Machete.
It's a blade.
Not unlike a sword, but with a wider sheet of metal designed for slicing, hacking, and destroying.
Machete.
He's a man.
Not unlike an action hero, but with a wider sheet of metal designed for slicing, hacking, and destroying.
This is the movie I wanted Expendables to be.
I can't say that fact clearer.
This is of course a movie that never tries to be more than what it is. In fact, it knows just how much of a movie, a grindhouse film, that it falls under a new category of film. This is one that has been slowly developing for a few years. Films like the grindhouse movies, Snakes on a Plane, and Shoot Em Up. I want to call this new Genre grindhouse. And likely it will stay with that. The common factor of these films, for those few poor souls who this type of thing isn't theirs, are tributes to the B-movie films of the 70's. The type of film that would be attached to a double picture. Today these kind of films are far inferior and often just direct to DVD. These movies however, being tributes, are acutely aware of their absurdity. And they have fun with it. It is the process of having fun that leads to these films being fun themselves.
And that is exactly what Machete is. It defies expectations because the acting is over the top and hilarious. I don't want to use the phrase intentionally bad, but it is. Except it isn't. Let me explain. There are an overuse of jump cuts. a jump cut is where you watch a shot and suddenly it jumps because its missing frames or it was edited in a way that feels unnatural. You may not understand my description but if you saw it, and you've spent time watching movies in any capacity, you would notice. You might not label it, but you'd notice. This has those jump cuts, but they are intentional. They are a loving tribute to those great grand balls of fun. The movie is the type where it is so absurd its fun.
I know, this is a sucky review because I can't tell you if things are good or bad. But I can say that the movie succeeds at it's goal. That goal is to remind you why we love these kind of films. It is the kind of film that goes over the top, but knows just how far to go over the top so as to still remain enjoyable. And then on top of that, this has fantastic action. Every scene, almost always, turns into some kind of action sequence. Machete and some girl(because Machete gets the women) are about to go at it and bam! A fight ensues. Machete, as played by Danny Trejo is a great character because he has a good backstory, and he never breaks character. And I think that in a nutshell describes why I can give the acting a good rating is because the characters never break or do something they wouldn't
Also be prepared for over the top gore ala the first two grindhouse films.
I don't think it needs to be said, but i'll do it anyway, that Robert Rodriguez is on his game here. This, the over the top action movie, is his bread and butter and I could see this movie selling like hotcakes once it's on dvd. Do yourself a favor though, see it with a crowd. It is a lot more fun that way.
So overall? I give it an A. My second highest possible grade.
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