Review: Machete Kills

Machete Kills
Cert: 15 / 108 mins / Dir. Robert Rodriguez



It was never going to be easy for Robert Rodriguez to top one of my all time favourites, especially since the rest of the audience and I knew roughly what was on the cards (or at least what we wanted to see). And yet, although we knew what to expect, we had no idea how much of it there'd be, or how far it would go.

You know the phrase 'less is more'? In the context of this movie, that's bollocks. More is more, and Rodriguez doesn't skimp on the firepower, the muscles, the babes or the exploding bodies. Machete Kills is completely comfortable in its own absurdity, and this is achieved by recruiting a cast who brazenly step into the same category. Trejo is on respectable form as Machete Cortez (although that's largely who he plays in every role, admittedly), and Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez reprise their roles with faces straight enough to sell the joke. But any movie which features Mel Gibson, Lady Gaga and, god bless 'im, 'Carlos Estevez', and not only makes them watchable but also likeable and entertaining, is to be roundly applauded.

The film opens with a scratchy, jumpy trailer for 'Machete Kills Again… In Space', and although you're already on the ludicrous-bus, you pass it off as being exactly the kind of tongue-in-cheek promo which started this series. But 95 minutes later, it closes with another trailer for the same film; and by that point you know that they're entirely serious.

You can only follow up a shlocky, grindhouse B-movie like Machete by upping the ante, and Machete Kills is almost, almost everything it needs to be. The only slight issues I had were the occasional spots of extended 'downtime' (read: no-one bleeding or screaming), and the lack of dirt and scratches on the print of the actual movie. Although to be fair, the outdoor shots look so gorgeous that I'd want to show them off properly, too.

If you want a violent, sleazy, funny live-action cartoon which refuses to take itself at all seriously, go and see Machete Kills. Catching up on the first one's not essential, but you'll be glad you did.

Yep.



Yep.



For me, absolutely.



For me, the cinema.



Yes. Yes I will.



Yep.



There is, yes.
AND there's a landspeeder.
AND there's a carbon-freezing block.
NOT. EVEN. JOKING..

Would you like to see another Grindhouse double bill, or do you think Tarantino should leave this stuff to Rodriguez now?

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