2014-06-01

20140601: Action Review--Machete Kills



Machete Kills
  1. Fundamentals, reception.
    1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 107 minutes.
    2. IMDB: 5.7/10.0 from 35,830 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 12 million USD.
    3. Rotten Tomatoes: 29% on the meter; 37% liked it from 34,163 audience ratings.
    4. Directed by: Robert Rodriguez.
    5. Starring: Danny Trejo as Machete Cortez, Michele Rodriguez as Luz, Carlos Estevez as the President Rathcock, Mel Gibson as Luther Voz, Demian Bichir as Mendez, Amber Heard as Miss San Antonio, Vanessa Hudgens as Cereza, Sophia Vergara as Desdemona.

  2. Setup and Plot
    1. Mendez is schizo and very dangerous.  Among other things, he has a missile pointed at Washington.  His heart is wired up (thanks to the work of Voz' company) so that if he dies, the missile is launched.  He has instructed his men to kill him if he is captured.

    2. The US President convinces Machete to take down Mendez and end the threat.  His handler is Miss San Antonio.  Machete discovers the heart device, and decides not to kill him.  Instead, he aims to bring Mendez back to Voz Tech Industries to disable the heart device.

    3. There are a number of obstacles.  The Chameleon aims to kill Mendez for money.  Mendez' own men try to kill him.  Desdemona wants to kill Mendez to avenge Cereza.  Miss San Antonio is not quite who we thought she was.

    4. Supposing Machete gets the beating heart to Voz, will Voz cooperate, or does he have other plans?

  3. Conclusions
    1. One line summary: Action aplenty, but not as good as the first film.
    2. Hm, I am not sure about the third film.
    3. Three stars of five.

  4. Scores
    1. Cinematography: 8/10 Nicely shot.

    2. Sound: 8/10 No particular problems.  I thought the music might be a bit more rousing.

    3. Acting: 7/10 I liked the performances of Mel Gibson, Danny Trejo, Demian Bichir, Antonio Banderas, and Michelle Rodriguez.  A few others, not so much.

    4. Screenplay: 3/10 The film started up in a reasonable style, but ended up looking like one of the worst of the Bond films.  The whole space theme was over the top.


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