MACHETE KILLS (Rated R)

As film director and writer, Robert Rodriguez has a definite style, one that for the most part fits nicely into the exploitation genre that once dominated “grindhouse” theaters.

The Rodriguez approach to filmmaking has had so much similarity to Quentin Tarantino’s that the two of them collaborated on the 2007 double feature “Grindhouse,” consisting of Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” and Tarantino’s “Death Proof.”

For the uninitiated, “Machete Kills” is the sequel to “Machete,” both of which starred the tough, menacing Danny Trejo in the titular role as a former Mexican Federale still teamed up with Jessica Alba’s agent Sartana Rivera.

Like parachuting into the second half of a serial franchise, there’s little point to joining the exploits of the machete-wielding hero (yes, Trejo is the good guy) without having seen the first film, though the real reason is to appreciate the quirky experience to the fullest.

“Machete Kills” is the contemporary version of the exploitation experience that was brought vividly to the screen with African-American actors like Richard Roundtree (“Shaft”), James Brown, Pam Grier, Fred Williamson and a host of others during the 1970s.

Back then, it was called “blaxploitation,” focusing on the urban landscape with a wide variety of criminal enterprises involved, from drug trafficking to prostitution. The genre stirred controversy and even opprobrium from civil rights organizations.

Today, the “Machete” franchise generates little heat, other than critical derision from some film critics who may be operating under the misguided impression that this kind of B-movie should offer more than gratuitous absurdity.

Rodriguez has performed impressively in films like “El Mariachi” and “Desperado,” but one must understand that having Sofia Vergara as a brothel madam equipped with a machine-gun bra is a sign that “Machete Kills” is not to be taken seriously.

“Machete” fans will be thrilled with the film’s opening, as a garish trailer heralds the next splatter-fest with “Machete Kills Again … in Space,” which might even be inspired by the late Ed Wood’s “Plan Nine from Outer Space” or the detritus of other sci-fi junk.

Trejo’s Machete is a man of few words, sort of like the Man with No Name in spaghetti Westerns, which is fitting since he spends much of his time on the dusty, untamed desert of the Arizona-Mexico border, dealing with vicious thugs from Mexican drug cartels.

With a fixed facial expression, Machete, never smiling or winking at the illogical proceedings, growls his trademark one-liners before slicing various body parts from assorted bad guys.

A renegade enforcer, Machete is enlisted by off-kilter U.S. President Rathcock (Charlie Sheen who’s credited under his birth name, Carlos Estevez) to assassinate Mexican madman Mendez (Demian Bichir).

Adding to the mystery, Mendez has a split personality. He’s either a zealous revolutionary or a drug cartel leader surrounded by vicious henchmen. In any case, he’s got the trigger for a nuke aimed at Washington, D.C. surgically implanted on his chest.

Machete’s handler in the field is Miss San Antonio, a blond bombshell (Amber Heard), who is also a deadly assassin in her own right and a schizophrenic that is very much at home in the lunacy of this exploitative B-movie world.

To everyone’s delight, tough gal Michelle Rodriguez returns, though late in the story, as Luz, leader of an underground network that joins forces with Machete just at the right time.

As loco as he is, Mendez turns out to be fronting for a more sinister villain, arms dealer and space visionary Luther Voz (Mel Gibson), who is putting together a space mission to escape an inevitable nuclear destruction of Earth that he is trying to engineer.

Meanwhile, as Machete makes his way across the treacherous terrain of Mexico back to the United States with Mendez in tow, he is pursued by a chameleon-like assassin who constantly changes his identity.

Reminiscent of Martin Landau and Leonard Nimoy in the “Mission Impossible” TV series, the chameleon pulls off masks to reveal a new disguise. The fun is seeing the part played by Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas and Cuba Gooding Jr.

The best thing about “Machete Kills” and the franchise so far is that it is campy good fun, a spoof as well as parody of the exploitation genre. Nonetheless, Robert Rodriguez delights in old tropes of the “grindhouse” era.

In less capable hands, “Machete Kills” wouldn’t be as much gory, ridiculous fun, and would lack the stellar cast. In other words, without Rodriguez at the helm, this would be the type of cheesy film relegated to 2 a.m. showings on a cable channel.

Machete often tells us what he won’t do. In the first film, it was “Machete don’t text.” Here it is “Machete don’t tweet.”

What he won’t do in outer space, we can only guess. For fans of this cult franchise, here’s hoping Robert Rodriguez delivers on his intergalactic promise.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.