Machete Kills is in many ways inferior to its 2010 predecessor, Machete, which was itself based on a fake trailer from the Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature Grindhouse.  It lacks that film’s madcap energy, its strong ties into Mexican culture, and its emphatic political message.  The sequel heads things much more in the direction of a James Bond parody, which robs it of some of the unique spirit that made the first film feel so fresh.  It even tones back the gore, if you care about such things, though that was never what brought my interest to the series.  But despite all that, Machete Kills does some very creative and interesting things that allow it to stand out in an era of bland action movies full of computer generated destruction.

Machete Kills opens with a trailer for its own sequel, the brilliantly titled Machete Kills Again… In Space!, which gives us an indication of the direction the series is headed.  We get shots of Danny Trejo’s Machete wielding a lightsaber version of the weapon he is named after, along with Michelle Rodriguez’s Luz blasting around in a jetpack.  It’s ridiculous and over the top, and full of some hilarious gags, including a robot which they claim will be played by Justin Bieber (which is promptly destroyed), a masked villain who they claim will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio (with message at the bottom of the screen claiming that the actors are subject to change) and Lady Gaga playing “whoever she wants” to play.  More than that, though, it gives us the ending of Machete Kills before the film has even really started.  It’s something I’ve never seen done before, and it’s remarkable how well it works.  When Machete Kills takes a science fiction turn in its final act, it’s not nearly as random as it would have been without the fake trailer at the beginning.

Machete Kills takes our gruff hero with the face like chewed up leather and sets him on the trail of madman.  I use that word literally, because Mendez (Demian Bichir), who has wired the nuclear missile that he has aimed at Washington DC to his heart to ensure that Machete doesn’t immediately kill him, has multiple personalities and jumps frequently from terrorist to revolutionary to undercover federal agent without warning.  Machete has been sent by no one less than the president of the United States, played by Charlie Sheen (who is brilliantly credited in the film by his birth name, Carlos Estevez), after Washington is threatened with destruction unless it invades Mexico and puts an end to the violence of the drug cartels.  Along the way, Machete must tangle with a murderous madame who runs a brothel and who has a machine gun bra (Sophia Vergara), work with Miss San Antonio (Amber Heard) who is actually an undercover agent who acts as Machete’s handler, reunite with his old friend Luz whose underground network for smuggling Mexicans into the US has grown significantly since we last saw her, escape an assassin, El Camaleon, who can change his appearance so completely that he is played by multiple actors (who I wouldn’t dream of spoiling by naming), before finally coming face to face with a billionaire industrialist (Mel Gibson) who has an important part to play in the terrorist plot.

The cast is clearly having a ball in the film.  Mel Gibson hams it up as a megalomaniacal villain, while Charlie Sheen mostly plays himself.  Demian Bichir in particular is extremely entertaining, as his personality shifts are unexpected and interesting to watch.  The movie is full of cameos (Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Lady Gaga, Cuba Gooding Jr., a hilarious Antonio Banderas and Jessica Alba, just to name a few), but none are more creative than El Camaleon, who is by far the most inventive part of the film.  Michelle Rodriguez plays badass tough girl better than anyone else out there, and it’s fascinating to see a movie where women are used for eye candy (in the fashion of the 70’s films it is parodying) while simultaneously being interesting characters and leaders.  But Machete Kills is really all about Machete.

Early in the film, Machete finds himself captured by a sheriff in Arizona (William Sadler, clearly supposed to be a reference to another Arizona sheriff) who has strung up Machete in a noose in his jail.  He kicks the chair out from under Machete, who falls and hangs by his neck, but doesn’t die.  He merely gives the sheriff a deadly stare, his eyes following the sheriff as he walks around the room.  It’s a funny moment, but it’s also defining of the character, who seemingly can’t be killed.  In fact, his invulnerability makes him somewhat less interesting as a character than he was the first time around.  He’s not fighting for a belief this time, but fighting merely because he’s supposed to, and the action feels more mundane as a result.  Trejo is always electrifying to watch, with a scowl that could cut glass but a dry sense of humor, but he’s not given nearly enough to do this time around.  He’s been reduced to the calm center of a film filled with crazier characters.

Machete had a lot to say about immigration politics and ethics and about political spin.  It featured scenarios that, while over the top, felt just slightly outside the realm of possibility, and as such was a reflection of the current state of the relationship between the US and Mexico as well as the relationship between immigrants and those who oppose immigration.  And it did all of that while giving us a truly Mexican hero, celebrating some aspects of the culture while simultaneously parodying them.  Machete was more than the sum of its parts, while Machete Kills feels like less.  It still has a political message, clearly blaming the US for the current state of violence and poverty in Mexico, and has some funny moments that feed into that message (one character emerges from a cave to find himself face to face with a group of stereotypical rednecks, who are even more eager to kill him when he claims to really be from Canada instead of from Mexico), but the vision that made Machete so entertaining is lost in the zaniness of the plot.  When time has to be made for spaceships and bombs wired to hearts there’s a lot less time for a skewering of America.

I found myself a bit bored with Machete Kills, despite a few brilliant moments.  It just felt like less than its predecessor.  I still remember vividly watching Grindhouse while living in El Centro, California (probably the closest you can get to the experience of living in Mexico while still living in the US), and seeing the fake trailer for Machete that accompanied it.  When the narrator delivered the classic line, “They just fucked with the wrong Mexican,” there was a stupendous cheer.  It’s clear that there is a place for Mexican film hero who can kick ass and save the day without having to be whitewashed to appeal to mass audiences.  And while Machete was never truly intended to fill that gap in a mainstream way, his first film offered a glimpse of what that might be like.  Machete Kills however is a step in the wrong direction.  Robert Rodriguez is a talented and creative filmmaker, but by trying to one-up his last film he’s lost what made it so interesting to begin with.  The teaser at the end of Machete that “Machete will return in Machete Killsand Machete Kills Again…” made me excited for more, but the extended trailer for Machete Kills Again… In Space! elicited no more than a chuckle and weak smile.  And if that’s all the response it gets, perhaps it’s better to leave the series here, with the fake trailer as mere speculation rather than reality.  After all, they can’t really get Leonardo DiCaprio, can they?

C+