Machete started out its life as a trailer in the middle of the Rodriguez/Tarantino love letter to the exploitation films of the '70s known as Grindhouse. As a trailer it was pretty cool- a one note joke that didn't overstay its welcome.
The Machete that hit theaters as a full feature was well cast but not particularly well executed. You could say it was too much of a good thing, but whether or not it was a good thing to begin with is up for debate.
Which leads us to the release of the trailer for Machete Kills, which, while awesome, has us wondering if we're about to fall for the same trick again.
Danny Trejo, who was just in town for Comicpalooza, returns as Machete and from the looks of it he still knows the score, gets the women, and kills the bad guys. There are some other names returning (Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez) and some new faces to the series (Lady Gaga, Mel Gibson), but there's only one name that we imagine anyone will be talking about:
Carlos Estevez.
Now, typically Charlie Sheen isn't enough to get us in to a theater (unless there's a Men At Work sequel we don't know about) but the novelty of him popping up in the trailer under his real name is pretty funny.
You win this round Robert Rodriguez. Here's hoping the finished product lives up to the trailer.