Plot
Machete takes place along the border of Mexico and Texas. Main character,
Machete (Danny Trejo), is a former
Mexican Federale who is given an
assassination mission to kill the corrupted
Senator of Texas, John Mclaughin
(Robert De Niro).
During a political rally
for Senator Mclaughin, Machete aims to kill and
notices a rifle pointed at him
from afar, he realizes has been setup.
Machete is injured, but angrier than
anything. With help from his two
sexy sidekicks, Sartana (Jessica Alba) and Luz
(Michelle Rodriguez),
Machete is sent into a frenzy to seek revenge upon his former
boss.
Background of Film and Cast
Machete premiered September 1, 2010 at the Venice Film Festival in California.
Though Machete is a mexplotiation film, it was released through 20th
Century Fox making the United States the film’s origin. This film has an
enormous
list of easily recognizable actors featured throughout.
This is Danny Trejo’s
first lead role in a feature film as Machete, then later
starred in Spy Kids the movie along with various television
series including
Breaking Bad, Bones, and
The Cleveland Show.
Robert De Niro also featured in this film, has been in
countless blockbuster
movies Meet the
Parents, The Godfather, The Goodfellas just to name a few.
Machete also includes our Hollywood favorites, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba,
Machete was originally written
in 1993 after director, Robert Rodriguez,
did his casting for the movie Desperado.
Rodriguez
said “There weren’t any action movies with a Latin flavor that
could play to a
broad audience.”
So
finally, 17 years later Rodriguez casted his well-known actors and
actresses. People
working on and off screen speak highly of Rodriguez
about how filming with him
is not work it is truly a joy waking up and
spending the day with him.
Genre
Machete is an action, crime, thriller mexploitation film. Before Machete, I
have never seen a mexploitation film. Granted, knowing this movie included
action and crime I had an idea that there would be some plot-line of Mexican’s
crossing the United States border along with some guns.
Mexploitation and my Evaluation
As a rookie viewer to mexploitation films, I had no clue these movies
had a basic outline
that almost all follow. There is a male lead, counter-macho,
with chicas
modernas who are of course beautiful and exceptional in their own
way. This is
then followed by countless action scenes, and soap opera esc
dialogue. As well
as including a scenario of transnationalism, which in
this film involved Mexico
and the United States.
Knowing
more about mexploitation movies after watching Machete
made the evaluation of
the film simple. It was honestly just checking off
the boxes and Machete got
them all. The cheesiness factor of course masked
the underlining message of
corrupt Americans and the Mexican-United States
border, but sure did have its
own personal charm attracting blockbuster stars
and making millions of dollars.
I enjoyed your post and am glad you choose Machete because I choose a different film. With studying mexploitation films I can agree that this film does follow the simple rules to the point. Maybe my first time watching a film like this and mexploitation film, it took me a while to understand how this mode works with the different types of modes. It also does have transnationalism which most of the films we have watched have had.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that the film debuted at the Venice Film Festival, that is an interesting piece of information. Directors are an interesting breed of people and many cast and crews have always spoke highly of Rodriquez. Do you think this correlates to the quality of the film, the acting, etc. On the other hand do you think that strict dominant not so fun directors can bring the same aspects to their films, and what effects do you think that may have with the cast and crew?
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting how you pointed out that Mexploitation films all follow a standard pattern. Do you believe this same pattern can be seen in other action films such as Die Hard?
ReplyDeleteDo you think this movie would not have been a hit if it did not have Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez, or Lindsey Lohan? I think Danny Trejo and Machete's personality as well as the writing of the film were excellent. Sure the names brought more viewers initially, but do you think the film would not have stood out without them?
ReplyDelete