Review of Machete (2010) by Mgen M — 19 Oct 2013

He Slices, He Dices.

Oh who would of thought that Grindhouse would have given us not one, but two movies into the world, the first of course was Hobo With A Shotgun and the second is Robert Rodriguez's Machete, but I suppose the reel question is, will Machete cut off it's nose to spite it's face?

When the film says "Robert Rodriguez's" Machete, it really does mean Robert Rodriguez's, the man does quite literally everything for it: director, producer, editor, music, written by, it's all him. It feels like a big joke that Robert Rodriguez would do all of that for one single movie, actually that's not a bad way to think of the film, as a joke.

Comical. That's a fine way to describe the movie, throw in the words "Totally over the top to the point that it's a ..." before it and you have just what I think of Machete, the thing is that something tells me the film agrees with me. Robert Rodriguez lets you know where he is pitching his tent in the first ten minutes of the movie where we see people get sliced in half, shot by their own guns, and a women pull an exceptionally large knife from inside herself. It's ridiculous and knows it, but is it any good?

Well if you are into that kind of thing, it's perfect, if you like your films glorious and covered in blood then it might be the greatest movie ever made, but then so was Sin City, the difference with Machete and Sin City is that the later was an incredible film to watch from a visual perceptive alone, I'm sure if you dropped Sin City's style then you could well end up with the same film again.

What's strange about Machete is that between it's hacking and shooting and slashing and grinding and bumping, it seems to have an actual message and something it wants to say. I think it's trying to make a comment about how Americans treat Mexican immigrants but it could just as easily be about the judicial service or a metaphor for how we should be more aware of the people around of us. Machete is very much a film of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, it's an all-round surreal experience.

It's clear that Machete is Robert Rodriguez's little art film, like Big Fish for Tim Burton and Kill Bill for Quinton Tarantino, each have their own little movie that is all theirs and this is Roberts. You know it's true from all the little tricks he pulls to keep us interested, as if he is showing off to no one.

It's also clear from Machete that everyone has signed on just to have a good time, Steven Segal and Robert De Niro are top of this list, closely followed by Danny Trejo who really takes pleasure in his lead role as Machete. Also any film that seemingly has Lindsey Lohan playing herself can't be all bad. On a side note it's amazing to see what the world has done to Jeff Fahey.

Machete is just about the most self indulgent, blood drenched, over sexed, unjustified movie I've ever seen, however something about it makes me smile.