Machete: Difference between revisions

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In 2007, Rodriguez filmed parts of ''Machete'' for a fake trailer attached to the beginning of ''[[Grindhouse]]''. After making another [[Shorts|children's film]], he revisited ''Machete'' and set about making it into an actual film. The final product includes [[Ascended Meme|every scene from the fake trailer]], and gained massive popularity as the quintessential exploitation action flick parody of the 00's. It boasts an impressive cast, including [[Danny Trejo]], [[Steven Seagal]], [[Robert De Niro]], [[Cheech and Chong|Cheech Marin]], [[Jessica Alba]], [[Lindsay Lohan]], [[Michelle Rodriguez]], and more.

* [[Above the Influence]]: Machete, with a drunk Jessica Alba no less. {{spoiler|Mind you, it works out for him.}}

* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Machete's... machetes, and the scalpels he later uses.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: Torrez, played by [[Steven Seagal]], describes Machete as "notoriously [[Hard to Kill]]". Torrez also uses an aikido move on Machete during their final confrontation.

** [[Robert De Niro|Robert De Niro's]] line ''"It's showtime!"''

* [[Adam Westing]]: Lots and lots.

** [[Steven Seagal]] pokes fun at his countless [[Invincible Hero|unstoppable badass]] role by playing a [[Complete Monster]] villain... who is so badass that {{spoiler|he can only be killed by a self-administered sepukku}}.

** [[Michelle Rodriguez]] as an [[Exaggerated Trope|over-the-top version]] of her [[Typecasting|usual]] [[Spicy Latina|sexy]], [[Badass Spaniard|badass Latina]] roles. [[Vasquez Always Dies|Her death doesn't even merit a spoiler.]] {{spoiler|Her [[Not Quite Dead|surviving and]] [[Meta Casting|largely subverting her typecasting]] makes her reveal at the end serious, ultimate badass.}}

** Felix Sabates as essentially the same doctor he played in ''[[Planet Terror]]'', and, in fact, who he actually is in real life: when Sabates isn't appearing Rodriguez' movies, he's the Rodriguez' family doctor.

* [[Car Meets House]] - Several times.

* [[Caught on Tape]] - The villains commit so many criminal acts in front of video cameras that it borders on [[Too Dumb to Live]] territory. Heck, a Texas state senator, during an election year, actually ''requests'' that someone videotape him committing murder and burn a bunch of copies of the DVD.

** Booth is ironically the one who gave Machete the handphone ("Machete don't text") in the first place.

** Chekhov's Corkscrew: When Machete visits Luz's house, for a second, camera focuses on a corkscrew lying on the table. Later, when they are attacked, he uses it in combat.

* [[Contract on the Hitman]] - The whole plot.

* [[Creator Provincialism]]: The film is set in Austin, where Robert Rodriguez lives and his film studio is based.

* [[Danger Takes a Backseat]]: {{spoiler|How Luz finishes off Von Jackson in the end.}}

** Machete uses this to bust himself out of the first arrest.

* [[Deadly Dodging]]: Machete gets into, and ''out of'' a street fight, doing only this (it ends when the other guy breaks his own fist on scaffolding).

** While eating a taco!

* [[Epic Flail]]: made from [[MacGyvering|a nurse's belt and some surgical knives.]] Do NOT try this at home.

* [[Ethnic Menial Labor]]: You didn't suspect the movie will feature Hispanic laborers, did ya?

* [[Everything Is Big in Texas]] - Including man-sized machetes.

* [[Exact Words]]: Machete tells Booth that April and June are with God. Booth assumes that they're dead, when they're actually in church.

** The fact that the character in question loses an eye at all is probably a reference to what happens to [[Johnny Depp]] in ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]'', from the same director.

** Sartana can do this with [[Improvised Weapon|her stiletto heels.]]

* [[False-Flag Operation]]: The bad guy's plot.

