Fresh off his amazing debut, Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino struck up a relationship with Rodriguez that was nurtured by their love of exploitation. A series of collaborations ensued which included multiple aspects of film from soundtracks to script writing to direction and even acting cameos.
The fruits of the friendship were generally well-received, but the face of the duo was to be their ill-fated Grindhouse project. The expectation was that their mastery of exploitation could fill today's theaters with an old school double feature of yesterday. The end result was a box office catastrophe with Rodriguez's Planet Terror accepting the brunt of the abuse.
In the Grindhouse project, the two directors created a handful of faux trailers to help round out the 1970s cinematic zeitgeist. The best of the lot happened to belong to Rodriguez. His Machete trailer was instantly recognized, but who was to guess that Rodriguez would bring the idea to the screen in an effort to revalidate his exploitative expertise.
Featuring the supporting role soldier Danny Trejo, Machete is boilerplate tale of revenge. A badass Federale, code name Machete, is set up by an evil drug lord (Steven Seagal) and his world is left in ruins. With his wife murdered and a felony rap sheet, he tries to stitch his life back and sheath his past away. However, familiar foes come calling and push Machete to the breaking point.
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| Machete seems a little on edge. |
Trejo does exactly what is asked of him - no more, no less. The script wisely avoids any extended passages of dialogue or deep characterization and allows the veteran actor to become a presence. Trejo leaves his calling card and lets his distinctive, hard-ass features encompass the vicious vigilante.
There are certainly other turns worthy of honorable mention (i.e. Cheech Marin as Machete's "hermano"), but the film's trio of sexy starlets take over. Jessica Alba as Santana, Michele Rodriguez as Luz, and Lindsay Lohan as April dial up the heat and make Trejo one very sweaty Machete.
Does Machete completely exonerate Rodriguez's past follies? No, but it shows that there is talent lurking and within the director's reach. Although he will never reach the level of Tarantino's depth and style, there is no shame because few hardly ever do. And given the current lull in creativity filmmaking, Rodriguez's Machete is certainly dicing up the competition.