prettymaryk

As if that's even possible.

Ignore the trailers... and the critics. This isn't a thriller, and it never tries to be. It is, wholeheartedly, a comedy. Anyone who missed that must have been watching a different film, because it's funny - in fact, it's hysterical. But not because it's "so bad it's good". No, it's totally intentional. The lines are funny, the pauses are funny, the actors are funny... it's like a younger, slightly subtler, Venetian version of Red. What's not to like?

We're all used to seeing Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in dramatic roles - Finding Neverland, Public Enemies, The Changeling, A Mighty Heart... and it's so easy to forget that they can be funny. But they are, both of them. Johnny shines, as he always does. Angelina Jolie looks glorious, and when she smiles, the screen lights up. They don't have chemistry, critics say. Oh yes, they do, I say. More importantly, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

Johnny's Frank is delightful, touching and slightly mysterious. He has endless room to play around, and makes Frank memorable, and lovely, as only Johnny can. Angelina's role is more limiting, but she still makes it fresh and - yes - deeply amusing, parodying both herself and the genre in general. Watching her saunter around on her high heels, one can't help but recall what James Bond used to be like. This isn't Wanted or Salt: she has far more to do here than look cryptic and shoot people, and she does it very well.

Add to that the utterly magnificent Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, a few stereotypically dim Russian gangsters (they speak actual Russian, for once, and their funniest lines aren't subtitled) and Rufus Sewell, and there's no way you can go wrong.

Yes, there's a twist at the end - a twist that seemed to annoy most people. But does that take away from the film? No! It adds to it, because it's just so obvious, and natural, that it's all the funnier for it.

This isn't an intellectual film. Nor does it try to be. It's a romp, a fun romp with two beautiful, endlessly talented actors, set in a beautiful city (which is shot so beautifully that it becomes like a separate character). So who cares how intellectual it is? This is a film that's genuinely entertaining, from start to finish. And if it's snowing where you are, you'll certainly appreciate the sunshine. Give it a chance!

I saw Repo for the first time less than a week ago, expecting to adore it (based on the trailer). I didn't; I hated it: the songs, Alexa Vega's performance, the ending... and the few scenes I did like could not make up for my disappointment. But it stayed in my head - I researched it and the people involved, went on the message boards, saw how in love people were with it, found the soundtrack, ended up playing it a dozen times repeatedly... and I just saw it again today. And I loved it. Every second of it.

Repo is not for everyone. A musical about organ transplants? Sounds like a joke, right? Most of the songs are based around what seems like four or five notes; the characters, in typical musical and comic book fashion, are fairly one-dimensional; the dialogue and song lyrics are sometimes painfully melodramatic; the gore is abundant... yes, this will have critics spitting. But the film is so shameless in its exaggerated melodrama, its overdone gore, that it becomes incredibly fun to watch. Seeing it for the second time, I looked past everything I disliked: I just went with it. And I had never enjoyed anything so much in my life.

I won't talk about the story; I think that plot is secondary to something like this. More important, I think, is the atmosphere, and the atmosphere here is exquisite. The cinematography, sets and editing are quite unforgettable. The details of the alternate reality it builds up are by turns terrifying and hysterically funny.

But the cast here is key. Had it been different, the film might have fallen apart, but the actors here are truly wonderful, very funny and, as diverse as their backgrounds are, they work brilliantly together. They transform their caricature-like characters into memorable and vivid creations. The most notable are Terrance Zdunich and his Graverobber, Paris Hilton's Amber Sweet (you have to see it to believe it) and the always incomparable Anthony Head. They alone are worth watching the film for. However, I enjoyed the other performances well - all but Alexa Vega's. Technically, she's the main character of the film, but the flaws in her one-note (in every way) performance are easy to ignore when she's surrounded by so many fascinating actors and characters.

Many things about this film are frustrating, or will be to first-time viewers: the "sing-talk" is difficult to get used to; the story is predictable, and the ends get tied up far too nicely; the screenplay is hilariously ridiculous; the humour is blatant, very in-your-face, some may say "tasteless", and there is much gore. The way I see it now, though, the key to watching this movie is not to take it seriously. If taken seriously, of course Repo will seem pretentious, repetitive, gratuitously gory, dull, uninvolving, and so on and so forth. But it's actually a very funny and accurate parody of musicals, slasher films, comic books, and even makes some startlingly real points about society (particularly plastic surgery). It doesn't oversaturate itself by pretending to be "original". It is simply shameless in everything from its music to its gore to its camp.

If you like straight-forward, realistic, emotional, "normal" films, this might not be for you. But if you like gore, camp, bizarre people and characters, leather and sharp objects, original music, if you want to see Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman actually act, if you have an ounce of respect Anthony Head and want to hear him sing again after "Once More With Feeling" -- this is for you. If you feel like discovering a new world, dozens of incredibly addictive and fun songs, and becoming part of an unbelievably dedicated fanbase, see it. Maybe you still won't like it... but maybe you will. Either way, I promise you will remember it.

Darren Lynn Bousman advised everyone, even those that hated it, to write a review for Repo somewhere. So I did. And from what I can tell, the criticism he's facing right now for this film is the exact same criticism that was faced by Jim Sharman for Rocky Horror - and look where that got it. But Repo is flashier, grittier, bloodier, campier, and infinitely more atmospheric. And... Terrance Zdunich over Tim Curry any day.