Growl, and Let the Severed Heads Fall Where They May

STEPHEN HOLDEN
New York Times
Friday, September 3, 2010

Conveniently timed to sprinkle gasoline on the fires of the immigration debate, Robert Rodriguez’s splatter comedy “Machete” has already riled up hardliners in advance of its release. Although laughter is the appropriate response to this pulpy, lighthearted gorefest, its pro-Mexican, anti-American stance is so gleefully inflammatory that some incensed nativists may refuse to get the joke.

Reacting to the film’s leaked screenplay, the radio talk show firebrand Alex Jones posted a YouTube video in which he warned that “Machete” could foment a “race war.” A comedy showdown with the Wayans brothers would seem more likely.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

Having A Supply Of Healthy Foods That Last Just Makes Sense (AD)

“Machete,” co-directed by Mr. Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis from a script by Mr. Rodriguez and his cousin Álvaro Rodriguez, begins with a massacre involving a naked woman and many severed heads, and it keeps on slamming and banging with a gleeful, nose-thumbing insouciance.

Making fun of itself as it goes along, this live-action comic book, with roots in the pungent swamp of 1970s B movies, was foreshadowed in a fake trailer Mr. Rodriguez made for “Grindhouse,” his 2007 collaboration with Quentin Tarantino. The pace is swift, the tone playful, the screenplay peppered with one-liners. Whether mowed down by gunfire or dispatched by sheaves of blades, the bodies pile up in split-second blasts of carnage.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Full story here.

Print this page.

Comment Rules

Comments are closed.