Machete Kills

Robert Rodriguez brings Danny Trejo back for another round of violent B-movie action, and the joke has grown tired. I was a big fan of the original (and the fake Grindhouse trailer) but this one gets dumb to the point of annoyance. The 69 year-old Trejo, who participates in countless film projects, is starting to look a little tired in the title role. Charlie Sheen (billed under his real name, Carlos Estevez) is actually pretty funny as the president of the United States, but he only has a few scenes. The same can’t be said for Mel Gibson, who mugs his way through a bad guy role in a manner that reveals near desperation to be taken seriously again. I give props to Amber Heard, who gets the film’s best part as a beauty queen/secret agent, but issue demerits to Sofia Vergara who screams her way through her role as a villain with machine gun breasts, a direct gimmicky rip-off of the girl with machine gun legs from Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. Rodriguez seems to be losing it to some degree.