Movie Review: Machete

2007's Grindhouse fake trailers introduced us to the character of Machete. It was an extremely hilarious bit centered around Danny Trejo as Machete who was a vigilante going after the people that betrayed him. Three years later, Machete has been transformed into a full-length film and director Robert Rodriguez has knocked it out of the park.


Machete is a Federal Agent from Mexico that goes to the United States after having his wife and daughter murdered by drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal). He has taken up shop working as a day laborer and has gotten out of the killing game. Machete is later dragged back into killing when he is approached by Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) and offered $150,000 to kill corrupt senator John McLaughlin (Robert De Niro), who has extreme measures to enforce immigration on the Mexican Border. Machete is soon double crossed and finds out Booth is working with McLaughlin and Machete soon goes on the run. Machete teams up with Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), Customs Agent Sartana (Jessica Alba) and his priest brother (Cheech Marlin) to take down McLaughlin and Booth, and expose them for the frauds that they are.



Machete is a great piece of B-movie fun. Robert Rodriguez is in his element making grindhouse features like Machete. Rodriguez packs Machete full of insane violence, hilarious dialogue, nudity and over the top cheese. Machete even has a message about illegal immigration. Danny Trejo is the ultimate bad-ass in this role. He is a quiet killer who hacks up the bad guys like nobody's business, has sex with Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Alba in the same movie (lucky bastard) and delivers brilliant quotes throughout. In addition to Trejo, the cast has plenty of standouts including De Niro who is hillarious as the Senator and Don Johnson has an insane Border Patrol officer. Steven Seagal is his usual corny, stone-faced self and proves once again that he is one of the worst actors ever, but that's why I love Seagal.



If you are looking for a good hack and slash B-movie with entrails, boobs and humor galore then Machete is for you. Robert Rodriguez is seriously one of the finest directors around right now and he needs to get around to making Sin City 2 to solidify that even further. Machete is a damn fine film and has a slot in my top 10 of 2010 locked up.
4/5 Stars