By Preston Jones
McClatchy Newspapers
If “Inception” is this summer’s smartest cinematic thrill ride, “Machete” sits at the opposite end of the spectrum.
A loud, giddy, carnal blast from one of cinema’s most relentless schlock auteurs, Robert Rodriguez’s latest is best enjoyed with your brain switched off.
This over-the-top pastiche of Westerns, revenge thrillers, cultural stereotypes and softcore porn will be catnip for those who flocked to Rodriguez’s and Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 cult opus, “Grindhouse.”
Rodriguez has assembled a roster of actors that seems like, on paper, a spectacular mismatch: Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jeff Fahey, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson, Steven Seagal, Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba all turn up over the course of “Machete’s” hyper-violent run time.
Yet all bring a loopy conviction to their roles, however anemically written (Robert Rodriguez, along with Alvano Rodriguez, penned the screenplay). Despite several tongue-in-cheek (and other body parts) setpieces, “Machete,” which was filmed on location in Austin, Texas, works, even though common sense suggests it should not.
The plot is simplicity itself. Machete (Trejo) is, as the film opens, a Mexican federale whose family is brutally murdered at the hands of ruthless drug lord Torrez (Seagal, sporting the worst Spanish accent ever attempted).
Although left for dead, Machete escapes to cross the border illegally and scrape by as a day laborer in Austin. Before long, Machete finds himself tangled up in political intrigue, as Booth (Fahey), an aide to right-wing hatemonger Sen. John McLaughlin (De Niro), solicits Machete’s help with a murderous task. Soon, Machete is on the warpath laying waste to his enemies in unique fashion.
Some may be surprised by “Machete’s” incorporation of politics, although a strident political point of view isn’t unusual in the exploitation genre.
Aside from the finale, the current-affairs commentary doesn’t get in the way of the film’s kinetic set pieces. More than any other modern director, Rodriguez excels at staging visceral action sequences. As far back as 1995’s “Desperado,” Rodriguez was making do with minimal budgets and achieving maximum impact. The exploitation genre’s anything-goes attitude allows Rodriguez to indulge in some of his most lurid imagery since “From Dusk till Dawn”; one memorable scene involves “Machete” showing, shall we say, real guts, as he escapes a hospital.
Those in search of an elegant, Tarantino-style homage to rough-and-tumble cinematic fare won’t find it here – Rodriguez is only interested in updating a gritty, gory genre with pointed political commentary and modern filmmaking techniques.
“Machete” is hardly cerebral (unless copious brains splattered upon walls counts), but it just might be the most fun now available at the multiplex.
c. Fort Worth Star-Telegram
‘MACHETE’
* Rating: R for strong bloody violence throughout, language, some sexual content and nudity.
* Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.