Review of Machete Kills (2013) by Chadd M — 31 May 2014

I really enjoyed the first "Machete" film by writer/director/editor/photographer/composer/producer Robert Rodriguez, but this film left me disappointed. Machete this time is faced with stopping a madman military industrialist, Mel Gibson in his first villainous role, from destroying the world so he can recreate the world in his vision.

Machete certainly kills (quite a lot too), but this film is so over-the-top that the audience ends up numb and somehow bored with the crazy action. I'm quite perplexed how beheadings could become so uninteresting.

I'm fine with over-the-top, but films of this ilk, but they need to build as they go and be able to top each previous scene. Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive" or Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" films are perfect examples of how to do this.

You don't start with a lawnmower plowing through zombies, you build to it. It's fun to see such a star studded cast (Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Tom Savini, Billy Blair, Electra, Elise Avellan, Felix Sabates, Jessica Alba, Mel Gibson, Demián Bichir, Amber Heard, Sofía Vergara, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Cuba Gooding Jr.

, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexa Vega, William Sadler, Marko Zaror and Charlie Sheen (credited by his real name of "Carlos Estévez"), but it comes off more as gimmicky than the first time around. The first film stuck with it's 70s grind house roots, but this film was trying to do something else, basically making Machete more of a James Bond/XXX type of superhero, and it's just not as interesting.

Still, watching Danny Trejo ride a rocket and wearing a space suit is not without it's entertainment value.