Machete Blu-ray Review

Machete - HT Guys Review - Overall  4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

Hired to assassinate a politician, vigilante and ex-Federale Machete (Danny Trejo) nearly dies when a sniper shoots him during the job. Out for revenge, he's joined by a reluctant old buddy (Cheech Marin) who's become a pacifist priest. Written and co-directed by Robert Rodriguez, this homage to exploitation films based on his fake trailer in Grindhouse. (Buy Now $19.99)

Starring:

Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson

Director:

Robert Rodriguez, Ethan Maniquis

Blu-ray Release Date:

January, 4, 2011

Subtitles:

English SDH, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20% Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.1 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

●        Subwoofer – 4.5 Stars
●        Dialog – 4.5 Stars
●        Surround Effects – 4.0 Stars
●        Dynamic Range – 3.5 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Machete has a fitting sound mix, it isn’t elegant but it is effective. Gunshots speed behind you and punches crush bones, but nothing stands out as fantastic. There aren’t many ambient sound effects or anything utilizing the range available in its DTS-HD Master Audio mix. However, the music score fits the movie perfect and fills the room at the appropriate ques.

Video  4.3 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

• Color Accuracy  - 4.0 Stars
• Shadow detail – 4.5 Stars
• Clarity – 4.5 Stars
• Skin tones – 4.0 Stars
• Compression – 4.5 Stars

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 1.85:1, Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

When this movie starts you might think something is wrong with the Blu-ray. The video will appear as film that’s been aged and scratched, but don’t worry. Its supposed to be that way. This movie is an homage to grindhouse films of the 70’s and uses this technique to build ambiance. Lucky, this effect does not last forever, it only seams to appear in a few scenes here and there. Machete’s picture clarity is just as sharp as his blade. You get to see all of Danny Trejo’s pockmarks, deep wrinkles, wiry mustache hairs, and oily hair in crisp 1080p and it is beautiful. Dark scenes are handled well, without any compression issues. However the colors for this Blu-ray are hot, which makes them vibrant and fits the film, but it tends to make skin tones be a little more red than they should be.

Bonus Features 3.0 Stars (out of 5)

• Audience Reaction Track
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailers
• Digital Copy

Movie - 4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Review

This movie started as a spoof trailer during the Grindhouse movies. It became so popular online that they made a real movie out of it. If you watch the trailer and thought that it was too silly, too over the top, or too awesome to handle then your are right. Machete gives all you expected it to be with out taking itself too seriously and never forgetting to have fun along the way. Be warned, this movie does not pull any punches. Some sequences are gruesome to watch because of gory violence. A few scenes are so sexually charged it’s embarrassing. On several occurrences, purposefully outlandish scenarios left me laughing out loud. Once or twice, the movie gets a little preachy with its message, but it has to in order for the “plot” to work.

The cast is like pulling random names out of a hat. I never thought I would see Robert Deniro and Linsey Lohan share a scene together. I had know idea how much I missed seeing Don Johnson in movies. I didn’t know I wanted to see Steven Segal (of Irish / Jewish descent) play a samurai sword wielding Mexican drug lord. Machete gave all of these amazing things to me and I accept them with a smile and a I say “Thank You Machete”.