Robert Rodriguez showed a lot of enthusiasm when trying to distance Machete from Planet Terror and produce an independently spirited, action packed thrill ride, as opposed to adressing it entirely as a commercially industrial spin-off of the hugely misjudged flop "Grindhouse". If you're gonna make exploitation camp, you better make it good. Will there be a worthy revival of such misunderstood cinema branch? I have already lost hope in the sequels. Machete (the film) is much less than the sum of its parts: the trailer scenes and vibe, the damaged film look (where did that go?), the full-star cast willing to offer an over-the-top film, and the "Rated X" warning, which surely isn't. There were possibilities of gore beyond belief, substantial amounts of dark humor and even some lesbianism/nunsploitation deviations, but no! As long as we stay within Hollywood standards, the Grindhouse Box of Pandora will not be fully opened again. What happened to the extraordinary opening sequence? It sold everything that we had been promised in less than 10 MINUTES, just to fall to mainstream standards afterwards and making the stylish "badassery" and the cheesy one-liners to feel forced and occasionally ludicrous, including the trailer scenes, which seemed random (example: Why would the Padre get the "God has mercy, I don't" badass line if he would receive no coherent screen time and not enough scenes with him in killing action?). It is good to see Rodriguez has improved his camp quality and sticks to Mexican territory however, his Grindhouse attributes have proved themselves to be unworthy of the exploitative trash cinema of the 70s. The feature film does not live up to the trailer, which was originally planned as, indeed, a trailer based on the material Rodriguez had in the 90s. The film ends with promises for sequels, which I look forward to, the characters are already set, so maybe director Rodriguez can hammer home the loveable moments of Machete than unfortunately get lost in a haze of mediocrity after the initial shock-value wears off. A great one to introduce to people, and maybe to have going on at an intoxicant-fuelled party, but I was unpleasantly surprised by the exposition-heavy dialogue and rhythmless silliness that I'd missed the first time around. Machete is a wholly entertaining film, but I found myself completely unmoved by comparison after watching it a second time, and unfortunately this is the asset I most highly prize in a film. It's the sort of film that is insanely better in theatres, but I honestly thought that the rewatch value would be a Hell of a lot higher than this. I did so last night, where I found myself completely untaken by the magic I'd been gripped by first time around. Originally I watched Machete at the Dendy cinema in Civic, and thought it was one of the best things to ever happen to me, naturally, I bought the film as soon as it was available, but it's taken me a while to get around to rewatching the DVD. Thirdly, the faux trailer that the film is based on, looks like it could have been a better film, and yet there's not really any difference between the two.įourthly, I enjoy metaphor and social/political commentary in my films, but it's American, so there's not really any room for subtleties, which annoys me.Īnd finally, I find myself in quite the rut. Yet Machete kinda succeeded in winning me over, despite my view on cult films. Usually I feel that anyone who deliberately designs their film in hope of gaining a cult following doesn't deserve one, it's films like Donnie Darko and Revolver that earn this right by the merits of the writer and director, not cheap tricks. Secondly, the film tries desperately hard to be a "cult classic" film. Grindhouse Exploitation film, yet it's stocked with legendary actors like Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez and special effects genius/actor Tom Savini all of whom I'm very fond, as well as more mainstream stars Robert De Niro (The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Awakenings, Jackie Brown, Analyze This, Analyze That, Hide and Seek, Limitless), Jessica Alba (Dark Angel, Sin City, Fantastic 4 and Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Eye, The Killer Inside Me), Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls, I Know Who Killed Me, Chapter 27) Jeff Fahey (Psycho III, The Lawnmower Man, Darkman III: Die Darkman Die, Lost), Cheech Marin (Cars, From Dusk till Dawn, The Lion King), and Steven Seagal (Driven to Kill, Against the Dark, Kill Switch, Urban Justice, Shadow Man, Half Past Dead, The Patriot). Machete poses an interesting problem for me as an amateur reviewer.įirstly, it's supposed to be a regen.
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