By Scott Mendelson
HollywoodNews.com: It is easy to dismiss the angry political threads running through Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete.” While it’s easy to simply say that ‘it’s just a comedic throwback to the exploitation films of the 1970s’, one must remember that those films did indeed tackle the political and social issues of the day. Whether by coincidence or design, the film ends up being an uncommonly timely glance at one of the major political hot-button topics of the day. Because it is a violent action picture, it resolves its specific issues with confrontation and carnage, and it eventually becomes a form of wish-fulfillment fantasy. But in an age where we constantly complain of empty-headed mainstream entertainment, it is a disservice to both the film and to our own desire for relevant mainstream film-making to ignore the fiery conscience at the heart of this over-the-top piece of Mexican myth-making.
A token amount of plot: ‘Machete’ (Danny Trejo) was once a dedicated federale, enforcing Mexican law when no one else would. However, he was betrayed by his own people, resulting in the slaughter of his family by drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal). Three years later, Machete finds himself in Texas and is almost immediately recruited by one Mr. Booth (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate stridently anti-immigration Senator McLaughlin (Robert DeNiro). However, the job is a set-up and Machete soon finds himself on the run. As he sets forth to find out why he was set up and how the plot may tie into his past, he is assisted by Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), a taco stand operator who is secretly the head of an ‘underground railroad’-type operation for illegals crossing into America. And his exploits attract the attention of a sympathetic immigration officer (Jessica Alba), and the head of a vigilante border-watch group (Don Johnson), who has explicit ties to the senator.
As you can see, this is a pretty huge cast (I even left off a few), and most of them adapt themselves well to the straight-faced satire. Danny Trejo of course dominates as a man of few words but many creative ways to kill you. De Niro simply plays it straight, never winking at or apologizing for the hateful rhetoric and coming up with one of his better dramatic performances in quite a while. Michelle Rodriguez relishes the chance to play a more fleshed-out variation on her ‘tough chick’ persona, while Jeff Fahey merely relishes [...]
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