Review-I loved Trejo in the 90’s, but it just seems in the last 11 years that all these roles he plays are so similar that I am starting to really think that Trejo is starting to become the new Arnold and Stallone pre 1993. When it just seemed that every week at the multiplex was another film that had the same premise as the last film, and it just got to be overkill. Machete’s trailer made such a promise that you knew the film could not live up or deliver, and with Bad Ass, it just seems that Trejo is collecting paychecks with little to no effort in these roles. I love action films, and I thought the Rambo comeback film a few years back was amazing, and I liked the Expendables. Those films gave us something similar but packaged it different and gave us a fun popcorn experience. This film is basically Danny Trejo trying to act like Michael Douglas in Falling Down, come across like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino and deliver like Rutger Hauer in Hobo with a Shotgun. And he fails on all 3 levels, though I do give him credit for shooting for such lofty goals. This film comes across as almost a Mexican Billy Jack. The film does a good job at blurring the lines as to what his motives are for what he is doing, but Danny Trejo does not have the acting chops that could elevate this material below the awful cheese it was. Craig Moss is clearly over his head trying to make a big budget serious action film, when all he has is a history of very bad farce films. Come to think about it, if this film was a farce more than serious, or had a Naked Gun element to this film, it would have been very fun and maybe more recommendable. I am not saying this is the worst film I ever watched, because obviously I watched it and never got bored or turned it off; I am just saying that this film just felt like all the other films as of late Danny Trejo has put his name on, and seemed so uninspired and repetive.
My question is how many passes can we give Danny Trejo? In the last 2 years alone, we have forgiven him for Predators, because rumors say he could not stay on the shoot the whole required time because he had Machete commitments. Then, came the over-budget bore fest called Machete, what was the excuse that time, oh yeah Danny claimed he had issues with the direction of the film and character. So now we have a made for dvd film called Bad Ass that is far from being called a classic, and again Danny Trejo’s name is all over the box and likeness on the art. What is the excuse this time? You are an actor, act. Sell me on the film; make it believable where I want to invest my time and money into it. All I have to say is bad ass lived up to its name, it is truly a bad ass film. In closing, what is with all these films loosely based on true events, if we want to see so many, wouldn’t we just watch the discovery channel or history channel for the documentary? I would rather see a film based on what happened at the board meeting that got this film a green light and budget, that would have made more compelling action than what this film offers. What is next for Danny Trejo, Major League 4 with Charlie Sheen? Machete 2, oh lord let’s hope not.
Sorcer - wickedchannel.com
