Machete

Recent Release Review by Mully

Directors: Robert Rodriguez & Ethan Maniquis

Writers: Robert Rodriguez & Álvaro Rodriguez

Starring: Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Steven Seagal

There are times when you want to sit down to watch an art house film, a thought provoking piece that makes you consider the nature of humanity itself. But when I sat down to watch Machete, I wanted three things: boobs, explosions and one liners. I got all three in the first ten minutes.

Carrying on the Grindhouse style that Rodriguez started with Quentin Tarantino, it’s not difficult to tell this is from the same man that brought us Planet Terror. While the silliness is toned down (by the tiniest margin; there are no mutant Bruce Willises here), the appreciation for B-movies is still very much intact. You can tell Rodriguez loves these old movies, and there are some little nuances that go a long way to making the film feel authentic, without being distracting. I’m talking about things like the opening scene looking grainy and worn, almost like found footage, but for the rest of the running time, the picture quality’s firmly in 2010. I appreciated the style for one scene, but any more than that would have felt a little bit irritating, and a little bit of a rip off.

The plot is...sort of unimportant; nobody should be watching it for the story. I had issues with The Expendables being a series of underwhelming action set pieces, but Machete seems to go too far to the other side. It starts off fairly light, but as the film progresses, it tries to get some sort of moral across about immigration. It’s just a little jarring against the backdrop of the hilariously ridiculous deaths.

But putting all that aside, the action is what really makes it and as far as that goes, it’s bang on the money. It extravagant, a bit daft, and loads of fun for the first hour, but without the tight story to fall back on, it relies on these set pieces too heavily, and they become commonplace. You can have too much of a good thing.

Not to make the whole review one long moan, though, it is a genuinely fun, metafictional film. It loves where it comes from and what it’s homaging and is definitely worth a look at just because we don’t see many mainstream films like this.

Credit goes out to Robert De Niro for his excellent portrayal of the evil Republican Senator, John McLaughlin. He ‘gets it’ and brings so much humour to the role, there isn’t a better man for the job, I’d say. Also, props to Lindsay Lohan for taking the piss out of herself with her party girl role, she’s regained a bit of respect in my book.

Overall, you get what you’d expect with Machete. It’s not ground breaking, but then again, by its very nature it’s not really trying to be.

7 out of 10

Watch if you liked: Grindhouse (Planet Terror/Death Proof), Shoot ‘Em Up

Watch it with: A load of mates and a load of alcohol