* [[Fan Service]]: Lessee. Gratuitous nudity about three minutes into the movie. [[Fan Disservice|Too bad girl in question gets blown away.]] You got {{spoiler|[[Lindsay Lohan]] (actually a body double, although she's pretty close herself later on) and her character's mother topless and making out with Machete in her daddy's swimming pool.}} There's also {{spoiler|[[Jessica Alba]] showing ''almost'' everything in a [[Shower Scene]]. Damn elbow placement!}} Oh, yeah, the guys (and some girls) will like.

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: The entire reason Machete's in this situation.

* [[Hospital Hottie]]: The twin nurses who help Machete out. They show up during the climax, dual-wielding guns to cut down racists.

** The evil scheme scheme: {{spoiler|Crooked politicians and drug runners want to seal up the border... to make it easier for them to import ''their'' illegal merchandise}}.

** One Mexican corrects his fellow dishwasher's pronunciation of Spanish profanity... and then pronounces "Hey" wrong.

** The same character also supports the anti-immigration policy, as he's already on this side of the border. Also one of the mooks at Booth's house is Hungarian.

* [[Impairment Shot]]: Machete as he is wheeled into an ER.

** Not verbally, but Torres says to Machete that beheading him would be the honorable way to kill him, but Machete doesn't deserve to die honorably. {{spoiler|Torres later commits seppuku.}}

** The two guards bitching to the three hitmen Machete shoots during his escape from the assassination attempt.

* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: Every Mook suffers from this.

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: Nearly every hero (and the top-tier [[Big Bad|Bad Guys]]) have this.

* [[Improvised Weapon]]: [[The Movie]] of the trope. Machete turns just about every prop within arms reach into a weapon. Booth is shown "disciplining" one of his [[Mooks]] with a USB cable. Sartana kills one man with a table ornament and another with her shoes.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] - Luz's alter-ego, "Shé". Pronounced like Che. You know, overused Communist icon.

** And, of course, he actually IS dressed as a janitor earlier in the movie to get to his sniper perch.

* [[Katanas Are Just Better]]: Torres' weapon of choice. Leads to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|a swordfight between katana-wielder and machete-wielder.]]

** {{spoiler|Osiris, who disappears before the climax, due to his death scene getting left on the cutting room floor. Remnants of Von Jackon's vigilantes manage to escape and continue gunning down people they think are Mexicans. Torres' female sidekick just walks off.}}

** In a rare [[Zig-Zagging Trope|Triple Subversion]], {{spoiler|1=McLaughlin. First he looks like he's going to escape disguised as a Mexican [after helping the Mexicans, strangely enough], but then April shoots him. Then he turns out to have survived thanks to a bulletproof vest, and flees on foot. But then he gets killed by Von Jackson's men, mistaking him for a Mexican.}}

** The Mooks all seem to be Irish-American or Italian-American. Oh, and one [[Token Minority|Black]] [[Black Dude Dies First|guy]], whose death isn't shown.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: While the film is mostly faithful to scenes filmed for the 'Original' trailer, some scenes from the ''real'' trailers don't appear in the final cut.

** There's also Machete's coat uncovered a '''lot''' of machetes strapped '''everywhere.''' In the film, he just uses two hilariously huge machetes in the final battle.

** The trailer originally had Machete taking aim at the senator as he coasted town the street in a convertible, full on JFK style.

* [[Non-Indicative Name]]: Machete does most of his damage with Improvised Weapons. And one Weaponized Motorcycle.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: All those newspaper headlines that <s>Luz</s> "She" was responsible for...

** Yeah, except it's [[Michelle Rodriguez]], so [[Memetic Badass|it makes perfect sense]].

* [[No Party Given]]: McLaughlin is referred to as an "independent" candidate. [[wikipedia:Texas Senate#Current composition|On that basis alone, his odds of winning probably weren't too good.]] Indeed, Booth tells him he would never be reelected without him.

