The original Machete, coming off the back of a “spoof” trailer in Grindhouse, was actually alot of fun. Body parts went flying as did intestines and besides the fact that it was about 20 odd minutes too long, it was highly entertaining. So, can the sequel live up to the original? With a cast that sees Danny Trejo returning as Machete and everybody from Lady GaGa to Mel Gibson turning up, one would hope they are in for a bloody intestinal flying treat. Sadly, that is not the case!
With exploitation flicks like this, the story is never going to feature strongly and Machete Kills’ story is a bit all over the place. It starts off well enough story wise, but slowly starts to disintegrate and when it starts to move towards science fiction, then it literally falls apart. Its not that the cast are particularly bad, Trejo is as he always is. And Mel Gibson, while not breaking much of a sweat is very watchable and the same can be said for Lady GaGa. In fact, all the case are watchable, regardless of some of the brutal dialogue that they have to deliver. Its just a pity some are a bit underused, especially Charlie Sheen, who as the President, is genuinely brilliant.
The one noticeable thing is that the gore is toned down quite a bit from the original, which was one of the reasons the first movie was so much fun. I presume with the likes of Lady GaGa on board, they wanted to pull in a slightly younger audience so that must have been the sacrifice they had to make. Maybe I’m wrong on that, but I can’t think of any other reason why they’d want to tone it down. Besides a constant Star Wars running gag, which to be fair is credible, Machete Kills will have you looking at your watch time and time again.
I for one loved the original and was genuinely looking forward to this, but what the hell happened Robert Rodriguez? The guy is a genuine talent, but its like his heart wasn’t in this or something because Machete Kills isn’t a patch on the original.Its dragged out, toned down and offers very little in the entertainment side of things. Avoid, even if you’re a fan, you will be disappointed. Machete don’t do sequels!
