Flicks, Andrew Hedley
Rodriguez - king of the stretch-a-budget, DIY mentality - is once again paying homage to all the B-grade schlock that inspired him, and having a hell of a lot of fun while he's at it.
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Machete
An action exploitation flick from Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror, Sin City), and produced by Quentin Tarantino. The film is an expansion of a fake trailer Rodriguez directed for the double feature Grindhouse, made with Tarantino in 2007.
Machete (the prolific Danny Trejo's first lead role) is a renegade, former Mexican Federale. Broke and in need of work in Texas, he meets a local businessman named Booth (Jeff Fahey) who offers him a large cash payment for the assassination of corrupt local senator, McLaughlin (Robert De Niro). About to carry out the task, Machete is double-crossed and shot. Turns out he was being used as a patsy – Booth, working for McLaughlin, staged the 'assassination' to help create sympathy for the senator and anti-immigrant feeling within the electorate.
In hospital but under around-the-clock police watch, the wounded Machete escapes and teams with Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), his brother (Cheech Marin) and a group of illegal immigrants to hunt the people who double crossed him. Also stars Steven Seagal, Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan.
2010106 minsUSA
ActionAdventure
- Director:
- Robert Rodriguez ('Planet Terror', 'Sin City', 'Spy Kids', 'The Faculty', 'From Dusk Till Dawn', 'Desperado', 'El mariachi')Ethan Maniquis (feature debut)
- Writer:
- Robert RodriguezÁlvaro Rodríguez
- Cast:
- Danny TrejoMichelle RodriguezJessica AlbaRobert De NiroLindsay LohanCheech MarinJeff FaheyDon JohnsonSteven Seagal
Machete / Reviews
Bloody Disgusting
Maybe with the right audience, the right drink, and the right friends Machete would be more exciting?
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Entertainment Weekly
See Machete for Trejo, who... makes grade-Z stoic invincibility cool again.
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Chicago Tribune
At 105 minutes, Machete is at least half an hour too long for its own good.
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A.V. Club
The pile-up of cool kills, hot bodies, and other unprocessed bits of juvenilia doesn’t add up to a good time.
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Variety
Wildly uneven as it doggedly strives (sometimes with obvious strain) to sustain a free-wheeling, anything-goes air of exuberant junkiness.
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The New York Times
For all its political button pushing, Machete is too preposterous to qualify as satire. The only viewers it is likely to upset are the same kind of people who once claimed that the purple Tinky Winky in "Teletubbies" promoted a gay agenda
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Hollywood Reporter
The ensemble cast -- ranging from an Oscar winner (De Niro) and faded action star (Seagal) to a B-movie vet (Fahey) and tabloid fodder (Lindsay Lohan, not exactly playing against type as a drugged-out, hell-raising sexpot) -- pretty much offers something for everybody.
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Empire Magazine
This is not the down-and-dirty homage to ’70s sex and violence promised by its pre-emptive trailer — or only sporadically so. The cast work hard — Trejo oozes bad-ass charisma — and the film has some outrageously enjoyable set-pieces, but overall, the convoluted plot and Rodriguez’ agenda spoil the fun.
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