Friday, October 1, 2010

Repo Men


Based on the novel Repossession Mambo by Eric Garcia, Repo Men is set in a near future where the replacement of failing organs with mechanical parts has become commonplace. So much so, the company which sells the parts will gladly finance the equipment and procedure. If you fail to make payments, however, the company sends out Repo Men to take the organ back. They knock the client out with a tranquilizer and remove the part with a quick surgery. As you would imagine, few of the clients long survive the procedure, but the company is entirely within the law to do so.

Company boss Frank (the always brilliant Liev Schrieber) has two ace repo Men, Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker). They are old army buddies (from an unspecified war) and enjoy what they do, at least until Remy has an accident, and gets a mechanical heart of his own. Worse, he develops empathy for the clients, can no longer do his job, and soon becomes the target of repossession himself, with his old friend tabbed to do the honors.

The movie is a black comedy/satire, and probably would have benefited from a little more gallows humor. It drags a bit in the middle, but overall is a pretty entertaining movie. The cast is excellent, and do a good job of driving forward the plot. Leonardo DiCaprio was originally cast as Remy, and would probably have given the movie a higher profile, but Law does a perfectly good job in the role. There is a fair amount of gore during the organ removal sequences, and a fairly transparent twist, but I think most people who don’t mind seeing a little blood would be entertained.
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5 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm hoping to read the book before I get around to seeing the movie. Sounds like the book might be better anyway.

KentAllard said...

I haven't read the book, so I'll be looking forward to hear what you think of it.

The Doctor said...

Repo: The Genetic Opera has a very similar idea. Well, identical idea. Worth watching if you can handle musicals.

KentAllard said...

I've looked at Repo: The Genetic Opera many times, and one of these days I'll get around to watching it. I confess I've mostly noticed it because it has Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer in it. (I'm a geek, yes.)

The Doctor said...

Well, you'll be impressed with him. Some of the performances are a bit iffy, but he is definitely a standout. He can really sing, really well. I think there was a musical episode in Buffy where he demonstrated his ability as well.