Machete

--Crew--
Robert Rodriguez...Director

--Cast---
Danny Trejo as Machete
Robert DeNiro as Senator McLaughlin
Jessica Alba as Santana Rivera
Steven Seagal as Torrez

--Review--

Machete is big, bloody fun.

The first 10 minutes of “Machete” unfold like a blood soaked orchestra. Loud gun fire, obnoxious gore and full frontal nudity splash the grainy screen. At times watching “Machete” feels like watching the hidden mind of some demented human being. Its digitally altered visual style mimics the grindhouse films from of the late ‘70s, furthering a feeling of frenzy.

Director, Robert Rodriguez is known for making two very distinct film series; the “El Mariachi” trilogy and the “Spy Kids” series of films.

“Machete” isn’t really like any of those two pictures.

Surprisingly a highly political film, “Machete” engineers a plot revolving around the construction of a border fence between Mexico and the United States. The stakes are high and values are questioned.

Machete (Danny Trejo) doesn’t ooze the specific cool demonstrated by Antonio Banderas in Rodriguez’s “Desperado.” Instead, Machete delivers in a menacing way. His weapon of choice is his namesake. Rather than being graceful with weaponry, Machete is pure brutality. Entire limbs come off during the course of the picture. Nothing is done in an overt grizzly fashion but clearly, Machete isn’t the John Woo inspired flick that is “Desperado.”

Trejo doesn’t talk much. He mutters a bit and starts attacking. It’s a character design thoroughly calculated in other genre’s films like “Terminator.” Other than being intimidating, there isn’t much to go on in the way of Machete’s character. At times his character is interchangeable with any other bad-ass. He doesn’t throw out clever one-liners. Instead, he’s too busy using intestines to break his fall from one floor to the next.

Trejo’s dialogue is limited and left to the majority of the other cast members. Cheech Marin cleverly shown in the film’s trailer is left with little more than exposition in the feature length film. The cast is rapidly expanded by Robert DeNiro, Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson and a pre-jail stint Lindsay Lohan. It should be noted that Steven Seagal also plays a major role in the film’s plot line.

Make sure the bad guy isn't you.

Seagal’s false Hispanic accent is a huge payoff for the film. It’s neat seeing Seagal play a role that is out of his comfort zone. Seagal is used to playing a lumbering Zen martial artist. Here in “Machete” Seagal plays a lumbering Mexican drug lord with knowledge of martial arts. With a tinge of villainy, Seagal comes off as a good antagonist for Trejo. Not many actors can play opposite the granite glare of Trejo and be a believable nemesis. Thankfully, Seagal is present for this role.

Robert DeNiro plays corrupt Texas Senator John McLaughlin and like Seagal brings out a heavy accent for his character. DeNiro humors the audience with a Texas drawl and a cowboy hat. His character rails against “change” because to him America is always perfect.

Michelle Rodriguez plays Shé, a character allusion to the South American revolutionary Che Guevara. Nothing is particularly special about her performance.

Far too little time is devoted to each character. The screen time shared amongst all of them appear equal, lending the sense that all characters exist on an equal footing to each other. Even the titular hero’s screen time appears on an equal footing with the film’s secondary characters. This inability to divert strong scenes for specific actors and their characters leads to the films major weaknesses.

It’s an unbalanced film, no single scene in Machete delivers memorably.

Although action, plot and minor character development live in “Machete” nothing stands out quite like the humor.

A physician telling Machete that surgical tools capable of cutting human flesh with a completely dry delivery will be of no use to the hero brings uproar from the audience.

When the line “You better learn to become Mexican fast” is uttered by one character to another, the other character begins to don a sombrero, a plaid shirt and poncho. It’s a clever moment playing on stereotypes to create humor and not prejudice.

All the witty parts of Machete will require a second look. The action is brutal, but like the script, it feels occasionally clumsy. This is clearly a choice by the director, but having well thought out action sequences could bring Machete to another tier in the action film genre.

In many ways “Machete” delivers on Rodriguez’s original fake trailer that inspired the full-length film. “Machete” is filled with bloody action, senseless nudity and some absolutely hilarious moments. Less character management and a shorter runtime would help the picture tremendously.

"Machete" is an enjoyable thrill ride and a great action film to round out the end of the summer movie season.