Repo Men

Can I just grade Repo Men based on the trailer? Even after all this time, a slick trailer that shows only the cool shit can easily sway me. Well then I saw the movie and it doesn’t hold up at all. I feel conned.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from Repo Men, but I’m fairly certain I didn’t get it. The action was slick even if they stole the hallway fight scene from Old Boy. Badass Jude Law and Forest Whitaker were amusing. Live Schreiber had an amusing accent and RZA had a sweet afro. But the big plot twist was more annoying than a revelation and the whole movie does not hold up to a closer inspection. I get that it is one those let’s show how shitty our world is by taking things to the extreme in the future movies, and I’m sure that’s the exact name of the genre, but it was not enough. They jumped straight to their big idea of repossessing artificial organs instead of making sure the whole thing made any sense. To get really nitpicky Remy loses his heart in the line of duty but he still has to pay for the artificial heart? Did the rights of employees disappear in this weird future? Where was the repo men union when he needed them?

The goriness of Repo Men became downright hilarious by the climatic scene. I know I’m supposed to chalk everything up to the idea that it’s the future! Shut up and believe what you are seeing! But they are just cutting bodies and reaching their whole arm into people innards. This is the accepted practice? Where is the anesthetic? Are those tools clean? No one survives what happens in that final scene.

Ah well, not all movies get the job done. Repo Men had a bunch of people I love seeing in film, but was not able to give them anything worthwhile to do with their skills. Maybe the next dystopian future will be better.

6 out of 10