MACHETE KILLS

SYNOPSIS – After his partner is killed Machete (Danny Trejo) is sent to stop a deadly nuclear threat. There are many parody films, some based on as little as a sketch on a comedy show. There are few films, however, that can boast to be based on as little as a joke sketch. Machete was an attempt to turn a fake trailer in Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse double bill into an actual movie. Not everyone was convinced but enough people enjoyed the silliness for Rodriguez to try again. Now I never managed to see the first Machete film but felt reasonably assured that the sequel’s title explained just about everything one needs to know about it. Let’s start with what the film does right. Danny Trejo makes a good hero, his distinct look and growling line delivery means he stands out in a good way. The humour the film has is enough to give it a strong running start. Machete’s titular weapon is put to good use in over-the-top-gore and schlocky deaths (one of the most memorable involves an electric fence). This part plays out like a gorier Austin powers. The plot is also suitably ridiculous for this kind of ‘exploitation parody’, the cartoonish Bond villain type plan of a nuclear bomb and a walled off Mexico reads like something from the Naked Gun. Where the film goes wrong is, and I can’t believe I’m saying this about a film set in a world where Charlie Sheen is the President, it takes itself too seriously. At the screening I attended the gaps between the laughs got longer and longer. You get the distinct impression that we’re actually supposed to take the absurdities on offer and the serious stuff as well as humorous fare. Everyone plays it just a little too straight for the humour to be at its maximum potential. I am of course exempting Mr Trejo for this (mostly because I don’t want to make him angry) whose role works precisely because of the deadpan manner in which he accepts most of the insane world around him. It also doesn’t help that despite its fast and furious opening the movie lacks energy as it lurches towards its climax, some of the insane randomness is lost in an overabundance of dialogue when Machete could instead be kicking ass. For all of this it’s still an enjoyable laugh, however the sour smell of wasted potential still hangs over it. FINAL VERDICT 5/10 Only enjoyable when it could have been brilliantly insane.