Movie review: Machete ****

Our on-staff movie buff Leanne McGrath shares her latest candid movie review. Email feedback to her at [email protected].

Machete  ****

Stars: Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Steven Seagal, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan
Director: Robert Rodriguez, Ethan Maniquis
Rated: R
Showing: Neptune Theatre week of Friday, September 10 -  Friday and Saturday 7:30pm; Sunday 5:30pm; Monday to Thursday 7pm. For more information about film times, call 292-7296.
Runtime: 105 minutes
Action/crime

Fans of Robert Rodriguez will know what to expect from this revenge thriller — an action-packed gorefest that is bloody but brilliant viewing.

Inspired by a mock trailer in Rodriguez’s Grindhouse — yet another collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, who also produces Machete and has a small cameo — this is a relentless fight-fest with gratuitous sex and violence … but it is also lots of fun.

Renowned character actor Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn, Predators) takes his first lead role as the eponymous Machete, a renegade former Mexican Federale who is hired to assassinate corrupt U.S. senator McLaughlin (Robert DeNiro) by the shady Booth (Jeff Fahey). But he is double crossed and shot by a sniper hired by Booth, who is actually in league with McLaughlin.

The latter set up the assassination attempt to gain support for his severe anti-immigration laws by making it look like an illegal Mexican immigrant tried to kill him. Furious, Machete sets out for bloody revenge with the help of his trusted friend Padre (Cheech Marin, FromâDusk Till Dawn), a pistol-packing ex-Federale turned priest and meat cleaver-wielding Luz (Michelle Rodriguez).

He also finds an unlikely ally in feisty April (Lindsay Lohan), Booth’s daughter, who he kidnaps. On the run from the law and drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal), Machete must stay alive long enough to slay his enemies — in the most brutal ways possible. Despite being 66, Trejo is convincing as an action hero — take note Schwarzenegger and Stallone — and his performance is exciting, particularly his phenomenal final fight scene.

With his rugged face, threatening scowl and huge chest tattoo, he looks every inch the drug-dealing assassin — yet you cannot help but root for him.

Steven Seagal is on good form in his first villain role, as is troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan, whose brief appearance sees her dressed as a nun toting a machine gun.

The violence throughout is extraordinary and unapologetic, with gory and over-the-top bloodshed — there are countless shoot-outs, beheadings and stabbings.

But the movie never takes itself too seriously and pokes fun at itself, while still offering a mild social commentary about immigration and racial profiling.

Watch if you liked: Grindhouse.