Machete

Machete 2010
Directors: Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis
Writers: Robert Rodriguez and Alvaro Rodriguez
Starring Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson and Lindsay Lohan
Machete was film I had been waiting to see since the trailer premiered in 2007’s Grindhouse. I wondered if a film could pay off on all the greatness that the trailer promised and this film did. Hell, so far this is the best film I have seen this year. This is a film that is so comic booky and over the top you can’t help but grin as you watch it. It has a great ensemble cast and it is great to see Trejo finally get his due and he really embodies a 70’s gritty action hero here. The script is outlandish and crazy but it works. The action is out there too and it’s hard to get move over the top than gutting someone and then using his intestines to rappel through a window. That made the film a hit right there. The use of immigration as a topic really made the film timely too. This is just a rollercoaster ride of a film and everyone should have a fun time with it.
The plot basics are this, Machete (Trejo) is a ex-federale who is betrayed on his last mission and he retires and becomes a day laborer in Texas. He is picked up by a business man (Fahey) who offers him 150 thousand dollars to assassinate a senator (De Niro). He accepts but is betrayed at the assassination and is now on the run from the men who hired him and who are now trying to kill him. They did not expect him to be a tough man to kill though. Soon, Machete teams up with a immigration agent (Alba) to take down the whole conspiracy he finds. Machete then goes on a revenge rampage that will leave anyone in his way dead.
This is an awesome action film. Rodriguez direction is tight and he does the exploitation feel even better here than he did in Planet Terror. The opening scene and the scene at the hospital are just 2 great examples of this. The script is pretty camp and I really think that works out well. I especially loved the badness of Seagal’s death scene and Alba’s supposedly rousing speech. The cast is excellent. Trejo makes a great hero and says a lot with very few words, you really believe he is the bad ass you see on the screen. De Niro gives his best performance since Stardust and it is always great to see Fahey working. Lohan surprisingly does a good job with her small role and I loved the little bits with Tom Savini. Rodriguez does a good job too and is very sexy in the role. Alba and Seagal are pretty bad but I think that is what Rodriguez was going for. The SFX and make up effects are done very well. The film is very bloody and it all looks quite real. The score by John Dabney is great and really makes the film feel like a lost 70’s exploitation film. This is a rousing and bombastic action film and is one I will definitely be seeing again.
This one gets 5 out of 5