Lats year when Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino teamed up to experiment within the genre of Grindhouse, they produced two full length features; Tarantino’s Death Proof & Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. As part of their B-movie/Exploitation experiment both films were intended to be shown as a double feature with trailers inbetween; as was common practice in the B-Movie theatres of 60′s & 70′s. The pair called in friends as they got to creating some fake films, my favourite is Edgar Wright’s (Shaun Of The Dead, Spaced) ‘Don’t'…
But, it was Rodriguez own fake trailer ‘Machete’ that has taken on a life of its own and been optioned to become a feature. Released in two weeks time across the UK, ‘Machete’ revolves around illegal immigrant Machete (Danny Trejo), a former Mexican Federal turned renegade. After being betrayed by the organization who originally hired him to assasinate a senator, the ex-Federale launches a brutal rampage of revenge against his former boss.
With an impressive cast featuring Robert De Niro, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Jessica Alba & Lindsay Lohan, and just as much cliche’ and general “bad for the sake of bad” filmaking, it looks messy, poorly acted, violent & tasteless, but thats the point, and if its anywhere close to either Grindhouse productions, it’ll be another fun shallow action romp.
