Most filmmakers, I suspect, would say “Man, if I only had more money, I could make my low-budget film SO much better”. They have a cool, independent film but feel they could really push it over the top with a bigger budget. Well, every so often, a movie comes along that defies that notion. Sometimes a movie could actually use a more gritty, low-budget sensibility. Repo Men is one such film.
Most filmmakers, I suspect, would say “Man, if I only had more money, I could make my low-budget film SO much better”. They have a cool, independent film but feel they could really push it over the top with a bigger budget. Well, every so often, a movie comes along that defies that notion. Sometimes a movie could actually use a more gritty, low-budget sensibility. Repo Men is one such film.
Jude Law is Remy, the top repo man working for The Union, a huge corporation that produces bio-medical artificial organs sold to the public for a price – a high price. And if you can’t make any of the “payments for fit your lifestyle”, then men like Remy will come to collect by taking the organ back, violently, with no concern for your survival. Then, as luck would have it, Remy has a bit of an accident and ends up needing a new heart, and gets the newest model from The Union. Unfortunately, Remy also has a change of heart as well, making his job hard to do. And if you can’t do your job, you don’t get paid, and you can’t pay for your new heart. And we know what happens next, right? But Remy doesn’t like that idea much, so goes on the run.
Sounds like a great premise, doesn’t it? Yeah, it did when another movie did much the same thing two years ago in “Repo: The Genetic Opera” (despite that this script was supposedly sitting on a shelf at Universal for two years). And there is no singing in this. But that isn’t the only movie Repo Men is derived from. The whole “fugitive scenario” idea in a sci-fi context is at least as old as Logan’s Run, the production design, though competent, is right out of Blade Runner, there’s some stuff from David Cronenburg’s Crash (yes, really), and lots from Brazil.
Indeed, this movie looks good. It’s got some money behind it, and screenwriters Eric Garcia (adapting his own novel) and Garrett Lerner have an interesting idea going: a cool hybrid of sci-fi thriller and messages about the high cost of medical care and concerns about biotech and privacy issues. But they and first time director Miguel Sapochnik ultimately take much of the interesting out of it and make it an action version of what might have been cool. This might have been better on a smaller scale, with less money and more autonomy in filmmaking.
It has action, some great action in fact, including a scene of close hallway combat of Remy vs. a bunch of men, a la the film Oldboy. Yes, I know, more unoriginality, but still kind of satisfying. And there is plenty of organ-removing gore and blood in this. Which also felt a little off, seeing as the rest of the movie is pretty slick and polished in a way that more money provides. Again, I wish it was darker, grittier, and felt more independent.
The acting is fine; and there are some laughs, as in a sleazy salesmen for The Union in the guise of actor Liev Schrieber. But still, this movie seeks to be too many things and not much of it original. And there’s also a twist! Yes, a twist. And despite the fact that it isn’t original, it was surprising; I didn’t see it coming. I won’t spoil it here, but it’s one of those twists that can make you sigh in frustration. Wouldn’t it be nice if the big twist was that this movie was really good?
No, I can’t recommend this movie much. Maybe rent it. It’s another big Hollywood movie that misses the mark. Don’t we have enough of those?
~ Neil T. Weakley, your average movie-goer wishing Hollywood would repo this movie.
