Cut! Print!

I was reviewing the films I've seen this year for the film quiz and I was surprised to see how many disappointments and just mediocre movies there were. On the other hand, Machete really satisfied. I'm going to call it the best film I've seen this year.

Based on a phony trailer in in the Grindhouse roadshow, Machete is the story of Danny Trejo, a Federale who is set up and supposedly killed by a drug kingpin. He turns up alive in Texas, a day laborer without documentation. He attracts the attention of Michelle Rodriguez, a taco truck operator and leader of the immigrant underground, and of Jessica Alba, an INS agent with a conscience.

Trejo is an amazing presence as Machete. He is about 60 years old, scarred, pock-faced and utterly badass. Machete is his name, and his favorite weapon. Dismemberment, beheading, impaling and the occasional bisection are his stock in trade. Will he run into the man who set him up and killed his family? Ya think? But did you expect it to be Steven Seagal?

He's great here, as is Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan, and, well, everyone. I suspect everyone was having a great time, especially Robert Rodriguez. On the other hand, rumor says that he didn't want to do this, but Danny Trejo forced him into it. Because you don't want that guy mad at you.

This is pretty much a comedy (albeit grisly) - a Mexploitation parody, almost as broad as Black Dynamite. It's funny, exciting, sexy (Jessica Alba is CGI nude!). And Danny Trejo is our new hero, along with Michael Jae White. Best chop-em-up of the year.