'Machete': Murder, mayhem and Lindsay Lohan

The opening credits to the alarmingly violent and wildly funny "Machete" conclude with "Introducing Don Johnson," who hasn't needed an introduction for about 35 years, but sets up the entire conceit of this Robert Rodriguez ("Spy Kids") project.

A salute to the 1970s direct-to-drive-in movie, "Machete" is part thriller, part gore fest, part revenge fantasy, but also part time machine, taking us into a pre-"Access Hollywood" world of trash cinema and small 'd' democracy, when all men/women were (sort of) created equal. A cheesy Texas senator? A taco-flipping insurgent with a mobile kitchen? The exhibitionist daughter of a corrupt politico? That they're being played by Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan is something we're not supposed to notice, but do, and that's all part of the shticky, campy fun.

The "stunt casting" in "Machete" - a "trailer" for which was included in the Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino-directed "Grindhouse" - includes the recruitment of ultimate movie extra Danny Trejo as the film's title character. Trejo, whose unforgettably woeful face and gangster attitude has led to hundreds of credits (including Uncle Machete in "Spy Kids"), has his first starring role as a Mexican ex-policeman recruited by a drug cartel to assassinate a Texas state senator (De Niro). Realizing that he's been set up, Machete escapes but is presumed guilty and spends the movie both escaping and enforcing the law.

The ethos of "Machete" is one of overkill, overload and overacting. Everyone delivers, notably Michelle Rodriguez, who turns in perhaps her most charming performance, and Jessica Alba, as an immigration officer who allies herself with Machete. Lohan is hilarious, ending up in a nun's habit with a machine gun. Longtime moviegoers will feel a vicarious joy watching Trejo sink his teeth (and several other implements) into a role that's more about attitude than dialogue.

In its curiously perverse way, "Machete" is about upholding tradition: Like the post-nuclear sci-fi films of the '50s, or the work of late-'60s-'70s George Romero with its civil-rights subtext, the movie stirs a potent political message into its mayhem.