'Machete' kills the fun with overload of violence

• USA TODAY review%3A ** out of four
• Stars%3A Danny Trejo%2C Michelle Rodriguez%2C Mel Gibson%2C Sofia Vegara%2C Charlie Sheen%2C Demian Bichir
• Rated R%3B Runtime%3A 1 hour%2C 46 minutes%3B Opens Friday nationwide

Machete Kills dulls more than anything.

It's not that Robert Rodriguez's sequel (** out of four; rated R; opens Friday nationwide) lacks any of the camp or exploitative violence of the 2010 original. The mayhem has just become boring.

One could argue the joke was already getting old by the middle of the first film, around the time the body count hit triple digits.

But this is overkill, literally. And it turns the film's clever opening, a mock trailer touting a Machete 3 — in outer space — into more of a threat than a promise.

Danny Trejo returns as Machete, a Charles Bronson with a ponytail. And the film makes a clear nod to its Death Wish roots, as Machete promptly loses the love of his life when Sartana (Jessica Alba) is whacked by a killer sporting a Mexican wrestling mask.

That's reason enough for Machete to get all stabby, though the movie clearly aims to be as kitschy as it is bloody. Just before he's killed by a redneck sheriff, our muscular mumbler is recruited by the feds for a secret government mission: to prevent revolutionaries from bombing the White House, home of President Rathcock, played by Charlie Sheen. Uh huh.

There's no denying the film's fun spot-the-star cameo challenge: Mel Gibson, Lady Gaga, Sofia Vergara and Michelle Rodriguez must have a fondness for camp and arterial spray, and they infuse Machete with genuine energy.

Trejo, too, clearly enjoys being a Bond with a bandoleer. Since he played a Mexican drug cartel boss who literally loses his head in Breaking Bad, Trejo has become that invaluable Hollywood commodity: the lovable, lethal thug. It's hard not to root for Machete, even when he's playing rabid barber. And he gets the best lines of the movie, such as "Machete happens," and "Machete don't tweet."

Alas, Machete suffers the same fatal flaw as its flashier, higher-priced action flick siblings: mayhem that's so thumping and relentless it become repetitive.

Rodriguez's love of exploitation films seems endless, given that his 2007 double feature with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse/Planet Terror, apparently did not satisfy his pulp bloodlust. And his Star Wars references are terrific.

But there's a reason grindhouse cinema was short-lived. As Machete's mock trailer underscores, the bedlam is good for a few laughs before the shtick goes stale. Visually, Machete is a stone-cold killer. As a story, it barely breaks the skin.