* [[The Not-Secret]] - Luz is She... who'da thunk?

{{quote|"Well, [[To Be Lawful or Good|there's the law and there's what's right]]. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|I'm gonna do what's right]]."}}

* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: Upon encountering Machete ''again'' after getting getting shot in the legs during Machete's escape from the framing, a mook [[Know When to Fold'Em|immediately quits angrily.]]

* [[The Siege]]: The climax of the film. Rather appropriately, given the film's pro-immigration themes, the heroes are the ones trying to break into the fort.

* [[Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer]]: Jeff Fahey was barely in the trialer and did not appear on a lot of promotional material, despite having more screen time than De Niro and Seagal.

** And the wide shot of the four bad guys walking into the church seems to echo the DiVAS entering the church in ''[[Kill Bill]]''

** {{spoiler|Luz}} in an eyepatch and stepping out of an ambulance covered in leather could homages Elle Driver and/or Snake Plissken.

** Padre {{spoiler|getting shot quite badly in the knee in the church}} echoes Marquez's injuries in ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]''

** And the [[Bloody Hilarious]] intestines...thing seems to echo El and Carolina's hotel escape in ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]'', except that was a chain.

** Don't forget where the name [[Sartana]] comes from.

** Senator McLaughlin (played by Robert DeNiro) drives to the Vigilantes' compound in a... [[Taxi Driver|taxi]].

* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: "She," as well as Machete by the end.

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: A rare example by a villain. Booth delivers his [[Hannibal Lecture]] to McLaughlin about how much the senator needs him, and McLaughlin responds by shooting him.

* [[South of the Border]]: Parodied.

* [[Spicy Latina]]: Not just [[Michelle Rodriguez]], the poster girl for this trope but also [[Jessica Alba]] who rarely plays this role, as well as several more. The nude woman in the opening scene also counts.

* [[The Voiceless]]: One Mexican only communicates with a sketchpad.

* [[Weaponized Car]]: a whole fleet of these in the climax. Except that at some point they ran out of weapons and [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|put in hydraulics instead.]]

** The deleted scenes contain several. Sartana had a slutty twin sister constantly whacked out on Ny Quil that also lived with her, and they also greatly disliked each other - {{spoiler|she is later murdered by one of Osiris' partners who also didn't make it into the film, followed up by a scene of Sartana finding her body and showing she really did care about her}}; Osiris had another female partner named Boots McCoy (complete with her own title card introduction), who seemed to be quite crazy {{spoiler|originally she was the one to shoot Luz in the eye (by using a live cat as a silencer no less) instead of Von Jackson, and she also kills Sartana's twin sister by slitting her throat with a razor blade in her mouth}}; Osiris' fate, detailed below; Sartana questions Senator McLaughlin and Booth in the hospital about the assassination attempt; and scene of the Senator being interviewed by the latina reporter at the station. There's always Machete Kills...

** Chris Cooper was the first choice for the Senator McLaughlin role. He turned it down as he thought the script was too weird.

* [[Would Not Shoot a Good Guy]]: Machete spares the lives of Booth's guards, who only had an extremely vague clue as to what their boss was getting up to. Also, when he is "arrested" by phony cops, he waits until he hears them admit that they're fake before killing them.

* [[Writer on Board]]: Played for laughs and invoked. Rodriguez does, apparently, mean the film's pro-immigration stance sincerely, but he also portrays the conflict as not even really about race, but about money, with a Mexican drug lord as one of the main villains, and turns up the [[Narm]] and [[Anvilicious|anviliciousness]] up, since it ''is'' meant to be a throwback to stupid race exploitation films.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]] - {{spoiler|All the bad guys to each other when Machete ruins their plans, ''again''}}

* [[You Killed My Father]]: Textbook example when {{spoiler|1=April shows up in the end to shoot McLaughlin.}}

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Films of the 2010s]]

[[Category:Film]]