DVD Review: Machete

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Machete videoFans of Machete now can see Robert Rodriguez's brilliantly overdone homage to exploitation flicks on the small screen, and it loses none of its gleefully gory and sexy charm in the translation. The new Machete Blu-ray captures every severed limb, explosion and naked female body part in glorious HD video and superb sound. (If you don't have a Blu-ray player, you can enjoy Machete's brand of heartwarming family entertainment on DVD.)

For an exploitation film, Machete has a surprisingly complex and coherent plot, not that this matters terribly much amid all the mayhem. Set in Austin, south Texas and Mexico, the story follows Machete Cortez (Danny Trejo), an ex-Federale turned immigrant day laborer hired by sinister political operative Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate a Texas state senator, John McLaughlin (Robert De Niro).

Meanwhile, immigration agent Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba) stakes out taco truck owner Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), the suspected head of The Network, an organization that helps Mexican immigrants cross the border and find jobs. The two storylines intersect when Machete befriends Luz at a day labor site, and Rivera suspects he is part of The Network also.

Things go horribly wrong during the assassination attempt, and Machete is the victim of a double cross. He finds himself on the run from several parties, including the cops, Rivera, Booth and Machete's old nemesis, a Mexican drug lord named Torrez (a perfectly miscast Steven Seagal). Vowing revenge on those who double crossed him, Machete sets out to give them their bloody comeuppance with the help of Luz, Rivera and Machete's brother, a well-armed priest named Padre (Cheech Marin).

This synopsis leaves out plenty of details involving a vigilante group, political corruption, shifting alliances, incriminating videos, drug smuggling, impressive weapons caches, lesbian incest, scores of dead bodies, way-cool lowriders and online porn, but to say more would spoil some of the surprises and all of the fun. It suffices to say that Machete delivers most every flavor of fu, all presented with great wit and style.

Machete was a minor theatrical hit, but it no doubt will find lasting success on video as a cult favorite. And deservedly so; its rowdy, winking take on the boobs-and-bloodshed genre make it an ass-kicking hoot to watch. The wooden acting perfectly suits the clunky dialogue, and the actors thoroughly chew up whatever scenery isn't riddled with bullets or blown to smithereens. The entire cast is terrifically awful, but Trejo is especially memorable as the ever-glowering Machete, and Fahey's sociopathic Booth is the most loathsome villain in recent memory. Also, I must credit Lindsay Lohan (yes, really!). As Booth's teenage wastelandish daughter April, she gives a flawless performance as, well, Lindsay Lohan.

In a nutshell, nuance and understatement are not part of the Machete equation -- and that's what makes the movie such a wonderfully lurid guilty pleasure. As a bonus, it's a guilty pleasure with surprising real-world relevance: Machete also has plenty to say about racism and the immigration debate.

Extras: The Machete DVD includes some useful and interesting extras, but lacks a few others I expected to find on such a pricey disc. For this reason, it might be better to rent than buy. The most significant extra is a second Digital Copy disc for transferring the film to a computer or other media device. There also is a helpful video explaining how to use the Digital Copy technology.

A fun extra is the live audience reaction audio track, recorded at one of the movie's premieres (probably the Austin premiere at the Paramount). Machete begs its audience to hoot, holler, gasp and applaud, and this track brings small-screen viewing one step closer to a theatrical viewing experience.

The 10 deleted scenes are interesting to watch, and I assume most of them were cut only to shorten the film's running time. Some of the scenes include an amusing character I wish hadn't been cut from Machete -- Sartana Rivera's identical twin sister, bitchily played by Alba and appearing in several shots with Sartana thanks to some digital magic. [Note from Jette: Cinematical has one of the deleted scenes available to watch online.]

The theatrical and red band trailers are accurate samplings of the movie. But to be honest, I like the original Machete trailer in Grindhouse (not included on the disc) much better.

The Blu-ray also includes English, Spanish, and French audio tracks, English and Spanish subtitles, and the usual scene and bookmark search. The sneak peeks are of The A-Team and two other forgettable films. Skip 'em.

I always enjoy commentary tracks and interviews with a film's cast and crew. Unfortunately, the Machete Blu-ray includes neither, a glaring omission on an otherwise fine disc. I’m sure that comments from Rodriguez and his cohorts would be every bit as entertaining as Machete itself.

The disc also includes live web-based extras, but I could not access them on my Blu-ray player. Due to a known compatibility problem with the Machete Blu-ray and my Sony BDP-S570 player, I had to disable the player's BD Live function and erase the BD Live data to play the disc. Disabling BD Live disables the player's Internet connection, which is required to access the live extras. Hopefully, Fox will correct this problem on the disc or Sony will correct it in the firmware.

Austin/Central Texas Connections: There are many, of course -- Machete was filmed mostly in Austin, and Robert Rodriguez is a longtime pillar of the Austin film community. Also, Robert Rodriguez and Michelle Rodriguez are San Antonio natives.

[For more on Machete, check out Jette's theatrical review of the movie.]