Machete

Even while preparing his second feature film "Desperado", director Robert Rodriguez came up with the idea for a bona fide Latino hero, which he was then able to finally bring to life, at least in the form of a fake trailer, during his grindhouse feature "Planet Terror": "Machete" was born! Since the shooting of the short film had brought Rodriguez a lot of joy and he saw in Danny Trejo the perfect action hero, and since the desire of the fans for the real implementation of the fictional film grew louder and louder, Rodriguez has now given the avenger with the machete his own feature film. The result is great trash cinema at its finest, blending violence and sex into an immensely entertaining whole.

Once upon a time, Machete (Danny Trejo) was the best cop in the Mexican Federal Police. But after drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal) has his entire family murdered, there's no real purpose in life for Machete anymore. He goes into hiding in Texas, but fails to shake off his past here. For when he is offered big money to shoot the racist Senator McLaughlin (Robert de Niro) by businessman Booth (Jeff Fahey), who thinks Machete is a simple illegal immigrant, the ex-cop quickly finds himself in a quagmire of corruption, murder and deceit in which Torrez also seems to be involved. With the help of the revolutionary Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) and the ambitious immigration officer Sartana (Jessica Alba), Machete wants to put a stop to Torrez once and for all. But he has a few aces up his sleeve...

If you take a movie like "Machete" seriously, you can't be helped. Rodriguez has staged the whole thing so obviously over-the-top and intentionally trashy that it's just a sheer delight. One example is the scene in which Machete seduces the wife and daughter of his arch-enemy together. Here Rodriguez reveals all too obviously that he used a body double instead of Lindsay Lohan, which makes the already amusing scene even funnier. Or the very beginning, when Machete storms a house to rescue a stark naked lady who has chosen a very unusual place to store her cell phone. Wonderfully cliché-laden dialogue, completely over-the-top depictions of violence, and absolutely bizarre conceits (Machete's visit to his spiritual brother, for instance, is full of such conceits) make this film a ton of fun from the first minute to the last.

While Rodriguez does run out of steam a bit at the end, and the lead-laden finale feels a bit overstuffed. But the journey to get there is so entertaining that this weakness can be safely overlooked. The most positive effect of the movie, however, is that character face Danny Trejo finally gets to show that he can definitely carry a movie as a cool action hero. Even though he is supported by a cast that couldn't be more different with Robert de Niro and Steven Seagal and with Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba and Jeff Fahey on the one hand offers pure nostalgia, on the other hand also plenty of fodder for the eye, the film would be only half as worth seeing without Trejo as Machete.

Who appreciates trash cinema on a high level and likes to go on paths beyond all political correctness, will be rewarded with action, blood, sex, a great soundtrack and a lot of good-humored actors at a cinema visit of "Machete". If you liked the fake trailer for the movie and found "Planet Terror" entertaining, you won't want to miss this explosive revenge flick. Worth seeing!!!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp