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Machete Kills

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Machete Kills
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Rodriguez
Screenplay byKyle Ward
Story byRobert Rodriguez
Marcel Rodriguez
Produced byRobert Rodriguez
Rick Schwartz
Sergei Bespalov
Alexander Rodnyansky
Aaron Kaufman
Iliana Nikolic
Starring
CinematographyRobert Rodriguez
Edited byRobert Rodriguez
Rebecca Rodriguez
Music byCarl Thiel
Production
company
Distributed byOpen Road Films
Release date
  • October 11, 2013 (2013-10-11)
Running time
108 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Budget$12 million
Box office$15,008,161[3]

Machete Kills is a 2013 American action film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez.[4] The film is the third based on Grindhouse fake trailers; the first were Machete and Hobo with a Shotgun. Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Tom Savini, Billy Blair, Electra and Elise Avellan, Felix Sabates, and Jessica Alba reprise their roles from the first film, and are joined by series newcomers including Mel Gibson, Demián Bichir, Amber Heard, Sofía Vergara, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Hudgens, Alexa Vega, William Sadler, Marko Zaror, and Charlie Sheen (credited by his real name of "Carlos Estévez").[4] The film follows the titular ex-federale (Trejo) as he is recruited by the U.S. President (Sheen) to stop an arms dealer (Gibson) and a revolutionary (Bichir).[4] The film was released on October 11, 2013.[5]

Plot

The film is preceded by a fake trailer for Machete Kills Again …In Space, which features the titular hero on an intergalactic mission, starring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Alexa Vega, and Lady Gaga as "Whoever She Wants To Be", Justin Bieber[6] as a robot named Bleep (which Machete destroys), and Leonardo DiCaprio as "The Man in the Silver Mask" (with the sub-note that the actor playing the role is subject to change).

The actual film starts off with Machete Cortez (Danny Trejo) and Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba) attempting to capture weapon dealers (crooked US military men) who have been supplying the Mexican drug cartels. The military men are then all killed by the gangsters, who in turn are wiped out by a yet another intervening party. Its leader, wearing a mask, murders Sartana with what appears to be a blaster and leaves Machete devastated, who is then arrested by a corrupt Sheriff Doakes (William Sadler) and Deputy Clebourne (Samuel Davis). Doakes tries to unsuccessfully hang Machete, but is forced to release him on orders of the President of the US, Rathcock (Charlie Sheen). Machete is then brought to the White House where the president offers him United States citizenship if he eliminates Marcos Mendez (Demián Bichir), a psychopath who is threatening to fire a nuclear missile at Washington, D.C. if the American government does not intervene to stop the rampant drug cartels in Mexico and the corruption of its government.

Machete agrees and travels to San Antonio, where he meets his handler, Blanca Vasquez (Amber Heard), an undercover beauty pageant competitor also known as "Miss San Antonio", who seduces Machete before sending him to Acapulco to meet a young woman, Cereza (Vanessa Hudgens), who can lead him to Mendez. Machete finds her in a brothel run by her mother, Madame Desdemona (Sofía Vergara), who attempts to kill Machete before he escapes with Cereza. She takes him to Mendez's associate, Zaror (Marko Zaror), who kills Cereza before taking Machete to Mendez's base of operations.

There, Machete learns that Mendez has wired the missile's launch device to his heart and triggered its launch in 24 hours. Machete escapes, kills Zaror and his men and captures Mendez, whom he intends to escort to the United States to find the only man who can disarm the missile, its creator. While rushing to reach the US-Mexico border, Machete learns that Mendez is an ex-secret agent who tried to expose his corrupt superiors, only to be betrayed and forced to watch his family being tortured. The trauma drove him insane by creating his split personalities, and led him to join forces with the missile's creator.

Shortly thereafter, a hit is put on their heads, and Machete is targeted by Madame Desdemona and her prostitute assassins, a shapeshifting hitman, El Camaleón, and Sheriff Doakes. Machete and Mendez manage to reach the US and kill Sheriff Doakes and Deputy Clebourne only to be caught by a seemingly reborn Zaror and the same mercenaries who killed Sartana. Zaror decapitates Mendez and Machete is riddled with bullets by the gunmen.

Machete wakes up to find himself in a healing tank and that he has been taken to meet Zaror's benefactor, corrupt businessman, inventor and Star Wars fan Luther Voz (Mel Gibson). Voz shows Machete Mendez's beating heart, preserved in a jar, and informs him of his plan to manipulate extremists throughout the world to detonate nuclear weapons while he and whoever chooses to join him escapes in a spaceship to rebuild society in space. Voz also reveals that Zaror is one of the many genetically-engineered supersoldier clones he has created to assist him, but that he now instead wishes to take Machete's DNA to make clones of him as much more powerful weapons. Machete then escapes with help from Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), who had heard about the hit on Machete. She informs him that the only one who can disarm Mendez's heart is Machete's old enemy Osiris Amanpour (Tom Savini). Machete contacts Miss San Antonio, who instructs him to meet her at a rendezvous point.

Arriving there, Machete is betrayed and ambushed by Miss San Antonio (now Miss Texas), who is in league with Voz. As she is escaping into the desert, Machete gives chase and jumps onto the top of her vehicle but falls off after gunfire comes through the roof. Machete is then given a ride, unaware he's been picked up by El Camaleón, who then tries to kill him one last time. Machete escapes and El Camaleón ends up being shot to death by a group of racist rednecks just inside the U.S. border. Machete then reunites with Luz and her group, the Network, and they infiltrate a fundraiser at Voz's base of operations. In the ensuing firefight, Osiris is killed by Voz before being able to disarm Mendez's heart. Machete realizes Voz was the one who killed Sartana and then fights him and severely burns his face, disfiguring him to the extent that Voz is forced to wear a metallic, silver mask. Meanwhile, Miss San Antonio shoots Luz in her good eye, completely blinding her. Somehow Luz locates Miss San Antonio, fights with her and ends up throwing Miss San Antonio's own tiara at her, piercing her chest and then shooting her. Luz is then confronted by Voz, frozen in Carbonite and taken aboard his ship.

