Rodriguez slices up a winner

One of the highlights of “Grindhouse,” Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 joint tribute to bad ‘70s splatter flicks, was the fake trailers. While both “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof” provided ample over-the-top fun, the experience was pushed into the stratosphere by ads for five fake movies with titles like “Werewolf Women of the S.S.” and “Hobo With a Shotgun.”

So far, one of those phony movies is a reality. Robert Rodriguez stretched his two-minute trailer for “Machete,” an action movie starring a scowling, revenge-bent Danny Trejo in the title role, into a 100-minute movie.

It was a risky move, but Rodriguez knocked it out of the park. “Machete” is a movie ostensibly about the immigration debate, but mostly about a dude who slices people up with a machete and sees a lot of boobs. The political aspects of the story are delivered in just as schlocky a manner as the violence, showing Rodriguez wasn’t trying to make a statement so much as he was trying to make another fun movie that pays tribute to a genre of film that he reveres.

And as far as ultraviolent Mexploitation flicks go, there’s hardly any better than “Machete.”