The first film in the franchise started as nothing more than a fake trailer to go along with a few others that were shown during Grindhouse, Rodriguez & Tarantino’s homage to 70’s drive-in exploitation B-movies. It received such a buzz that it was eventually turned into a full length feature, done in the same style as Death Proof & Planet Terror.
For me, I was disappointed by Machete. I was excited to see Steven Seagal back in a big-budget film, but he just wasn’t Seagal. I felt a lot of the humor was forced, the story was muddied, and the film just ran too long. I dig Trejo, and believe him to be the hardest working man in showbiz. On his bad-assness alone I’ll be checking out Machete Kills, despite not digging the original very much. I’d be lying if I said that Sofia Vergara isn’t a big reason as well.