Danny Trejo returns as Machete Cortez in Machete Kills, a 2013 action picture directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film is a sequel to Machete (2010) and the third entry tied to the fake trailer “Machete” from Grindhouse (2007). It runs 108 minutes and trades on the same mix of crime, thriller and exploitation tones that made the earlier films work.
Trailer, via 20th Century Studios.
The Setup
Machete is pulled back into service by the President of the United States, played by Charlie Sheen as Carlos Estévez. His mission: stop a madman revolutionary named Marcos Mendez and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who plans to spread war and anarchy across the planet. That’s the whole premise, and it doesn’t get much bigger from there.
The Cast
The ensemble is the film’s strongest card. Mel Gibson plays the arms dealer, Demián Bichir plays the revolutionary, and Michelle Rodriguez returns as Luz. Sofía Vergara shows up as Desdemona, Amber Heard as Miss San Antonio, and Lady Gaga appears as La Camaleón. Charlie Sheen’s performance as the President leans into the camp that made the role work in the first film.
The Plot Problems
The film asks a lot of its audience. Machete travels across Mexico, meets a beauty queen named Blanca Vasquez, finds a girl named Cereza, and faces off against a madam named Desdemona. Along the way, a luchador-masked leader wipes out a military team, and Machete himself survives a hanging arranged by Sheriff Doakes and Deputy Clebourne. The plot strains under its own weight, with threats, betrayals and timers that keep stacking without giving the story room to breathe.
The Comparisons
| Machete (2010) | Machete Kills (2013) |
|---|---|
| Tight, focused revenge plot | Broader scope, more villains, less focus |
| Cast of returning faces | Large ensemble, including newcomers |
| Direct, straightforward tone | Campier, over-the-top in places |
| Strong central threat | Split between two villains |
The Final Stretch
The film reaches its climax at Mendez’s headquarters, where Machete fights his way through an army of masked men led by El Camaleón 4, played by Antonio Banderas. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Walton Goggins round out the Camaleón team. The final confrontation with Mendez, who has wired a nuclear missile to his own heart, stretches the premise thinner still. It’s a big idea, poorly executed.
The Verdict
Machete Kills is a mess, but it’s a deliberately messy one. Rodriguez clearly knows what he’s doing with the tone, mixing comedy with genuine violence and leaning into the absurdity of a film about a one-man army stopping a global conspiracy. The cast is game, and the set pieces are often better than the plot that connects them.
But the film never quite commits to being either a serious thriller or a pure comedy. It tries to have both and ends up having neither fully. The pacing suffers, the stakes grow harder to track, and the final act feels rushed rather than earned.
4.1 out of 10.
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