Review of Machete Kills (2013) by Maksim B — 30 Nov 2013

Ultra-violent, gore and even more absurd than the first movie, Machete Kills, kills not only the enemies, but almost manages to do the same with the audience. Trying to further exploit the cult success of the original Machete, this sequel is more absurd, more violent and way too uneven. Although it still plays like a complete joke, it lacks the sharpness and the political satire of its predecessor and it could very hardly be considered a movie, having in mind the patchwork of story it has.

The ex-Federale agent Machete returns to full-throttle action, when he is personally asked by the US president to track, to find and to eliminate a former Mexican drug-kingpin-turned-revolutionary who is threatening to nuke the US. Straightforward and shocking, the story tracks Danny Trejo as Machete amusing the audience with the levels of ultra-violent-absurdity it offers. With the introduction of the crazy revolutionary Mendez (Demian Bichir) and the hitman El Cameleon (Lady Gaga, Cuba Gooding Jr., Antonio Banderas), the story of the first half of the movie provides almost the same guilty-pleasure entertainment as the first movie.

However, what made the first part interesting is totally lost with the complete plot twist and the introduction of the uber-villain Voz (Mel Gibson). From that moment, Machete Kills loses its grip on the audience and the story becomes an annoyingly messy joke. It is understandable that director Robert Rodriguez has probably wanted to create his delivery as a joke of itself, but with the second half of his story, he manages to ruin all the good moments shown in the beginning of his movie. Apart from probably setting a world record on decapitated characters in a movie, Machete Kills lacks the funny, sharp and offensive political satire of the first movie, loses its connection to its predecessor and fails to provide the same level of entertainment.

The inevitable comparisons with the cult original are definitely not in favor of the sequel. Machete Kills is a kitschy imitation of the cult features of the first movie and it does nothing but to disappoint the viewers who enjoyed the craziness of Machete.