Repo Men

After seeing this sci-fi thriller adapted from the novel, "The Repossession Mambo", it took me a while to formulate my thoughts. I couldn't really decide how I felt about it. Released just a few weeks ago, "Repo Men", not to be confused with the 1985 cult hit "Repo Man", follows Jude Law through a dystopian futuristic set that looks eerily similar to "Blade Runner". Law and Forest Whitaker star as best buddies working for a greedy and soulless corporation known as the Union. The Union builds artificial organs and then charges exorbitant interest rates making sure that just about everyone is unable to pay. This is where Law and Whitaker come in. As repo men, their job is to reclaim the Union property, which they do several times during the movie in particularly gruesome fashion. After an accident, Law has a heart replacement put in and can no longer perform on the job. Predictably he falls behind on his payments, and the Union sends best bud Whitaker after Law to reclaim his heart. What happens after that however is anything but predictable.

The direction by Miguel Sapochnik is average, if a little frenetic. The acting is solid and benefits tremendously from an appearence by Liev Schreiber as Law and Whitaker's cynical boss. The plot makes an effort to draw some comparisons to the real world. It seems to be making a statement on the current housing markets, and of course the health care debate, but it never really succeeds on that level. The film was not well received by critics and thanks to its extreme gore, has not done all that well at the box office. Yet I can't completely condemn it. "Repo Men" is uptempo, and entertaining. It has a twist you will have trouble spotting, and creates a complete, if hard to believe, sci-fi world. Final verdict... its ok.

18/30