Repo Men (Universal Pictures)
Blood and Guts
Heres my reaction to Repo Men as I was watching it. Dont like it, dont like it, dont like it, kinda like it, kinda like it, liking it, liking it, HATE IT! In other words the film started off badly and ended up worse than I had expected. This is a blood and guts, slice them and dice them movie that is too graphic and too extreme for most audience members. Then it ends with one of the most idiotic finales ever.
Remy (Jude Law) is a repo man, and in his case it means he repossesses artificial body parts. Example, if you have an artificial heart and you fall behind in your payments and are delinquent for over ninety days Remy comes to see you and takes the heart back. He makes a decent living doing this but not enough to satisfy his wife (Carice van Houten). She thinks he should be in sales.
His partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) thinks he should stay where he is. They are a team, and he wants them to stay a team. Remys boss (Live Schreiber) also thinks he should stay in the repo business end of it.
When a repossession goes badly and Remy ends up having to have an artificial heart himself things get complicated. It looks like the repo team may be coming after him. They also have his new girlfriend Beth (Alice Braga) on their list.
The plot has some good twists and turns and the movie actually improves in the middle. By that time the audience has gotten a little numb to the slice and dice sequences, plus the dynamics between Remy and Beth as well as Remy and Jake are good. They hold your interest and make you anxious as to what happens next.
Then the ending comes and it is so out in left field that you are repulsed by it. Plus the more you think about it after the movie is over, the worse it gets. This is one time a movie should have been audience tested and they would have gotten a resounding It doesnt work!
Law is an interesting leading man in this film and makes his character strong and vulnerable. Whitaker is only okay as his more aggressive partner. Schreiber plays the greasy head man with panache. He knows no one is going to like this guy so he goes all out to make him just as repulsive as he can.
Braga makes a unique leading lady. She is beautiful, has a good singing voice (maybe it was dubbed), and handles the physical requirements of her role with ease. She and Law are the two main draws for the film.
The film is rated R for extreme violence, profanity and nudity.
The movie almost won me over with its building relationships, and quirky plot, but once that ending arrived all bets were off. Audiences who sit through the entire movie will question whether or not it was worth it to end up with that final explanation.
I scored Repo Men a repossessed 3 out fo10.
