According to all the posters I could find this movie was originally scheduled to hit theaters this past Friday. It was actually released a couple of weeks ago.
Repo Man is a movie about a guy named Remy( Jude Law) and his friend Jake(Forest Whitaker). They work for a company called The Union as repo men. The Union sells artificial organs (artiforgs), because in the time the movie takes place any part of your body can be replaced, but it’s going to cost you. So, you buy your new liver on credit and when you fall far enough behind on the payments they send guys like Remy and Jake to your house to cut the liver out of you and leave you bleeding to death on the floor. Will you need fake eyes after this, or is it OK to watch?
Remy’s wife hates what he does, and seemingly hates him sometimes. She wants him to change jobs and become a salesmen for the company instead of a repo man. He follows through and talks to his boss about becoming a salesmen, which seems to quietly upset Jake. But, Jake sets him up with his last repo job, reclaiming the artificial heart of a music producer that Remy has been a fan of for a long time. Right as Remy tries to use his defibrillator unit to stop the heart of the compliant music producer it shorts out and he goes flying backwards down the hall.
He wakes up in the hospital needing an artificial heart of his own. After some convincing he signs the papers to get a new heart put in. When he goes back to his job as a repo man he starts to empathize with the people whose organs he is supposed to be reclaiming and he can’t do it anymore. Since he isn’t doing his job he isn’t getting paid, and soon enough he has to go on the run in order to keep from getting his own heart repossessed.
YAY :
- There is one really cool action sequence toward the end. There’s a few more action sequences sprinkled throughout, but the one toward the end is definitely the best
- Speaking about the ending, it’s easily the best part of the movie. It’s very reminiscent of a much better film, almost to the point of plagiarism, but I didn’t see it coming and liked it a lot.
NAY :
- There are some gaping plot holes in this film. Did you expect any less from a movie of this genre though? Wait, what genre was this again? Anyway, Remy uses a tranquilizer dart gun to knock out everyone in order to reclaim their organs, until he gets to the music producer. I know it’s a heart and he needed to stop it somehow, but why suddenly switch tactics now? Also, if you get hurt on the job like that, even in the future, wouldn’t your employer have to cover the cost of your medical expenses? If that happens we have no movie though.
- The story is like a lame version of Minority Report. He was a member of a system he once believed in, but now because of a major event he finds that the system is flawed and something should be done about it. But, he’s on the run from the very people he once called colleagues.
- Remy’s inner monologues come off quite preachy for a semi-sci-fi-not-really-action-movie-kind-of-thriller.
- If blood bothers you, you don’t want to see this. There are some fairly graphic scenes of organs being cut out. It’s probably nothing you couldn’t stand if you’ve seen any of the movies in the Saw franchise.
- Fans of a movie I’ve never seen called Repo: The Genetic Opera were pretty pissed about the similarities in Repo Men. A lot of movies ‘borrow’ elements from others though, so maybe it wasn’t that bad. But, I didn’t just make up the title of this review. The Repossession Mambo is actually the title of the book Repo Men is based on. The book Repossession Mambo came out in 2009, while the opera came out in 2008. The author of the book claims to have been writing it long before it was finished, but according to fans Repo: The Genetic Opera started as a stage show around 2000. This film just seems like a slap in the face to someone’s original ideas, does it not?
There you have it, Repo Men is a film that is hard to classify and is very similar in story to Minority Report. It also borrows the ending of a much better film (which isn’t Minority Report by the way) and runs with it. The ending almost makes this worth it, but sadly it doesn’t. If you’re still interested wait until it comes out on disc or see it at a matinee.
