Machete Kills

This is no longer grindhouse, this is Asylum :-( The first part three years ago was a perfect homage to American trashy movies from the 1970s and I had it in my TOP 10 of that year. But this is something else. Without any restraint, reason or knowledge of what a healthy dose is, so basically unwatchable. If a Mega Piranha fell from the sky and Danny Trejo bit its head off, nobody would be surprised. Too much Rodriguez. (11/14/2013)

Machete is back and making fun of old Bond movies. The motivation of the main protagonist is basically the same as in the first movie, the same goes for the locations. Even Danny Trejo is the same. Rodriguez follows loosely on the first movie and prepares the ground for the grand finale that we see at the end. The array of stars is colorful, but the one that stands out the most is the schizo dictator Demián Bichir who is responsible for most of the twists in the movie. Mel Gibson rather strangely underplays his role of the megalomaniac bad guy and Carlos Estevez as President Rathcock goes down in history as one of the most capable presidents of the silver screen. The action keeps on coming, even though in places it’s a bit repetitive, but mainly it has the unmistakable atmosphere of total mayhem. Bring on the part three! (11/20/2013)

The first film was a nice parody, full of humor and irony, it was clear that the people behind it relaxed and enjoyed it. The sequel is more commercial, filled with celebrities without any potential for the given theme (so why recruit "serious actors" for a parody?). I could understand Steven Seagal in the first film, and it was okay, but not Mel Gibson. The female cast is very above average and also the only thing that can be praised. It's a jumble that lacks image, direction, and style. (11/30/2013)

Terribly stupid, but (again) unfortunately not in a funny way. That makes it even worse than the first film, which made me laugh a few times. This time all the bonus points were taken care of by Mel Gibson (Star Wars fan), but otherwise it’s a really terrible boring mess. And the third installment will most likely be the same thing, but with light machetes, clones... etc. Nevermind. (12/21/2013)

Let me put it this way: a film that combines absurd scenes cut out of Indian action B-movies with a sci-fi plot and a bunch of overly digital and unintentionally funny deaths cannot be good. But where does it say that a parade of flashy machetes, underpinned by a straightforward story and supported by a group of perhaps the hottest actresses of our time (not counting GAGA) could not be entertaining and, as a very peculiar homage to the genre, perfectly refreshing? Anyway, this is the first time Rodriguez's mental insanity has entertained me, President Sheen is unbeatable, and I've fallen in love with the half-naked Michelle Rodriguez all over again, even though this time I really tried to focus on the film. And the third one is so tempting with its premise that I may even go to the cinema for the first time to see Master Robert :D 60% (12/28/2013)

The basic disconnect between public opinion and Rodriguez's work is that Rodriguez does not create tributes to (m)explotation or grindhouse, but to xplotations and grindhouse. Quite logically, he annoys the liberal snobs by referencing nothing but himself, the cheapness doesn't play well, and as significantly more ambitious as it is than its predecessor, it doesn't obscure the fact that someone has kicked ten mil off the budget compared to the last installment. Acknowledged shit is still shit, but I still consider it a cool obscurity of our times that this is able to make its way into global cinemas. And I think that's kind of cool. (01/28/2014)

No, I thought it would be a bit better, that there would be a more meaningful story, that it would be exciting, but it's still quite boring here and there. Yes, there are scenes that I enjoyed, performances that pleased me - or maybe just actor appearances - but at times I just caught myself not enjoying it. It's a shame, although I still think that this is the way modern B-movies are supposed to look. If only the creators, including Rodriguez, ignored the digital tricks that simply look terrible. (11/15/2013)