Review of Machete (2010) by Anssi V — 27 Dec 2013

One of the funnier action comedies in a long time, Machete delivers exactly what it promises. A big burly Mexican effortlessly reaping his way through countless opponents while beautiful women trample over each other to receive the honor off throwing themselves at him like cheap confetti. This is purely a popcorn flick, no brains or logical thought required. And for what it is, it's very good.

Though I must admit that I've never found Danny Trejo to be that funny, especially in a leading role. He's fine when all you need is a scary-looking dude to kill things imaginatively, and his straight man routine works most of the time, but he would have been more suited to the role of a lead side character. Having him as your main character means that all the jokes he participates in have to be of the same variety, which is a shame.

Aside from him, I liked most of the main actor. Michelle Rodriguez is still as great as ever, as is Robert De Niro. This isn't Jessica Alba's finest role, I must admit, but she's mainly there to be eye candy anyway, so I'm not complaining that much. The same applies to Lindsey Lohan, though Alba's role is a bit more of a disappointment, because the movie actually tries to give her some character development.

Steven Seagal was a bit meh, but then that's what he always is, so I wasn't expecting anything more.

All in all, this is a fun little popcorn flick. It has a bit more gore than usual, but I didn't mind. If you're looking for a mindless action romp with flashy action scenes, this is better than most.