Director Robert Rodriguez has always had a thing for old-fashioned, B Grindhouse flicks. Inspired by his own homage of a simple tongue and cheek trailer that wasn’t meant to be any more than just a fun joke – it morphed into its own feature film and became one of the most entertaining action flicks of 2010.
Starring Danny Trejo as Machete, a Mexican that you really don’t want to mess with. After being betrayed by some heavy bad guys Machete goes out for revenge and you can bet he’ll be using some sharp, shiny objects to take them down.
Machete doesn’t pretend to be any more than what it sets out to be – a fun, silly action movie. It squeezes in some topical issues of immigration and the treatment of them by the US, but its main focus is having Trejo kill a lot of bad guys and he does it very well. He will look familiar to audiences from small roles in countless films through the years and he has a much more believable presence in this type of film than some pretty boy actor who’s trying to act tough.
The film has an eclectic supporting cast – Robert DeNiro, Steven Seagal, Jeff Fahey, Michelle Rodriquez, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Alba, but Trejo is the star of the show. He proves he can headline an action flick and not just be a background actor and introduces us to a character that could seemingly continue with more bloody adventures. This is more what The Expendables should have been.
I really enjoyed Machete, I am glad they turned the spoof trailer from the Grindhouse films into its own movie. I just got done watching it over at DISHOnline.com. I found it there after a DISH coworker suggested the movie to me. I think the best feature of the movie is the cast. I don’t think there is another person who could play Machete, this role was made for Trejo. Where else can you see DeNiro, Cheech and Jeff Fahey in the same movie? There is a great mix of B list actors and actresses along with some A list giants. I just found out they are making a sequel which I think is great, I would like to see a sequel to Planet Terror as well, I could go without another Death Proof movie though.