Film is best enjoyed with your brain switched off

If "Inception" is this summer's smartest cinematic thrill ride, "Machete" sits at the opposite end of the spectrum.

It is a loud, giddy, carnal blast from one of cinema's most relentless schlock auteurs, Robert Rodriguez.

Billed as a "Mexploitation" flick and doffing its sombrero to the likes of "Coffy" and "Shaft," this over-the-top pastiche of Westerns, revenge thrillers, cultural stereotypes and softcore porn will be catnip for those who flocked to Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's 2007 cult opus, "Grindhouse."

It was within "Grindhouse" that the world first glimpsed Rodriguez's blood-soaked vision for "Machete." Included as one of the fake trailers bridging "Grindhouse's" "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof," audiences were treated to the sight of eternally gruff character actor Danny Trejo flinging metal at villains and macking on the ladies.

The plot is simplicity itself, culled from decades of similarly themed films. Machete (Trejo) is, as the film opens, a Mexican federale whose family is brutally murdered at the hands of ruthless drug lord Torrez (Seagal, sporting the worst Spanish accent ever attempted).

Although left for dead, Machete escapes to cross the border illegally and scrape by as a day laborer in Austin. He maintains a tenuous connection to the mysterious Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), who's under investigation by immigration agent Sartana (Jessica Alba).

Some may be surprised by "Machete's" incorporation of politics, although a strident political point of view isn't unusual in the genre. .

Those in search of an elegant, Tarantino-style homage to rough-and-tumble cinematic fare won't find it here -- Rodriguez is only interested in updating a gritty, gory genre with pointed political commentary and modern filmmaking techniques.