Geeks on Film: Machete [Review]

As I sat in the theater waiting for Machete to spool out before me, I have to admit I was a little scared. Would this film not only live up to one of the greatest trailers ever, but 3 years of fan anticipation on top of that?

Yeah, sitting there with a theater full of Geekadelphians, I really didn’t want this film to suck.

Within 10 minutes those fears were washed away with the blood of over a dozen headless Mexican drug lords. The audience was shouting at the screen and clapping away; Machete IS that film from the trailer and makes no apologies about it.

The first act of the film, in which we are reintroduced to our favorite double crossed “God Damn Mexican Federale,” the film is sporting the same deteriorated look of Grindhouse as almost a wink and a nod to fans, letting you know you you’re in good hands from here on out.

Robert Rodriguez delivers in spades on all the promises of his over the top larger than life trailer, and amazingly at times even outdoes himself. While the plot of the film remains the same from the trailer, there are still points where while Rodriguez doesn’t fail to surprise us. Sure, we have seen about 60% of the money shots in the film, but given their context they are just that much better.

To help fill out the Machete revenge storyline, we are given subplots involving Jessica Alba as an immigration officer trying to expose an underground immigrant smuggling network run supposedly by Michelle Rodriguez’s character, out of her taco truck no less. Robert Rodriguez shows us he knows bad ass ladies once again and both women manage to share the spotlight with the larger than life Trejo throughout the film without a problem.

The cast in this film is amazing on paper and on screen as well. You can really tell everyone is not even trying to take either themselves or the film seriously, and it pays off in some great performances that you probably would have never seen otherwise. I should also probably note that for Trejo this is first time headlining a film and it’s about damn time. Being a huge genre fan, I have seen him in countless films and it’s great to see him carry a picture like Machete without even breaking a sweat.

Rodriguez has pulled together some of the greatest genre talent out there to make one of the best genre films of the year. In an age where most directors are trying to take the safe bet with that all holy PG-13, Machete shows us how much fun an R rating use to be. Rodriguez also shows us what made him the director he is in the first place revisiting his low budget genre roots and showing he still has what it takes.

I thoroughly enjoyed Machete, and if you’re looking for a film with break neck action, beautiful women and more excessive violence than you can shake a stick at; Machete is definitely the film for you. This film would definitely be my genre film pick for the summer and I feel more than comfortable giving Machete a 4 out of 5 stars.