and the drug runners when he finds himself getting neck-deep and deeper in the bad business.
I liked this movie a lot. I’ll probably see it again when it comes to a second run theater.
My only issues with the movie is that they didn’t utilize Cheech Marin very much. He’s a fun actor as the shotgun wielding priest and would have liked to see more of him. But Don Johnson is great as the weasel leading a vigilante group against immigrants. I didn’t mind Jessica Alba either. It’s a good role for her.
The film was made on a $20 million budget which is skim thin compares to the other juggernauts that often lumber their way through the summer landscape. But this one is already earning back its costs and more. And this is just the first weekend. It’ll probably not make much money. But it’s didn’t cost much to begin with. That’s how you make a movie. You don’t need eye breaking special effects to tell a movie. You just need a story about some machete carrying Mexican on a rampage. Fun enough.
Is it a date movie? Maybe. Is it one you can take your mother to see on Mother’s Day? Probably not. Is it a hormone inducing flick about muscle clad heroes throwing violent tantrums? Yes, indeed. In fact, it does take on the spirit of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs who often set their stories around muscular heroes of exaggerated legends. Machete is one for the 21st century.
Go right ahead and see this one. There’s a bright and funny stunt scene involving a guy’s intestines that's something you don’t see everyday. There’s a lot going for this film. It really has plenty good points to it. Pun intended.
If you’re looking for something serious to watch, don’t bother with this one. It’s not a thought provoking film with some gathering epiphany in the end. Machete goes for the throat. It rips into the heart of filmmaking and lets it bleed. It’s great.
But I have to admit that I’ve had more fun watching Machete than ten other movies put together. In a lot of ways, I’ve enjoyed this one more than the year’s best film Inception because the latter seems to be weighted down by some serious notions. Inception is like going to your school class during the day and needing to read up on your homework.
However, Machete is like going to your lunch break and having a good laugh.
Robert Rodriguez directs, produces and co-wrote this blood splitting piece which takes on the spirit of the old grindhouse pulp films from the 1970s and exploitation flicks. The film first appeared in a fiction trailer attached to the excellent double feature grindhouse piece Planet Terror/Death Proof. Rodriguez directed the first. Quentin Taritino directed the other.
Machete shares some similar qualities of the grindhouse features: splices being cut into the film or some parts of it having an aged look to it. Part of the fun of the film is how much gore and nudity is in it. Worth the ticket price right there.
The story centers on an ex-federal agent in Mexico whose code name was Machete played by Danny Trejo. His face is so hardened by lines that it is like seeing a mountain being carved by the harsh winds. You have to admire the stony ridges of his features that reminds you of the craggy rocks of the Arizona setting. Trejo reminds me of Nick Nolte in terms of physical appearance.
This is Trejo’s first starring role. His character becomes caught in a maelstrom of politics and backstabbing that causes him to lose his job and now does yard work for money. He is a man who has been on the top and sank to the bottom.
However, a business deal opens up to lure Machete into targeting a US Senator McLaughlin who is sending out illegal immigrants away from the country. Machete accepts the deal. But he is double crossed in the middle of the assassination attempt that frames him as a bad guy. Now he must hunt down the real bad guys who have openly raged war against Mexicans. The deeper he gets into the system, the closer he gets to the drug lord who was behind the entire scheme.
The casting in the film is great. You wouldn’t see this kind of cast in other movies: Steven Segal, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan and Don Johnson. They all looked like they were having fun in the film. It can be contagious seeing several people getting together having a few good laughs. And hoping the audiences will feel the same way.
Yes, it’s stupid fun.
But it works.
It’s interesting to note that the film did precipitated the coming problems of illegal immigrants just short a year—that is now becoming a hot issue in places like Arizona and Texas. The film does throw the Mexican culture in a good light. And it’s interesting to learn about as well. I still don’t understand the reason why Michelle Rodriguez character broke the egg and placed it under the bed. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. There are a lot of fun exchanges between Jeff Fahey and the drug runners when he finds himself getting neck-deep and deeper in the bad business.
I liked this movie a lot. I’ll probably see it again when it comes to a second run theater.
My only issues with the movie is that they didn’t utilize Cheech Marin very much. He’s a fun actor as the shotgun wielding priest and would have liked to see more of him. But Don Johnson is great as the weasel leading a vigilante group against immigrants. I didn’t mind Jessica Alba either. It’s a good role for her.
The film was made on a $20 million budget which is skim thin compares to the other juggernauts that often lumber their way through the summer landscape. But this one is already earning back its costs and more. And this is just the first weekend. It’ll probably not make much money. But it’s didn’t cost much to begin with. That’s how you make a movie. You don’t need eye breaking special effects to tell a movie. You just need a story about some machete carrying Mexican on a rampage. Fun enough.
Is it a date movie? Maybe. Is it one you can take your mother to see on Mother’s Day? Probably not. Is it a hormone inducing flick about muscle clad heroes throwing violent tantrums? Yes, indeed. In fact, it does take on the spirit of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs who often set their stories around muscular heroes of exaggerated legends. Machete is one for the 21st century.
Go right ahead and see this one. There’s a bright and funny stunt scene involving a guy’s intestines that's something you don’t see everyday. There’s a lot going for this film. It really has plenty good points to it. Pun intended.
posted by K.M. Paters at 1:09 PM
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