Repo Men

Well, if you have watched the musical "REPO", then you definitely want to sink your teeth in to "Repo Men", as they are right up the same alley. Of course, one being a musical and one being a movie, but still, they are basically about the same thing.

The story of "Repo Men" is straight forward and easy to follow. If you can't pay your bills on your implants, they will be reclaimed by The Union, and here comes the repo men into play. (Just like in the musical "REPO").

There is a steady stream of constant action and thrills throughout this movie, so you are never left bored. And the ending, well that I didn't see coming, that was a really nice touch! I am not spoiling it by saying how it ends, but trust me, it is nice.

The actors in the movie was quite nicely cast. Especially Whitaker and Law play very well opposite one another, they support each other well and the chemistry works quite good.

The effects throughout the movie was nice as well. Do not expect to see a myriad of CGI effects to dazzle even a blind guy! But this movie doesn't really need all that fancy CGI, it does very well with ordinary effects and gimmicks. The scenes and settings were nice, showing a somewhat bleak and lifeless future.

In overall, this is a rather nice movie, but in my opinion, it is not the type of movie that you will watch again once watched. It just doesn't have that quality to it. But still, it is one heck of a movie.

All in all, I found this movie quite a disappointment. I have a soft spot for sci-fi, and as several others have commented, Jude Law is a good reliable actor in sci-fi roles. But this movie seems awkwardly assembled, not quite thought-out, and a bit too proud of itself to be taken seriously. Throughout the film, at what seem to be important developmental points or even plot twists, there are one-liners tossed out with great sincerity, which in most cases either sound silly, pretentious, intellectually impoverished, or simply misplaced in this film. The first scene of the film, for instance, we are given a summarization of the 'Schroedinger's Cat' experiment, complete with some of the horrible logic underlying the film--- 'if something isn't definably dead or alive, then it must be both'. The fact that this statement shows a misunderstanding of both the scientific and philosophic merit of the experiment isn't the problem, because even incorrect junk science can be a good vehicle in a movie. The problem is that there's no reason to bring this up in the first place. the movie doesn't tackle whether things are dead or alive, whether being comprised of 'rented organs' is an crisis of existential definitions or what have you. The reference is just thrown in there to sound smart, to seem thoughtful, when the film is anything but. And this sort of pseudo intellectual posturing contaminates the movie.

The whole film's pace feels quite forced, as well. Jude Law seems underutilized. One can't help but wonder if he got drunk for the majority of the shooting for this film. When his wife leaves him, there's almost no emotion in the scene. When twenty minutes later our hero has decided to dedicate his eternal love to a street girl he finds attractive, there's really no chemistry whatsoever--- but apparently the movie insists that there be a love interest, and so it's just thrown in there, pointlessly. Because even in this day and age, it's apparently impossible to propose a hero character without a token damsel in distress.

Then there's the kind of gratuitous and uncomfortable 'surgical sex' scene. It's apparent that whoever choreographed it thought they were being clever, but the whole thing just seems like an attempt to force some sort of correlation between sex and surgical procedures that really just felt misplaced, and kind of heavy-handed. Granted, it has a purpose within the plot, but it's basically a slice of experimental film amid a sci-fi action flick, and like a lot of experiments, it fails.

There are some positive points to the film. While Jude Law's acting is a disappointment, Forrest Whittaker delivers a solid role. The action scenes are quite good, and while the overbearing presence of music makes some of it feel like a weird music video, it's nonetheless well-choreographed fighting and slashing. Some of the sets are good, although a fair number of sets and sequences seem blatant rip-offs of 'Brazil' (to say nothing of the ending)...

A pretty mindless flick. It's better than watching dust settle on your screen. A prettily-packaged emptiness.

When this movie came out, I immediately thought of the film:"Repo The Genetic Opera" by Terrance Zdunich. But NOPE! Even though its basically an exact carbon copy, minus the lower budget and singing, Repo Men is the exact same story. I was pretty shocked to learn it was not made by Zdunich, and could find nothing online regarding litigation or even any mention of the literal sameness between the two stories. This was an okay movie, but it just felt like it could have gone so much further, been more hardcore, cooler, enthralling and less obvious. But again, this story was already done and then some in Repo, The Genetic Opera. NOt everyone has the same "tastes" or sense of whats good, so be your own judge. But the musical was cooler.

It's is the near future, Jake and Remy are repossession men for body organs. After a repo' goes wrong Remy's heart is replaces and he finds himself on the run before his heart is repossessed.

It's a high concept idea with a twist at the end. The gory repo scenes are cringe worthy and action scenes backed with a pumping music score are amazing. The sets, location and effects are attention-grabbing. Miguel Sapochnik's directing admirable but its failing is the screenplay, Repo Men is a jarring mismatch of a film, it doesn't know what it wants to be, one minute a social commentary, the next minute a comedy, then an action, a serious thriller and so on. It just doesn't gel and as a result it's a let down.

Schreiber's Frank is menacing as one of "The Union" heads and there's a welcomed cameo appearance by John Leguizamo (Asbury). A lighter, healthier Forest Whitaker makes an impression in this odd toned movie, quirky lead and ever reliable Jude Law looks uncomfortable with the role Remy. Alice Braga's (Beth) performance is average and she isn't atheistically beautiful enough to convince the audience of Remy's infatuation with her.

Unfortunately, Repo Men tries to cater and appeal to a spectrum of movie goers and as a result fails to entertain or satisfy in any capacity or arena.

Just a great old fashioned action/thriller that is not watered down for a PG-13 rating. Thought it held up quite well and Jude Law, Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber were having a blast playing these over the top characters. Seems like a lot of reviewers are taking it much to seriously. Watch it for the entertainment that it is and you will not be disappointed!