While political movies projecting a serious tone around themes like war tend to drive audiences away from US theaters faster than rumors of a bedbug invasion, when heavy subject matter is laced with light laughs it’s an entirely different story. So even though Machete is just about incendiary enough to incite an all out border war around the current hot topic of immigration, spicing up the proceedings with devilish humor keeps the feverish temperature moderated more at playful than provocative levels.
Troublemaker Studio’s bay boy director Robert Rodriguez, who last shook up movie screens with Grindhouse and Sin City, returns with a vengeance with the bullet riddled, stylishly defiant slice ’em up action satire, Machete. Get even bilingual guerrilla warfare meets guerrilla filmmaking, as wickedly dark screen insanity fuels US north of the border revolutionary beatdown.
Machete touches on the serious subject of illegal immigration in the United States, particularly those who sneak across the Mexican border. Machete, a former Mexican Federale who entered the U.S. illegally after his wife was killed by a druglord, Torrez, is working as a day laborer in Texas. He’s offered $150,000 by businessman Michael Booth to kill Senator John McLaughlin, who is up for re-election and is building his platform on tightening the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
But Booth is betrayed by Booth, as the assignation attempt was set up to garner more support for McLaughlin’s campaign. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Sartana is sent to capture Machete for the murder attempt, but as she gets to know him, Sartana takes an interest in Machete. Sartana eventually comes to like, and want to help, Machete.
While the movie is Danny Trejo’s first major lead role, and deserves credit for affectingly portraying the need for revenge, Robert De Niro was definitely the stand-out star of the film. While McLaughlin is more of a supporting character, and doesn’t have as much screen time as Trejo and Jessica Alba, Machete is definitely a good change for De Niro. Remembered most for his roles in crime dramas, the cross between a B movie and exploitation film in Machete finally allowed him to mix being in a position of power with being funny.
And even though Machete wastes a lot of time trying to espouse incredibly retarded opinions on vital social issues, in the end naked Lindsay Lohan (who, somewhat hilariously, seems to have no idea she’s playing a crack whore) is far more important to your enjoyment of this movie than whether or not Predators director Nimrod Antal’s cameo as a racist white security guard with thoughts on border crossings actually fits in the script (it doesn’t).
Machete is a movie specializing in the ridiculous and the insane, and the more insane it gets the more fun you’ll have. This is in large part thanks to Robert Rodriguez, who is so good at this genre that he should never be allowed to direct anything that isn’t a grindhouse movie ever again, and in part thanks to the cast which is unexpectedly really good at it too. Michelle Rodriguez looks better than she’s ever looked, Steven Seagal has a blast with a killer swordplay ending, and Trejo grunts his way one step closer to becoming an action movie icon. Machete’s politics are a cringe-worthy mess but when it comes to over-the-top fun his blade is razor sharp.