Machete Kills
Dir: Robert Rodriguez
2013
***
Machete Kills begins with a trailer for the 3rd installment that at first looks like it is just for fun, until you realise it could actually become a reality. It's grainy, cut badly and everything you'd expect from an old Gringhouse film. So again, why wasn't the main feature done in this style? It can't have just been the trailers that were in bad condition back in the day? I feel the Grindhouse manifesto has been long forgotten, this isn't so much an exploitation film but more of a b-movie spoof. I can live with that but I would have preferred what made the whole idea great in the first place. It is what it is, I like it but there are parts I didn't much care for. To much of the film was current, I liked the inclusion of odd-balls of the year; Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga but commenting on subject such as Twitter (Machete don't Twitter) just weren't funny and didn't feel right. The cameos were great to revive interest along the way of the silly story (most notably from the great Tom Savini) but it was Demian Bichir who pipped Mel Gibson to the post for the title of thief as he really stole the show. It's really not great but it's hard not to like, especially if you have an interest in b-movies/Expliotation/Grindhouse films like myself. Long may it continue although I say that cautiously.