Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Quick Review - Repo Men (2010)



Repo Men (2010) Dir. by Miguel Sapochnik

In the future humans have extended and improved our lives through highly sophisticated and expensive mechanical organs created by a company called "The Union". The dark side of these medical breakthroughs is that if you don't pay your bill, "The Union" sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property... with no concern for your comfort or survival. Former soldier Remy is one of the best organ repo men in the business. But when he suffers a cardiac failure on the job, he awakens to find himself fitted with the company's top-of-the-line heart-replacement... as well as a hefty debt. But a side effect of the procedure is that his heart's no longer in the job. When he can't make the payments, The Union sends its toughest enforcer, Remy's former partner Jake, to track him down.

Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber, and Alice Braga all perform very well in this movie. The futuristic sci-fi part of this movie is very interesting, and the action is great. There are so many great things going for this movie, including the plot, but why can't I get into it? There was some parts in the beginning that were good, but it dragged hardcore through the middle. There were some characters that were not whole-heartedly developed, and I found them unnecessary, like the wife. Other than Remy having to move in with Jake after the break-up, there is nothing to their story. The last thirty minutes of the movie kicked off with a bang, but the final ten minutes are pointless, and upsetting. It was like they wanted to have a huge twist on the film, and they did, but not in a good way. It made me feel like the last forty minutes of the movie were pointless,and I just wasted my time. I applaud everyone for effort, but in my book, this just wasn't as entertaining as it could have been.

Entertainment Value: 4/10 Artificial Hearts
Cinematic Value: 6/10 Artificial Hearts

5 comments:

Franco Macabro said...

Im curious for this one, but Ill wait for it on DVD. Story sounds extremely similar to Repo: The Genetic Opera.

R.D. Penning said...

That's what I hear, but I have never seen Repo: The Genetic Opera

Bill said...

I didn't care for it when it was Repo: The Genetic Opera, and I'm not going to bother with it now that the quirkiness of The Genetic Opera has been stripped out in favor of Jude Law. Your review has confirmed my suspicions. I'll see it on DVD, if at all.

J. Astro said...

Hmmm... agreed w/ Bill (RSR) up there... once a silly, over-the-top version of this has idea already been made (i.e. REPO THE GENETIC OPERA), reverse-engineering the concept to try & make it believable, relevant and/or intense just seems pointless. The trailer I saw didn't impress me at all, either, and your relative disenchantment with it is the third strike, methinks. Pass. (but thanks for sittin' through it for us!)

DEZMOND said...

I'll probably watch this one, just because I loved Jude Law's GATTACA so much back in the 90's.