Machete is two things an exploitation flick should never be…overly talky and overly preachy. Co-writer and co-director Robert Rodriguez seems to be more focused on bludgeoning us with his views on illegal immigration and the treatment of those migrant workers, than with delivering the promise of the trailer from Grindhouse, from which this exploitation flick homage grew. The conspiracy plot is too involved for this type of movie and too much time is spent on it rather than delivering the action that this type of film should feature. There are some cool action scenes and blood does flow often, but not enough to get us through the endless dialog sequences. Also curious is why he hired all the eye candy than does very little with them. There is only one sex scene and it seems chopped short. This is exploitation, why hire actresses who won’t disrobe? Also curious is why Rodriguez films the pre-credits scene in the dirty, broken film “grindhouse” style, then abandons it after the credits. It is nice to see, after decades of supporting roles, Danny Trejo get the center spotlight as ex Mexican Federal Isador “Machete” Cortez, but, to be honest, he doesn’t generate the charisma to be a leading man…at least not here.
The original Machete trailer during Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse was fun, but maybe it should have stayed a trailer. Flick was co-written by Alvaro Rodriguez and co-directed by Ethan Maniquis and also stars Robert DeNiro, Don Johnson, Jessica Alba and Steven Seagal. There was a sequel, Machete Kills and talk of a third film Machete Kills Again, that has yet to materialize.
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Sequel finds a retired Casey Ryback (Steven Seagal) now owning a restaurant and taking a train to Los Angeles for his brother’s funeral, along with his rebellious niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl). As Ryback has the same luck as John McClane, terrorist and computer hacker Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian) hijacks the train to take over the ATAC’s Grazer One weapons satellite. Using information from CIA agent Tom Breaker (Nick Mancuso) and ATAC Captain Linda Gilder (Brenda Bakke) who are romancing onboard, the train becomes Dane’s mobile base and the passengers his hostages…all save one…Ryback. Now Ryback must defeat the terrorists’ plan, rescue his hostage niece and save the day with only a young porter (Morris Chestnut) to help him.
With On Deadly Ground being a box office disappointment, Steven Seagal wisely returned to his Casey Ryback character from one of his most successful films. This time he is directed by Geoff Murphy from a script by Richard Hatem and Matt Reeves. It’s not quite up to the first flick’s standards, but is still a fun action movie with a lot of the bone crunching martial arts we expect from Seagal. Dane is more of a cyber villain and Everett McGill’s mercenary Marcus Penn becomes the physical threat Ryback must eventually overcome. The relationship between Ryback and niece Sarah works well, as it gives us a chance to see Casey a bit befuddled dealing with a teenager. Once she becomes a hostage, his camaraderie with Chestnut’s porter Bobby, works well, too. There is a lot of action and suspense as Dane uses the Grazer One for hire and for revenge and Ryback must somehow stop him before the military takes out the train and it’s passengers to eliminate Dane. The cat and mouse game between terrorist and exNavy SEAL works well, as it did before. The script writers even work out a way to get action on and off the train, here and there, and it’s only a couple of really badly executed SPFX during the overblown conclusion that bring the flick down a few notches. Otherwise, it’s not quite Under Siege, but entertaining enough in it’s own right and a welcome return to one of Seagal’s best characters.
Sequel has a good cast. Seagal’s is very likable as Ryback. He’s a noble character, but a little bit less intense than some of the other stone-faced tough guys he’s portrayed. He has some fun scenes with Katherine Heigl as his niece, as even Ryback admits he’s not trained for dealing with a rebellious teenager. Heigl is good as the feisty Sarah, though is more of a damsel in distress in the second half. Morris Chestnut is fun as the reluctant hero Bobby, whose porter is dragged into being Ryback’s sidekick. Eric Bogosian is a solid enough villain as cyber terrorist Dane. He doesn’t quite have the personality of Tommy Lee Jones’ Stranix from part one, but he works well enough, as does Everett McGill as his muscle. There are some returning supporting characters from the first installment, such as the before mentioned Nick Mancuso as Agent Tom Breaker, Dale Dye as Captain Garza and Andy Romano as Admiral Bates. Another good cast to support the action star.
A solid action flick that may not be quite as good as the first Under Siege, but is still action packed and fun. One of Seagal’s last big hits and one of his last major theatrical releases before his flicks started hitting direct to video status. He had a brief theatrical comeback with the flick Exit Wounds in 2001, but that fizzled out quickly. Too bad the often rumored Under Siege 3 never got made, Ryback is by far his most likable and memorable character.
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Flick finds Navy SEAL Casey Ryback (Steven Seagal) serving as a cook on the battleship USS Missouri for disciplinary reasons. It’s the captain’s birthday and a big celebration is planned. Rogue Navy officer Commander Peter Krill (Gary Busey) uses the celebration as a cover to bring in terrorist William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones), an ex-CIA operative, to take over the ship with his men. Now it’s up to cook Casey and a stripper hired for the party (Erika Eleniak) to outwit Strannix and his thugs and take back the Missouri and save the crew.
