Undoubtedly, MACHETE KILLS is the one movie in theatres this past weekend that you may have missed while standing in line for artier-fare like GRAVITY or CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. With a title MACHETE KILLS, there's not a lot of room for subtlety, exploration of the human spirit or a desperate pursuit for the elusive Oscar statuette. If anything, the picture's title sounds less like a movie made for serious movie season and more like an obvious safety warning.
I liked the first MACHETE movie enough. In fact, I liked it even more as a two-and-a-half minute fake trailer in GRINDHOUSE, so based on that, the rest of the 90 or so minutes of the first film ticked-off all that trailer's big moments with a large dose of in-joke silliness. Heavy on the gore and big movie stars like Robert DeNiro winking back at you from the big screen, it all worked.
So, just as promised at the end of the first picture, Machete (Danny Trejo) is back for more in MACHETE KILLS. It's another cinematic bucket from the 70's exploitation picture tribute well that has treated both director Robert Rodriguez and his buddy in B's Quentin Tarantino extremely generously.
Far be it for me to detail the overly-arch plot, because this one basically takes the illegal-alien Machete and turns him into a secret agent superman throwing him into lots of fights where he gets to use his machete and gets to blow stuff up.
The bad news is that most of the silly, cheap fun that propelled the first MACHETE picture is slowly drained from the sequel. It feels like this new film is trying too hard this time out. The movie works in fits and starts - funny in places, even exciting - then it seems to labour for long stretches to keep its compendium of camp, gore and needlessly- extraneous plot in the audience's interest. At 107 minutes, the picture wanders for much longer than would have ever been permitted in the old 1970s drive-in movie days. Where were the "Reel Missing" cards that Rodriguez ingeniously deployed in his other B-picture tributes to paint himself out of a corner and keep the plot turning? Could have used a few of them here to get this sucker down to a Grindhouse-friendly 82 minutes.
The good news here is the villains. Oscar-nominee Demian Beschir as the demented cartel warlord Mendez is incredible - he steals every scene he's in with his crazy-eyed energy and odd line-readings. He makes his character less a plot device and more a kinetic cartoon-y counterpoint to the stoic, mono-syllabic Machete. The other nice get is Mel Gibson as a Star Wars-obsessed aerospace magnate. Both look like they are having a lot of fun, and are so much better that the film that surrounds them - even if that film is supposed to be intentionally bad.
SPOILER ALERT: the third entry of the MACHETE series is actually teased at the very beginning of this film - as a trailer. The concept is loony and knowing: playing like a 'real' film franchise whose creators are so bankrupt of plot ideas that they stick their main character in outer space. It has goofy energy in a two minute burst, and a great BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS/STARCRASH vibe. Perhaps it would be best to leave MACHETE right there.
I liked the first MACHETE movie enough. In fact, I liked it even more as a two-and-a-half minute fake trailer in GRINDHOUSE, so based on that, the rest of the 90 or so minutes of the first film ticked-off all that trailer's big moments with a large dose of in-joke silliness. Heavy on the gore and big movie stars like Robert DeNiro winking back at you from the big screen, it all worked.
So, just as promised at the end of the first picture, Machete (Danny Trejo) is back for more in MACHETE KILLS. It's another cinematic bucket from the 70's exploitation picture tribute well that has treated both director Robert Rodriguez and his buddy in B's Quentin Tarantino extremely generously.
Far be it for me to detail the overly-arch plot, because this one basically takes the illegal-alien Machete and turns him into a secret agent superman throwing him into lots of fights where he gets to use his machete and gets to blow stuff up.
The bad news is that most of the silly, cheap fun that propelled the first MACHETE picture is slowly drained from the sequel. It feels like this new film is trying too hard this time out. The movie works in fits and starts - funny in places, even exciting - then it seems to labour for long stretches to keep its compendium of camp, gore and needlessly- extraneous plot in the audience's interest. At 107 minutes, the picture wanders for much longer than would have ever been permitted in the old 1970s drive-in movie days. Where were the "Reel Missing" cards that Rodriguez ingeniously deployed in his other B-picture tributes to paint himself out of a corner and keep the plot turning? Could have used a few of them here to get this sucker down to a Grindhouse-friendly 82 minutes.
The good news here is the villains. Oscar-nominee Demian Beschir as the demented cartel warlord Mendez is incredible - he steals every scene he's in with his crazy-eyed energy and odd line-readings. He makes his character less a plot device and more a kinetic cartoon-y counterpoint to the stoic, mono-syllabic Machete. The other nice get is Mel Gibson as a Star Wars-obsessed aerospace magnate. Both look like they are having a lot of fun, and are so much better that the film that surrounds them - even if that film is supposed to be intentionally bad.
SPOILER ALERT: the third entry of the MACHETE series is actually teased at the very beginning of this film - as a trailer. The concept is loony and knowing: playing like a 'real' film franchise whose creators are so bankrupt of plot ideas that they stick their main character in outer space. It has goofy energy in a two minute burst, and a great BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS/STARCRASH vibe. Perhaps it would be best to leave MACHETE right there.