MACHETE KILLS
Danny Trejo as Machete / Jessica Alba as Sartana / Mel Gibson as Luther Voz / Michelle Rodriguez as Luz / Tom Savini as Osiris / Sofía Vergara as Desdemona / Lady Gaga as La Chameleón / Vanessa Hudgens as Cereza / Alexa Vega as KillJoy / Cuba Gooding Jr. as El Camaleon / Amber Heard as Miss San Antonio / Demián Bichir as Mendez / Charlie Sheen as Mr. President Directed by Robert Rodriguez / Written by Kyle Ward |
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I thought that the first MACHETE film was a real first: a movie based on a fake movie trailer. Well, along comes its sequel, the affectionately and hilariously blunt sounding MACHETE KILLS, to offer up yet another first. It opens not to an actual scene from the film, but rather to a fake trailer for the – wait for it – third film in the series called MACHETE KILLS AGAIN…IN SPACE. In it we see Danny Trejo’s unendingly morose looking anti-hero – in astronaut gear - slash his way through multiple adversaries with a laser weapon that could just very easily get the attention of Lucasfilm’s legal department. Oh yeah, it’s
also set in space. This is not only
a gloriously insane manner to start a film, but it also just highlights
what gloriously insane good fun MACHETE KILLS is, which revels and
thrusts itself through one moment of head-spinning absurdity and pure
lunacy after another without ever,
ever looking back. It
contains the same level of giddy, tongue-in-cheek hero-worship for the
trashy and low-grade drive-in grindhouse films of yesteryear, but Robert
Rodriguez’ sequel this time takes the madness to whole other levels of
infectious enjoyment. Just
when you think that this film could not become anymore…well…strange
and silly…along comes another scene of riotous ridiculousness to appease
your cravings for more. MACHETE
KILLS just might be one of the craziest studio pictures I’ve seen in a
long time. And don’t forget…I’ve seen CRANK
2: HIGH VOLTAGE. The plot of the
film is on pure – and intentional – cornball mode.
Ex-federale Machete (Trejo, who’s kind of funny for how he never
tries to plays scenes for a laugh) has been recruited by the U.S. President, played by
– ahem – Carlos Estevez (a.k.a. Charlie Sheen, but the credits list
him by his birth name, in one of the film’s many wink-wink movie trivia
shout-outs) to stop the vile and despotic arms dealer Voz (Mel Gibson...yes,
that one) and drug kingpin Mendez (Demian Bichir) before they can launch
a missile at Washington. Of
course, Machete “don’t take orders well,” but the President
convinces him with the prospect of wiping his criminal record clean. Machete then journeys to hook up with his handler (Amber
Heard), who just happens to be undercover as Miss San Antonio in a beauty pageant..
Machete does
manage to find and confront Mendez in his home country, but he discovers
that drug czar's heart is attached to a remote trigger that will launch the
nuke if he is killed…or if his heart stops for some reason.
Complicating matters is the fact that Mendez appears to have
multiple-personality disorder and migrates between ape-shit insanity and soft-spoken humbleness
with the drop of a hat.
While trying to secure Mendez – and keep him alive – Machete
hooks up with some of his old friends, like the tough as nails Luz
(Michelle Rodriguez) as he faces off against new enemies, like Desdemona
(a wild-eyed Sofia Vergara), a brothel owner with a score to settle with
Machete (she sports a metal bra that contains machine guns and a host of other
weapons). When Machete
finally confronts Voz he discovers that he plans to nuke the world back to the
Stone Age and retreat to his space station.
Voz proves to be hard to kill, seeing as he can see into the
immediate future. Like I said,
MACHETE KILLS is nuttier than a proverbial fruit cake, but it’s the kind
of film that embraces its bad taste, schlockiness, and highly self-aware
genre referencing to the point of perverse admiration.
Like what all good sequels should do, the film certainly ups the
ante in terms of its predecessor, showcasing the perpetually scowling and
grim Trejo slashing and killing his prey in the most gleefully outrageous
manners possible (just when you think all methods of using helicopter
blades to kill people have been explored, along comes this film to
convince you otherwise). Some
may, no doubt, find the film’s wanton parade of sheer ultraviolence to
be numbing, but Rodriguez handles it with such an over-the-top and
cartoonish intensity that you’d be hard-pressed to perceive it as based
on any earth-bound reality. Even
better is that Rodriguez’s passion and enthusiasm really shines through
here. He not only understands
the appeal for all of the more tawdry conventions of exploitation
cinema, but he also knows how to both pay respect to them while mocking
them in this film. That’s
kind of a tough and tricky feat to pull off. The performances here are also thankless for migrating between that dicey grey area of overindulgently hamming it up and playing it all too stern and seriously. Granted, the exception might be Trejo, who’s actually kind of delightfully engaging the more angry and determined he looks; he plays things relatively straight. Demian Bichir (who gave a fine Oscar nominated performance in A BETTER LIFE) is kind of the exact opposite, who plays his split-personality-plagued drug cartel leader with an unpredictable, screw-loose madness and a real amusing gusto. Then there’s Gibson, a man that seems to have been the punch line to many late night comedian’s jokes with his less-than-stellar personal life choices as of late, but here he demonstrates what a good sport he is for playing a villainous role that’s deliriously demented…and does so for chuckles. Not only is Voz clairvoyant, but he also has a penchant for cloning, wearing capes, and driving around in a vehicle that looks like Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder from the first STAR WARS. You gotta give Gibson props; he’s in on the joke all the way through the film. That…and let’s not forget about MACHETE KILLS AGAIN…IN SPACE. Um...yeah...count
me in. |
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