Machete

Machete began life as one of the fake trailers in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, and was then expanded into a complete film, directed by Rodriguez with Ethan Maniquis. Surprise! It's pretty good. Rodriguez and Maniquis work to make it seem like one of those old grindhouse pictures, distressing the film and making it look exploitative as possible, but along the way they kind of forget about that and the movie ends up being a serviceable action picture with a heart.

Rodriguez has said that the inspiration for the film was from wanting to make a film with Danny Trejo in the lead. Trejo, with a face like two miles of bad road, has been in countless films, usually as a Latino heavy, but here has the starring role. He begins the film as a Mexican federal officer (his favorite weapon earns him the name Machete). He is after a kidnapped girl, but finds that the local drug kingpin (Steven Seagal) is in cahoots with his superior, and his wife and daughter are murdered.

We flash forward to Trejo working as a day laborer in Austin, Texas. A local businessman (Jeff Fahey) hires him to assassinate a state senator who takes a hard line against illegal immigration (Robert De Niro). Trejo is set up, though, and goes on the run. He ends working with the local immigration aide network, run by Michelle Rodriguez, and a sympathetic immigration officer (Jessica Alba).

The cast is a crazy patchwork of famous names from various parts of the culture. In addition to those mentioned, there's Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin and special effects wizard Tom Savini. Many of these cast members would suggest that the film is a goof, but it doesn't turn out that way. Yes, there's lots of cartoonish violence; Trejo makes good use of any sharp weapon that comes his way, weather it's a corkscrew or a weed-whacker. But the overall outrage about the treatment of undocumented workers is palpable. The credits include a thank you to the Governor of Texas, but I doubt Rick Perry fully embraces the message of the film.

There's lots to enjoy here, including a shootout in a church set to "Ave Maria," peekaboo nudity involving Alba and Lohan, and droll lines like "Machete don't text." I was really pleasantly surprised by this, since I normally Rodriguez far too self-indulgent.