Machete (R, 2010)

Three years ago, a federale (Mexican federal police officer), called Machete (Danny Trejo) watched helplessly as a ruthless gangster (Steven Seagal) murdered his wife. Now, he works as a day laborer on the U.S. side of the border. Machete is hired to assassinate a U.S. senator (Robert De Niro) -- a stern advocate against Mexican immigrants -- but the job turns out to be a setup. Now Machete is on the run, but he has help from a pretty immigration agent (Jessica Alba) and an underground revolutionary leader (Michelle Rodriguez). Enter several nasty killers, a gun-toting priest, and a drug-addled daughter, and it all adds up to a bullet-ridden showdown, with Machete in the middle.

Springing dubiously from one of the fake trailers in Grindhouse (2007), MACHETE brings director Robert Rodriguez's career full circle and emerges as one of his very best films. He began in 1992 with the low-budget Spanish-language action movie El Mariachi; Machete continues in that vein, but with more resources, more enthusiasm, and more guts.

Rodriguez can sometimes get a bit too carried away with his films and can sometimes forget to invite the audience into his fun -- but Machete captures exactly the right tone; it's fun, shocking, and even has some righteous ideals. Under any conditions, Rodriguez is one of the finest action directors in Hollywood, and his set pieces here are explosive. The amazing, oddball actors are perfectly placed, especially the tough, pockmarked Trejo, who usually plays character parts. All of that said, like the other "Grindhouse" films, Machete is way too violent and sexed up for anyone under 17 -- willfully so.