Movie Review of the Day: " Machete”

Movie of the Day: " Machete” - 2010 - starring Danny Trejo,Robert Deniro,Jessica Alba,Steven Segal, Michelle Rodriguez.

Length: 1:.37:02

Date of Review: 09-25-2010

Rating : 7.00 ( B movie satire and exploitation of the 70 & 80´s type movies).

Movie Review:  I was honestly going to turn it off after the first 2 minutes, but something told me to hold on, and I was pleasantly surprised by where it took me. It is based on a B movie satire and exploitation of the 70 & 80´s B films but maybe this is why I should read reviews before I watch movies in the future. Funny enough, just yesterday, I was commenting on how I will say 99% of the movies I have watched, I never usually read the reviews before I watch, so I can really get a feel for the movie as it comes to me off the screen and let my emotions of that moment really “feel the moment” I am in.

In this case I was caught completely off guard because I had no clue of whether it was a satire, horror (first few moments), an actual B movie, a comedy of sorts (like Airplane), or a Hollywood jump on the Mexican Border issues, as it had a number of controversial sequences and I thought I had joined the Glen Beck´s campaign of lets become “famous” by attacking the Mexican / American issues. So my observation today to everyone is enjoy these reviews but understand what the movie´s central theme is so in order to prepare for the “events coming to a theatre near you”.

But with Machete, I really was caught off guard. See I live in Mexico for over 20 years and I have a Mexican family although I am Canadian, and honestly the first 30 minutes of the movie I was really appalled not only at the comments but it seemed like such a bashing and exploitation of the Mexicans and stereotypical behavior that I almost turned it off but again something told me to keep watching ( and of course it wasn´t all the bloodshed or nudity but I will say I always like Danny Trejo´s (Arnold Schwarzenegger man of few words attitude) so I kept watching).

Then something surprising happened it started to make sense ( I started capturing the real essence and satirical nature of the film and like so many of the watchable B movies of the 70´s and 80´s they somehow grip onto you and you now just can´t put it down. The humor and spoofs and political and racial remarks made started to take on a new film and meaning to the film for me.

The movie is about a machete wielding ex-Federale (who´s favorite weapon of choice = Machete) who´s wife and child are murdered in the first scene by a drug king Boss (played by Steven Seagal) and then escapes to America through the Network (lead by Michelle Rodriguez who I will say was looking especially buffed up) which helps illegal Mexicans establish themselves in America. 3 years after the murder of his family Machete (played by Danny Trujo) is approached and can´t refuse an offer to kill the US Senator (played by De Niro) who has jumped on the Border issues of America and very racist and inhumane killing any Mexicans that get in his way. Even starting with a DVD executing an illegal which they refer to as cockroaches and terrorists invading America.

But the story behind it all is that Booth (played by Jeff Fahey) who plays the assistant to the Senator hired Machete to injure the Senator so the public would have sympathy of the Mexican attack of terrorists and vote him in, but Machete and the Network and a Immigration agent who goes rogue (Jessica Alba) who helps to put it public and the jump to the dynamic finish which by this point its feeling like Wow what a comeback compared to how I felt in the first 10-15 minutes of the movie (of course without reading any reviews I was blindsided but refreshingly surprised at how it turned me around by the end).

Some things to watch for is quite a list of A actors who really did a great job with such tough content and Hollywood shakers (like Cheech Marin´s box of Mexican cigars or Lindsay Lohan´s completely Nude scene and her new found relationship with God) and the Director Rodriguez pulled it off and I think a reference to Quentin Terrentino´s style was remarkably noticeable in this film.

Overall, I liked it and felt a sense of comedy relief by the end although it honestly had my blood boiling at the start, but that’s the mark of a good film, turn our emotions all around and leave us at the end appreciating what he was trying to really say to us….so we will be ready to listen. Well done in that respect!!

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From "The Movie Buff" saying it in his No BS way... the Pen Fears No One.... John "Super Snake" Cobra.