MACHETE KILLS

Director Robert Rodriguez got it right with the sequel MACHETE KILLS. From the very beginning you can tell this is what a Machete film should be. Pretty much everything about the sequel is better than the original. One could argue that MACHETE KILLS goes so far in not taking itself seriously that the film borders on spoof. This is a good thing. It goes hand in hand with the original concept/fake trailer.

The film is indeed spoof but the good kind of spoof. Not in the vain of early nineties spoof like HOT SHOTS or anything like that. Instead MACHETE KILLS reminds me a lot of a Roger Corman produced film from the late seventies or early eighties. Oddly enough FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES was another movie that kept popping up in my mind while watching the latest Machete film. Rodriguez toying with the notion that Machete cannot be killed I found very amusing.

This time around Machete has been hired by Mr. President to stop a Mexican revolutionary named Mendez who has a missile aimed at Washington D.C. Things get complicated when Machete finds out that the real threat comes from Luthor Voz, an eccentric arms dealing terrorist.

MACHETE KILLS is Rodriguez's James Bond movie. This film would work great as a double feature with LIVE AND LET DIE or MOONRAKER.

Luthor Voz (played brilliantly by Mel Gibson) is someone that could easily be on S.P.E.C.T.R.E's payroll.

There isn't much I didn't like about this movie. In fear of just sounding like a fanboy I'll just share a non spoiler reason why I'm a Rodriguez fan. I like the fact that when watching MACHETE KILLS I know 100% that I'm witnessing a Robert Rodriguez film. A filmmaker who loves movies that makes movies. A true B-movie exploitation auture.

I typically find entertainment even in his films that I consider failures. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO frustrates me to no end but I find myself with a smile on my face every time I watch it. The same goes for MACHETE. Bottom line, he's a director that makes kid's movies for adults and I will always love that no matter if the film works for me or not.

I highly recommend MACHETE KILLS to fans of exploitation films. My only beef with the film is that it ends on a joke. Let's talk about the joke. So MACHETE KILLS begins with a fake trailer that's MACHETE KILLS AGAIN IN SPACE. It's funny, it's cool. It has some THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK imagery.

By the end of the movie certain events start to fall into place that set up the movie's story to conclude in MACHETE KILLS AGAIN IN SPACE. My first thought was this is getting really retarded. But the more I thought about it the more I recalled Star Wars knock offs like BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and STAR CRASH.

Now I am completely on board for a Robert Rodriguez Star Wars knock-off exploitation science fiction film!

I really hope it's not a joke because MACHETE KILLS AGAIN IN SPACE would be amazing!