Among the myriad filmmakers working in Hollywood today, Robert Rodriguez truly stands out as unique and fascinating. Much like his friend and frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez has made his career by celebrating the kind of films he grew up loving, mainly the genres of action, crime, and exploitation, and mashing them up with his own artistic sensibilities. The film of his that perhaps best exemplifies his style is Machete (2010), a low-budget, ultra-violent exploitation tribute starring Danny Trejo as a blade-wielding Mexican Federale out for revenge. The film was a success both with critics and at the box office, but with Rodriguez’s busy schedule of projects, some wondered if the two hypothetical sequels, Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again, would actually get made. But the first of those sequels has arrived, and while Machete Kills isn’t quite on the same level as the original, it is still awesomely ridiculous and one hell of a lot of fun.
One of the things that got people to pay attention to the first Machete was the cast – a wonderfully weird, eclectic mix of actors and actresses that no one ever expected to see in a single movie. And thankfully, that is very much the case again in Machete Kills. Obviously, the centerpiece of the cast is Danny Trejo as the title role of Machete Cortez. Trejo has been a recognizable character actor for decades, and it’s so gratifying to see him finally get leading roles at this point in his career. He can play these kind of tough guy parts in his sleep at this point, and even though Trejo is almost seventy years old, he still looks like he could kick the ass of anyone who crosses his path. Mel Gibson makes a great bad guy as Luther Voz, which is his first time playing a villain. Gibson has, unfortunately, been making headlines for other reasons a lot over the last decade, but seeing him here is a nice reminder that he’s a lot of fun to watch onscreen, and hopefully this will be the first step in him turning things around and rehabilitating his career. Demián Bichir, who’s currently starring on the FX series The Bridge, is a lot of fun as Mendez, especially in how he conveys the character’s two distinct personalities of well-meaning revolutionary and psychopathic madman.
Even though she has a smaller role than in the first film, it was nice to see Michelle Rodriguez back as taco-truck girl/revolutionary leader Shé; yes, having her play a badass tough chick is complete typecasting, but she does it so well I’m not going to complain. Amber Heard is gorgeous and funny as femme fatale Miss San Antonio. Sofia Vergara from Modern Family is both funny and creepy as Madame Desdemona, the unhinged, man-hating brothel madam, and her machine gun bra is an instant contender for the best movie weapon of the year. While I don’t particularly like Charlie Sheen, who is credited here as his birth name Carlos Estévez, he’s actually a lot of fun as the amusingly-named President Rathcock, a role which cleverly combines Sheen’s hard-living persona with a wink and nod to his father Martin Sheen’s famous role on The West Wing. Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga, and Antonio Banderas do a great job of mining the humor from their combined character of El Cameleón, an assassin and master of disguise. Even though she’s only in the film for a short time, it was nice to see Jessica Alba return as the improbably sexy ICE agent Sartana Rivera. Chilean martial artist, actor, and stuntman Marko Zaror, in what is only his second English-language film, is a great heavy as Voz’ henchman Zaror, and gets to show off his incredible martial arts skills. William Sadler is clearly enjoying himself in his small role as the corrupt Sheriff Doakes. And a lot of Robert Rodriguez’s recurring actors show up here as well, including Tom Savini, Alexa Vega, Felix Sabates, and Electra and Elise Avellan.
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A big part of Robert Rodriguez’s style of action filmmaking is taking violence that should be horrifying and making it hilarious, and that’s very much the case here. The action in Machete Kills is every bit as awesomely over-the-top, blood-soaked, and ridiculously fun as hoped. There’s hand-to-hand combat galore, with plenty of heads and limbs being removed from their bodies by Machete’s trademark blade. There are huge amounts of gunplay, almost always resulting in liberal sprays of blood. And there are chases and other scenes involving all manner of vehicles, including at least three instances of Machete using helicopters to kill somebody. A lot of the fun in the action comes from the fact that Machete himself is seemingly invincible, which is best exemplified by the moment early on where Machete grabs a thug, stabs a nearby electrical box with the machete in his other hand, uses his own body as an conduit to shock the guy to death, and the just twitches a bit and casually walks away. Some fans had doubts that anything could top the moment from the first movie of Machete gutting a man and swinging on his intestines like a rope, but writer/director Rodriguez clearly tried his hardest to outdo himself this time, and I think he succeeded.
A big factor in why the humor here works is that, as absurd as things get, the characters never act like anything is out of the ordinary. I really have to admire the cast for being able to say and do some of these absurd things without losing their composure or breaking out laughing. And while Machete Kills lacks the overt political undercurrent of the first film, it still takes a moment for a potshot at racist border patrol vigilantes, which is one of the funniest scenes in the movie. A lot of the fun of these movies also comes from how well they capture the vibe of the 1970s exploitation films they pay tribute to. So many of the little details – the film grain effect, the blown-out colors, the slightly tinny music, the cannon-like gunfire sounds – seem straight out of those old films.
Michelle Rodriguez in “Machete Kills.” © 2013 – Troublemaker Studios.
While the film is intentionally done in a so-bad-it’s-good style, there are some flaws which detract from the experience. First, there are a few too many characters. While the big cast of bizarre characters is definitely part of the fun, some of them do end up feeling superfluous. Also, I found the ending to be a little unsatisfying, because it leaves things on such an obvious set-up for the potential next film, rather than providing a real wrap-up for this one. Finally, a big part of why the original Machete was more than just a loud, violent action film is that, even though it did it in a ham-handed, over-the-top way, it did have political commentary on the issues of immigration and the U.S. border debate. Aside from one brief scene, that element is basically missing from Machete Kills. It’s still a fun action film, but it doesn’t try to be anything more.
But even with its flaws, I still absolutely loved Machete Kills. The film still has a great cast, awesome action, funny humor, and a great throwback style. If you’re looking for an over-the-top, blood-soaked good time at the movies right now, look no further than Machete Kills.
Timothy Monforton