Review of Machete Kills (2013) by Alex M — 12 Jul 2014

The sequel to 2010's Machete is 10x more explosive, bloody and insane! But the biggest flaw is with the meandering story-Robert Rodriguez clearly had way too many crazy ideas after the great reception Machete got, and wanted to throw it ALL in this sequel.

What you get feels overstuffed and a little desperate. I liked and appreciated everything-but there was just little time to enjoy any one scene, because it was literally jumping from one explosion to another.

Take for example the first scene-the amount of stuff that happens in that one scene alone is just ridiculous. First it's Machete and Alba vs a small group of militantes on a federal mission..then they have a full on fight vs an endless amount of Cartel.

But wait-just as soon as they think they're outnumbered, helicopters come and drop in COBRA like fighters that start waging war on the cartel now...Robert Rodriguez was just adding and adding to the pot.

..often overdoing it I felt. There's quite a few things in the film that I didn't find funny like a few cameos and action scenes-but overall it's a worthy sequel to Machete. And let me just say-Mel Gibson was a very good bit of casting, and his villain was quite obviously a james bond and star wars fanboy's wet dream! Who knew Robert Rodriguez was a huge fan of both?! I don't really know where it can go from this point- Space seems the logical progression for the story they've set up, but for a third film in the series, it also feels really premature.

Sofia Vergara's character actually really surprised me, I was really dreading all her scenes. I felt the Chameleon character sounded like a fun concept, but the way he was executed in the film was rather bad.

I don't know if it was Rodriguez' intention to just have the Chameleon be a very flat character but I never really cared when he was on screen. Amber Heard was also a pleasant surprise, the whole Beauty Pageant cover was a funny concept and quite frankly, her San Antonio character was really good.

Once again check the brain at the door, it has plenty to enjoy with all its hammy tributes and gags but the wacky and almost episodic story takes away from the overall film in general.