Plot
The U.S. government recruits Machete to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer who looks to launch a weapon into space.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 6.4/10 (2,386 voted)
Director:Robert Rodriguez
Storyline
The U.S. government recruits Machete to battle his way through Mexico in order to take down an arms dealer who looks to launch a weapon into space.
Writers: ,
Taglines:
Trained to kill. Left for dead. Back for more.
Filming Locations: Troublemaker Studios - 4900 Old Manor Road, Austin, Texas, USA
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Robert Rodriguez's eleventh collaboration with Danny Trejo. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
It seems you just can't keep a good Mexican down. That goes for both
Danny Trejo's character, Machete, and the Mexican film geek Jesus
himself, Robert Rodriguez. Let me start by saying that this is one of
the most ridiculous movies I've seen in my entire life, let alone in
the last year. The concept itself is absurd, the action is something
out of a B-action movie, and the characters play more as preposterous
caricatures of established stereotypes than actual people. And I
couldn't be more pleased with the results. This is easily the most fun
I have had at the movie theater all year.
Machete Kills is the sequel to 2010's Machete. The latter was developed
from a 'fake' trailer that preceded 2007's Grindhouse, a collaborative
double feature consisting of Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Quentin
Tarantino's Death Proof. Using the character Machete from his Spy Kids
series, Rodriguez made an amazing trailer for a grindhouse-esque film.
When the trailer served to be immensely popular, he created the feature
length. Now, three years later, we have the sequel to the movie that
almost never was.
What we have here is one of the greatest parody films ever made. It's
not a parody on the level of Airplane! or Scary Movie, but this movie
is just downright hilarious. It has everything from references to
current events (mainly the plight of the Hispanic people and their
standing in America's 21st Century) to great quips about the actors'
personal lives (Charlie Sheen's President Rathcock is a great spoof of
his personal issues and his Martin Sheen's famous role of the president
on West Wing) to lampoons of successful franchises. If anything,
Machete Kills is the best James Bond satire since Austin Powers. And
even with all of this, it somehow manages to hit harder with each joke.
We never reach a point where the movie has spread itself too thin.
Robert Rodriguez is a genius. It's that simple. Somehow, more than any
other filmmaker, he can spread a tiny budget as far as it can possibly
go. He's known for this and has baffled studios for the better part of
two decades when he makes amazing films on a paltry budget. Considering
the scale of this movie (especially just in the cast), it's amazing
that Machete Kills was made with $30 million. The secret is that
Rodriguez knows exactly what he wants. He doesn't need to waste money
on things he can get done for cheap. For example, the special effects
in this film are on par with a SyFy channel movie, like Sharktopus. He
knows you're not there to see Avatar level CGI. You want a ridiculous
story filled with even more ridiculous characters doing EVEN MORE
ridiculous things. This, I believe, is the key to Machete Kills'
quality. Every bit of Rodriguez' money and time is put into the most
important aspects of the film.
The cast in this film is exquisite. Let's just rattle off every big
name in this movie:
Michelle Rodriguez
Danny Trejo
Jessica Alba
Charlie Sheen (or Carlos Estevez)
Sofia Vergara
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Lady GaGa
Antonia Banderas
Demian Bechir
Amber Heard
Vanessa Hudgens
Alexa Vega (or the girl from Spy Kids)
I could easily continue but let's just stop there. And the best part
is, not one of these characters is a cameo. Sure, some of them take up
just a fraction of the screen time, but each actor plays a memorable
character that contributes something worthwhile to the story. That is a
feat that needs to be recognized. Few directors could handle a cast
this large and of this caliber, and still be able to make each one of
them memorable.
I cannot stress this enough. Go see Machete Kills. Gather up your
friends and prepare to get rowdy. This is the kind of movie that
thrives on a reactive audience. And prepare to have a rip roarin'
blast.
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