Review of Machete Kills (2013) by Jeff B — 25 Oct 2013

Killing any chance of giving audiences a Mexican jumping boon of pure moviegoing escape, the Machete series Grindhouses to a halt thanks to some overly silly humor. Yes, it's supposed to be a humorous exercise with jokes, sex, stars, and violence riddling the audience at a semi-automatic clip. There's a fine line, however, that this exercise in exploitation doesn't even try to tow. Even Airplane!, the mother of all cinema parodies, played it deathly straight for laughs. And it worked, brilliantly. Instead, Machete just KIlls both the action and comedy by delivering every line and movement with blunt force trauma to the entertainment factor.

In this R-rated tongue-in-cheek adventure from Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), the U.S. government recruits Machete (Trejo) to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer (Gibson) who wants to launch a weapon into space.

Machete Kills sports a villain (Demian Bichir, a great actor who should just be forgiven this one transgression) who literally laughs through his scenes. This poor choice in direction pretty much sums up the whole He-Bang, more of an out-and-out eye-rolling action parody a la Hot Shots than intelligently delivered homage-cum-spoof like The Naked Gun or the aforementioned Airplane! On the other hand, Mel Gibson - loco private life aside, the man's still a genius on-screen - provides the movie's most compelling moments by far. Despite the batspit crazy action, it's these numerous marquee supporting turns (Charlie Sheen - er - Estevez, Lady Gaga) that keep things mildly interesting. Truthfully, Rodriguez's first Grindhouse efforts, Planet Terror and Machete, weren't much better but one wishes that the writer/producer/director would just get down and dirty like the old trashy low-budget '70s cinema he emulates rather than go for tongue-imbedded-in-cheek chuckles.

Bottom line: Blades of Worry.