Machete (18.)
Directed by Robert Rodriquez and Ethan Maniquis.
Starring Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagall, Jeff Fahey, Michelle Rodriquez, Lindsey Lohan, Robert De Niro. 105 mins
Like a dying comic that refuses to be booed off, Rodriquez and Tarantino’s spectacularly unsuccessful Grindhouse project just refuses to die. In the original double feature the directors’ two films Planet Terror and Death Proof were separated by a series of trailers, one of which featured the vengeful, knife wielding Mexican, played by Danny Trejo.
Now the trailer has become a film, another tribute to the exploitation cinema of the 60s and 70s. The twist is that it has taken that most pigheaded of act forms – the revenge action film and given it a bleeding heart message about tolerance with Machete working to expose a corrupt right wing Texas politician (De Niro) who is campaigning against illegal immigration from south of the border.
Not to worry, the film is still mostly just an excuse to shove in all kinds of gratuitous violence, nudity and machismo. It’s the aesthetics of a Lynx advert: there’s a veneer of knowing irony to cover it but the film’s message is Go On, You Know You Want It.
And I did, I did want it really, but after a decent first half hour the joke wears a bit thin. I have really had a great time with Rodriquez’s recent films (even his half of Grindhouse was excellent.) Maybe this one just caught me in the wrong mood, or maybe it just irritated me that he is still piddling about on this kind of stuff when he could and should be doing Sin City 2
Though Fahey, Don Johnson and Lindsey Lohan get into the hammy spirit, the big name cast is less fun than you’d expect. This kind of deliberate bad acting is difficult to judge even for the most gifted performer – asking Jessica Alba to do it is just cruel.
(This is the Jessica Alba who recently told Elle “Good actors, never use the script unless it’s amazing writing ….All the good actors I’ve worked with, they all say whatever they want to say.”)
At the centre of it is tough guy actor Danny Trejo, given his star role after decades of work as a support player. Muscle-bound, taciturn and with a face that seems to be made up solely of scars, pockmarks, creases and unexplained bulges, he resembles a cross between Charles Bronson, Lemmy from Motorhead and Sir Rowley Birkin Q.C. from The Fast Show. The big joke is all these talented performers falling at the feet of this central totem poll.
De Niro reviews -
Everybody's Fine,
What Just Happened?
Silver Linings Playbook
Last Vegas
Midnight Run
Directed by Robert Rodriquez and Ethan Maniquis.
Starring Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagall, Jeff Fahey, Michelle Rodriquez, Lindsey Lohan, Robert De Niro. 105 mins
Like a dying comic that refuses to be booed off, Rodriquez and Tarantino’s spectacularly unsuccessful Grindhouse project just refuses to die. In the original double feature the directors’ two films Planet Terror and Death Proof were separated by a series of trailers, one of which featured the vengeful, knife wielding Mexican, played by Danny Trejo.
Now the trailer has become a film, another tribute to the exploitation cinema of the 60s and 70s. The twist is that it has taken that most pigheaded of act forms – the revenge action film and given it a bleeding heart message about tolerance with Machete working to expose a corrupt right wing Texas politician (De Niro) who is campaigning against illegal immigration from south of the border.
Not to worry, the film is still mostly just an excuse to shove in all kinds of gratuitous violence, nudity and machismo. It’s the aesthetics of a Lynx advert: there’s a veneer of knowing irony to cover it but the film’s message is Go On, You Know You Want It.
And I did, I did want it really, but after a decent first half hour the joke wears a bit thin. I have really had a great time with Rodriquez’s recent films (even his half of Grindhouse was excellent.) Maybe this one just caught me in the wrong mood, or maybe it just irritated me that he is still piddling about on this kind of stuff when he could and should be doing Sin City 2
Though Fahey, Don Johnson and Lindsey Lohan get into the hammy spirit, the big name cast is less fun than you’d expect. This kind of deliberate bad acting is difficult to judge even for the most gifted performer – asking Jessica Alba to do it is just cruel.
(This is the Jessica Alba who recently told Elle “Good actors, never use the script unless it’s amazing writing ….All the good actors I’ve worked with, they all say whatever they want to say.”)
At the centre of it is tough guy actor Danny Trejo, given his star role after decades of work as a support player. Muscle-bound, taciturn and with a face that seems to be made up solely of scars, pockmarks, creases and unexplained bulges, he resembles a cross between Charles Bronson, Lemmy from Motorhead and Sir Rowley Birkin Q.C. from The Fast Show. The big joke is all these talented performers falling at the feet of this central totem poll.
De Niro reviews -
Everybody's Fine,
What Just Happened?
Silver Linings Playbook
Last Vegas
Midnight Run
