Machete is an action/crime thriller film. It is mostly known for the Mexican theme that draws the attention to the viewers. It is packed full of ridiculous outrageous action and is entirely unrealistic, but very amusing to the viewers. The story line is not necessarily just based off of Danny Trejo's character (Machete) but the struggles that illegal immigrants go through to get into America as well as the corrupt American Government. I feel that Machete is like a Mexican "Charles Bronson" because he is in revenge mode, nothing will stop him, angry as hell. He is an ex-Federale who gets betrayed for killing a Texas Senator and seeks revenge towards his previous boss.
The other characters in this film assumed he is a myth, Machete felt that being a myth was better than being a real person, this is showcased throughout the film as Machete seems almost "immortal" and seems to be a symbol of the Mexican rebellion. While Machete even though his past is violent and full of anger and vengeance, seemed as if he would have been just happy eating tacos and being a normal daily labor worker, but you can never really escape your past,can you?
The film is a bit ridiculous over-all in the use of violence, such as swinging through a window by another man's intestines, yes, is cheesy, but this film to me was never made to be serious, it is a throw-back to classic b action movies and then they turn it up from dial 5, to flat out max 10, which I mean, as if five minutes into the film him cutting off 3 heads in a single 360 slice wasn't enough, and magically only his passenger gets shot, we eventually get to this.
This film however, has no boundaries what so ever. Machete brings back classic B-action with a vengeance, not caring about how realistic or silly it is, and at the same time having one heck of a cast, which at the time makes you wonder "why are they in this silly film?" Well, I'd say because I'd bet it was a lot of fun to make, I have no doubt they all had a lot of fun being involved in such a crazy film and....
Machete is a ridiculous film but in a good way, the gore tops Kill-Bill style, the random parts of 80's "porno" show-casing Machete being someone women are drawn to and adore because of his flat out pure masculinity, coupled with having no problem with killing bad people and "saving the girl," this movie is a total throw-back to the silly days when action movies were just FUN, and I personally believe this film should be enjoyed not as a thought provoker, but as a turn off your brain, let the blood and guts fly while you sit with a grin on your watching film.
Robert Rodriguez is an amazing director and is well known for his Hispanic themes and settings.
Also Roberts stylizations are well established with the music, reloading of weapons and action packed scenes. For example Machete the main weapon is brought up a lot in the scenes, Machete for sure prefers close and personal versus a gun, and is shown when he refers to his machete as "The Boss". The women are exploited a little to much which makes the story line a little jumbled. But I do think Rodriguez was on the right track to use Jessica Alba(Sartana) and Michelle Rodriguez(Luz) for casting these strong female characters in this film. Both have unique qualities in different occupations but are cognate to their Hispanic heritage. Over all this is an excellent film but not everyone is going to enjoy it, but for what it is, I love it. Sometimes over the top is perfect, as long as you don't try to be serious, and Machete, is not a serious film at all. Just a bloody good time.
Let's talk about Machete, the myth, for a second. From the title and quite possibly the trailer you may think that Machete may only use... a machete. However, he is not opposed to using any different type of weapon he can create or use. If that's the case and he wanted to keep his Mythological name attached to himself do you think that had Rodriquez cast him as a marine sniper type that would kill seemingly from nowhere, and then maybe used the machete for important kills and/or a last resort that would have been more beneficial for future films? Or do you believe that his name with just be talked about as a myth because of what happened in this film as well as his past?
ReplyDeleteThe "myth" aspect of Machete that you mentioned reminded me of the 2014 movie John Wick and how Keanu Reeves's character is nicknamed "The Boogeyman". However, the difference between the two movies to me is that John Wick is much more serious and much less cheesy than Machete. What do you think makes this difference? Why is a mexploitation film taken as cheesy while a movie with essentially (loosely used) the same plot is far more serious?
ReplyDeleteI see people keep talking about the "myth" of Machete, but it was Luz' character that brought up the idea of a myth to Machete when they spoke about Shé. Did Luz turn a myth into a reality by becoming Shé? Or was Luz Shé all along, proving to Machete how powerful a symbol can be?
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