Machete - Movie Trailer

This is so over the top I thought it was a joke. It's like an SNL parody.

Unfortunately, it's not.

It's a real movie.

This is clearly comedy, yes, an homage to the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. But let us also admit: humor, violence and politics are a tricky mix.

I predict the liberal elite will adore this movie.

There will be no concerns about it inciting violence. It will be considered all in good fun, a "Mexploitation masterpiece."

Sometimes human fallacy and artistic bravado collide at just the right moment, and from this collision, their bastard child Genius is born. Genius was born today, and its name is Machete. For those who remember the best five minutes of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's mega-trash opus, Grindhouse, the image of Danny Trejo as Machete, the blade-wielding wetback leading underpaid nannies and drowsy day-laborers in violent revolución against border-obsessed bigots has already been seared into your cerebral cortex. For those who haven't, Robert Rodriguez just dropped a new trailer for his Mexploitation masterpiece on the Internet today, just in time for Cinco de Mayo—henceforth to be known as Cinco de Kick-Ass. Starting with a perfectly placed intimidation wink to Arizona's new alienate-the-future-of-politics identity card laws, the Machete trailer probably now has more relevance than a Pakistani passport.

Of course, what better candidate to lead la revolución than Robert Rodriguez, a crazy Texican kid who subjected himself to medical experiments to raise the $7,000 needed for his infamous first feature, El Mariachi. With Machete, Rodriguez may well have reached the pinnacle of his glory. Today's trailer is basically an expanded version of the fake Grindhouse trailer, with the notable difference of showcasing Rodriguez's dream cast. First off there's the two lovely Latina leading ladies, Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez, necessary to guarantee this DVD will be flying off the flatboard of Fords in alleyways across America. In addition, Rodriguez has packed his homage to the late 80s/early 90s with the appropriate icons ready for a late career renaissance: Steven Seagal, Cheech Marin, and Don Johnson. (Also taking a turn at career C.P.R. is Lindsay Lohan as a nun whose one talent seems to be licking a gun.) Finally, as the Arizona senator who is the target of Machete's rage, Rodriguez has brilliantly recruited the taxi driver himself, Robert De Niro, who does his best to apply those brilliant comic skills he picked up from Meet the Fockers towards a probably-truer-than-you-realize Bush impersonation.

"Genius"?

Good grief.