Machete jumps on the missile as it launches and disarms it in mid-air, while Voz boards the ship and departs with the Zaror clones, his supporters, and Luz. The disarmed missile then plunges into the Rio Grande and Machete is rescued by President Rathcock, who asks him to follow Voz into space and kill him. Machete readily agrees and uses a SpaceX rocket (after getting a good-luck wish from Elon Musk) to depart to Voz's Station in Earth's orbit, where he is given a laser machete to start his mission.

In a post-credits scene an outtake from the Luz & Blanca fight scene is included followed by a shot of President Rathcock in front of a space background inquisitively brandishing two of Voz's guns (the molecular disruptor and the same pistol used to kill Sartana) before firing wildly at an off-screen target.

Cast

2

Production

On June 10, 2012, Rodriguez announced that principal photography for Machete Kills had begun.[19] Principal photography took only 29 days, as shooting wrapped on July 28, 2012.[20]

The film was produced by Robert Rodriguez, as well as Aaron Kaufman and Iliana Nikolic through their QuickDraw Productions, Sergei Bespalov of Aldamisa Films, Alexander Rodnyansky of AR Films, and Rick Schwartz of Overnight Productions.[21]

Lindsay Lohan, who played April Booth in the first film, will not appear in this installment. Rodriguez said that he liked Lohan's character but she "didn't fit into the story".[22]

The film has Charlie Sheen credited under his birth name Carlos Estévez. Expected to be a one-time move, it was Sheen's idea to use his birth name for the film, due to the film's Hispanic theme. The trailer for the film uses an "and introducing..." tag when showing Sheen's birth name.[23]

On June 20, 2013, the film's release date was pushed back from September 13, 2013, until October 11, 2013 (to avoid competition with Insidious: Chapter 2).[24]

Promotion

On October 9, 2013, Lady Gaga's VEVO released a lyric video for "Aura", a song from her fourth album Artpop, to promote the film.

Reception

Machete Kills has received generally negative reviews from critics, as it currently holds a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 95 reviews with the consensus: "While possessed with the same schlocky lunacy as its far superior predecessor, Machete Kills loses the first installment's spark in a less deftly assembled sequel."[25] On Metacritic, it holds a score of 41 based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[26]

Sequel

At the end of the first film's theatrical release, two sequels are mentioned, Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again. The trailer for the third film, Machete Kills Again... In Space,[27] precedes the second film as a "Coming Attraction".[28][29]

References

  1. ^ "Machete Kills | Movie Posters". JoBlo.com. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  2. ^ "MACHETE KILLS (15)". Lionsgate. British Board of Film Classification. September 24, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  3. ^ "Machete Kills (2013)". Box Office Mojo.
  4. ^ a b c May 4, 2012 (2012-05-04). "Amber Heard joins Brilliant Cast of Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills as an Assassin". Heyuguys.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-07-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Chitwood, Adam (15 January 2013). "MACHETE KILLS Set for Release on September 13, 2013". Collider.com. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  6. ^ "The Movie Spoiler".
  7. ^ a b "Machete Kills Cast Gets a Double Dose of Hot with Electra and Elise Avellan". Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  8. ^ "Mel Gibson Joins Robert Rodriguez's MACHETE KILLS". Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  9. ^ "Sofia Vergara Joins Machete Kills". Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  10. ^ "Amber Heard swings 'Machete Kills'". Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  11. ^ "Demian Bichir Joins MACHETE KILLS and William Friedkin's TRAPPED; Was in the Mix for Villain Role in STAR TREK 2". Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  12. ^ "Fantastic Fest review: Machete Kills". Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  13. ^ "Fantastic Fest Review Machete Kills". Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  14. ^ a b c "'Machete Kills' Review". Retrieved September 21, 2013.
  15. ^ "LADY GAGA's 'Machete Kills' Character Poster Unveiled". Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  16. ^ "After The Cut – Machete Kills Adds Vanessa Hudgens". Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  17. ^ RR gave the ok for a sneak peek...@machetekills KillJoy
  18. ^ "William Sadler Stalks Machete Kills". Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  19. ^ MACHETE KILLS today! (principal photography begins)
  20. ^ Just wrapped MACHETE KILLS
  21. ^ Machete Kills Will Slice Into Theaters on September 13
  22. ^ Josh Wigler (2013-01-30). "Lindsay Lohan Not In 'Machete' Sequel, Robert Rodriguez Confirms". MTV.com. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  23. ^ Adios Charlie Sheen, hello Carlos Estevez CNN.com, June 6, 2013
  24. ^ "Open Road Pushes Back Machete Kills and Homefront". ComingSoon.
  25. ^ Rotten Tomatoes
  26. ^ "Machete Kills Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  27. ^ Vulture.com
  28. ^ "'Comic-Con 2011: Robert Rodriguez Updates on MACHETE Sequels and SIN CITY 2; Announces HEAVY METAL Remake'". Collider. 2011.
  29. ^ ""Robert" Rodriguez's next projects: sin city 2, heavy Metal, frank Frazetta... and machete in space!'". io9. 2011.

External links

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