Repo Men

Starring: Jude Law, Forest Whittaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber, Carice van Houten, John Leguizamo (uncredited)
Directed by: Miguel Sapochnik
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama, Science Fiction
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: In the near future, citizens can have artificial organs implanted in their bodies. However, if they can't make the payments, repo men come to remove the organs by force. When the best repo man (Jude Law) in the business needs his own transplant, he begins to question the business.

Review:

Tim: I was actually surprised that I liked Repo Men as much as I did. The whole film just seemed silly, so I had some reservations going into it. The film nearly pulled it off, but ultimately, I can't say that this is a good movie. For much of it, I was enjoying the movie, and I thought that this could actually be a good one. Sadly, by the end of the film, it's apparent that this movie falls short.

This movie lives and dies on its interesting premise that in the future, if you can't pay for your artificial organs, repo men will come and take them out of you. I loved the original and different idea here- we certainly haven't seen this story twenty times already. I thought for the most part, this was presented in a believable manner. However, this interesting premise also creates some potential plot holes. It seems strange that any government- even one in a futuristic setting- would allow people to rip vital organs out of people, and leave their bloody bodies lying around. Who would clean these bodies up? It just seems a bit strange. Plus, throughout the movie, it appears as if an extremely large percentage of the population have artificial organs- a drive down the street can allow you to find someone with such an organ, who is also past due. It's never explained why seemingly so many people need these organs, and why so many can't make the payments. Plus, with so many organs being ripped out all over, why do so many people continue to sign up for them? Why isn't the media all over this horrible story? None of this is explained, and it hurts the movie very much.

The cast is actually pretty strong. Jude Law has beefed up some for the role, and he looks the part. He is a very, very good actor, and he works well in the role. He is believable throughout the film, and I honestly bought into his transformation. This is on account of his acting talents. Forest Whittaker is a good choice for his partner. Whittaker is in full on bad ass mode here, and really liked it. He's such an underrated actor, and I thought he gave a very good performance here. It was fun watching Whittaker in this film- it is apparent he really embraced the role and gave it his all. Whittaker and Law work very well together, which is one of the film's best strengths.

I thought Alice Braga was fine in the role, but she didn't really wow me. I think she's a good actress, but I wanted more out of her here. Liev Schreiber signed on for a thankless role, but his sheer presence helps this film. I enjoyed him in it, and he does have a number of really strong moments. I also appreciated the uncredited appearance of John Leguizamo. Before I saw his face, I knew it was a completely appropriate time for a cameo, and it was pretty rewarding to see him unexpectedly pop up on screen.

For much of this film, it works well. I was really glad to see that it spent a good amount of time developing the characters. The film's big moment, which propels the rest of the story, doesn't happen until almost 40 minutes in. In all that time, we are able to build a relationship with these characters, which helps us root for them throughout the remainder of the film. The movie mostly moves quickly, although there were two or three times when the film dragged and I lost my focus a bit. The movie is too long at nearly two hours- it needed to be a bit shorter.

While I was enjoying the movie, I did become increasingly bothered by some of the plot holes and unanswered questions. By the end of the film, I started to suspect something was off, and the film delivers its final twist, proving my feelings were correct. I thought this final twist was a bit obvious, and unnecessary. The story was good, and then the twist ruins the movie a bit. There is certainly an "Oh my god!" moment, and that's always cool- but it felt like this moment was tacked on. I think the film would have been better without it.

Repo Men is an interesting movie that makes you think about the future of our society. It is most entertaining, and rather enjoyable. However, there are just too many plot holes, questions, and ineffective moments. These hurt the movie, and decrease its quality quite a bit. For a film that I wasn't too excited about seeing, it delivered more than I expected. However, it doesn't do enough right, and I left this movie wishing it could have delivered better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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