Arguably Steven Seagal’s best film, Under Siege is directed by Andrew Davis (Code of Silence, The Fugitive) from a fun script by J. F. Lawton. Davis takes the now classic Die Hard scenario and milks it for all it’s worth in his battleship setting. There is a lot of action, some taunt suspense and some nice humor mixed in with Seagal’s trademark martial arts. He gets one of the liveliest performances out of the usually stoic action star and some very strong but entertaining villains in Busey and Jones. The film used a real battleship as it’s setting, the USS Alabama, and the cat and mouse chase between Strannix and Ryback works really well in the claustrophobic setting. Just so it doesn’t wear out it’s welcome, the filmmakers find a few reasons to get the action outside and on deck now and again. There is a generous amount of violence and bloodletting, as Seagal’s style of hand to hand combat and weapons handling gives him plenty of opportunities to stab, shoot and break numerous bones, when not blowing up bad guys with booby traps. It’s a lot of fun and very fast paced, though does take enough time to establish it’s characters which are colorful.
As for those characters the film has a top notch cast. This might be one of Seagal’s best performances, as the action star gives Casey a bit more of a sense of humor and heart than his usual straight-faced tough guys. He has some nice charm and can act a bit. One of the reasons he gets to do this is being paired with Erika Eleniak’s terrified and out of place Jordan. The Baywatch star, at first, is just scared out of her wits, but the character grows from a frightened young woman to a fighter and solid part of the resistance, when she and Casey go on the offensive. The script gives the two some nice scenes together and the actors have a good chemistry between them. Busey and Jones make very good bad guys. Both go just over-the-top enough to be fun, but not enough to make a joke out of the proceedings, or lose their threat factor. They are both dangerous men. Rounding out is a great Colm Meaney as one of the lead henchmen, Nick Mancuso as a sleazy CIA operative, real-life Marine war vet Dale Dye as a navy officer, Andy Romano as Admiral Bates, along with Bernie Casey, Dennis (Retribution) Lipscomb and even Kane “Jason Voorhees” Hodder. A great cast, both main and supporting.
A classic action flick and depending on what you look for in one of his films, Steven Seagal’s best flick and performance. There is plenty of action, strong suspense and tension and some great characters, who interact wonderfully. You get the traditional elements from both a Steven Seagal movie and a Die Hard-esque thriller, yet Under Siege has it’s own heartbeat. Solid directing from veteran Andrew Davis and a tight, fun script from J.F. Lawton and you have pretty much all you could want from an action flick.
-MonsterZero NJ
Rated 3 and 1/2 (out of 4) cooks who moonlight as SEALs.
A Hong Kong actioneer with Michael Biehn, Maggie Q and Hong Kong Cinema legends Sammo Hung and Simon Yam that is also produced by Steven Seagal…sounds too good to be true…and sadly, to a degree, it kinda is. The before mentioned stars are not the main focus, only Biehn and Hung have considerable screen time. It’s really a showcase for a bunch of young actors playing a crack Interpol squad out to catch the bad guys. Maggie Q and Biehn are among the villains and Hung is the nurturing veteran cop, while Yam is barely on screen as a harried police chief. We watch these Hong Kong flicks for action and while there isn’t as much as we’d like, the action there is can be quite bloody. Unnecessarily so at times, but the Hong Kong cinema has always had a tendency for overindulgence and that’s kinda why we like it.
This action thriller is also slowed down by too much over-stylized camera tricks. Director/co-writer (with Lau Ho-Leung) Daniel Lee went to film school and wants everyone to know it. All the distracting camera work hinders the action at times and slows down the drama. Too many grainy black and white flashbacks or jittery hand held camera shots. It really slows down the pace. Scenes seem to take twice as long as they should. The script also likes to stop the story dead, at times, to focus on sub plots, like Biehn’s relationship with a gangster’s girlfriend (Li Bingbing). It’s important to the plot, but still seriously slows down a film that cries out for a quicker pace. Veterans like John Woo and Tsui Hark knew how to balance the drama and the action perfectly. Lee could take a few tips from those masters. Not to say this tale of Interpol cops vs a squad of tough as nails bad guys doesn’t have entertainment value, it does, as it tries to be something in the vein of Michael Mann’s Heat. Lee does still succeed in pulling off a couple of strong shoot-out sequences (ex: an alley shoot out about 2/3 through) despite his over-stylizing everything and I dug the blood-soaked final showdown. As usual with Hong Kong flicks, there is some beautiful cinematography, this time by Tony Cheung.
In the end, it still falls very short of some of the more classic Hong Kong action flicks like Hard Boiled or Infernal Affairs. Not great, but there are worse ways to spend an evening and certainly worth a look if you are a Hong Kong Action Cinema nut like me…and the cast is worth watching it for alone, even if it’s far from perfect.
Unconfirmed rumors not only restate that Mel Gibson is going to star as the main bad guy in Expendables 3 with Sly Stallone and company but, that martial artist and 90s action icon Steven Seagal has joined the cast as well. As soon as it’s official or denied, I’ll let you all know!
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 