Someone go tell Alanis Morissette; we have found the ultimate case of irony.
Repo Men
starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber, Carice van Houten, RZA
directed by Miquel Sapochnik
Jude Law has proven to be a versatile man. He’s been the savvy love interest in Alfie; he’s been a dramatic, emotional leading man in Closer; he’s been a cold blooded killer in Road to Perdition; even an android in Artificial Intelligence. It seems that there isn’t a role out there that he can’t handle; this time, its the role of the science fiction action star. Repo Men is perhaps the most adrenaline pumping movie he’s attempted so far in his career. After all, who wouldn’t get their blood flowing watching a guy cut the life blood out of other people?
Repo Men is set in the not too distant future where you can get any organ replaced; if you’ve got the money. Unfortunately, if you cannot make your payments to the Union, they send the repossession experts to retrieve your new parts. Well actually, if you’re in default, its their property. That’s what Remy (Law) and Jake (Whitaker) do for a living; they repossess mechanical livers, kidneys, hearts…any organ of any person that doesn’t pay their loan. And, for the most part, life is good for the best friends. However, one job goes wrong for Remy. He is electrocuted by a faulty defibrillator, and it severely damages his heart. Of course, he gets it replaced. But Remy loses his touch for the work of a repo man. He starts seeing not just a device in default, but a father, mother, son,…he just can’t take someone’s life anymore. And without the work, Remy has no money. And his heart goes into default. Which means that he is now a target of the Union’s Repo Men.
Rookie director Sapochnik gives the audience a stark and realistic view of the future. The film is gritty when it needs to be, and sleek when it is necessary. The action is intense when present, but it doesn’t over power the film. The science is dealt with simply, and not over done. The balance between action and drama is dead on. The most striking scene is the opening; as we watch Remy go about a collection, it is subtly horrifying to see how matter of fact and calm he is about cutting open a human and basically taking their life away. All over late payments. But, as Jake says, “Job’s a job.” Someone has to be the Repo Man. Its difficult to make a science fiction film seem almost undoubtedly real and believable, and Sapochnik is successful in that endeavor.
Jude Law’s raw talent fills the screen. Its not the performance of an award winning thespian, but for the genre it is perhaps one of the more solid performances I’ve seen in recent years. Science Fiction’s characters too often are caricaturesof an ideal or emotion. Law portrays a man that is morally torn, and makes it stick. All other acting is par, but I’ve got to at least get this off my chest. Is anyone else getting tired of Forest Whitaker? Its like the man won his Oscar, then started taking the worst roles he could possibley find; he basically plays the same character he played in Street Kings. He has gone from a deep actor that I respected to a one dimensional simpleton in a matter of years. And I’m beginning to hate him for it.
Its lovely when Science Fiction can come together with a bit of gore and not cross into the horror genre. The blood and gore in Repo Men is prevalent, but not over done. The concept of the film would not have struck home nearly as effectively if the blood and organs hadn’t been in your face for at least part of the nearly two hours. Well done.
But the film did have a few moments that made me wonder just what the filmmakers were thinking. One character has a replaced ear, complete with headphone jack and volume control. It catches you completely off guard in the film and frankly just looks, and sounds, stupid. There is a useless and awkward love scene that just doesn’t fit too well. And I can’t give the ending away to you, but it gets…weird. And uncomfortable. Let’s just say that at a pivotal moment in the ending’s climax, the film struck the wrong tone. It misses the mark, and cheapens itself a bit. But then again, a little further on in the film, the twist ending is quite good; it lends Repo Men a bit of redemption. I wish I could tell you more, but you’ll just have to see it to get what I mean.
If I could sum up what I thought of the film into a single sentence, it would be this: It didn’t suck. There are so many cool ideas and scenes to get excited about, but there’s a healthy dose of things that just don’t work, too. Its a strong recommendation, though; out of all the crap that is at the box office lately, you could do worse laying down your cash for other flicks. The industry could use more Sci Fi like Repo Men; just with a little more fine tuning, and absolutely NO Forest Whitaker. AT ALL.
Extreme Repossession
Someone go tell Alanis Morissette; we have found the ultimate case of irony.
Repo Men
starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber, Carice van Houten, RZA
directed by Miquel Sapochnik
Jude Law has proven to be a versatile man. He’s been the savvy love interest in Alfie; he’s been a dramatic, emotional leading man in Closer; he’s been a cold blooded killer in Road to Perdition; even an android in Artificial Intelligence. It seems that there isn’t a role out there that he can’t handle; this time, its the role of the science fiction action star. Repo Men is perhaps the most adrenaline pumping movie he’s attempted so far in his career. After all, who wouldn’t get their blood flowing watching a guy cut the life blood out of other people?
Repo Men is set in the not too distant future where you can get any organ replaced; if you’ve got the money. Unfortunately, if you cannot make your payments to the Union, they send the repossession experts to retrieve your new parts. Well actually, if you’re in default, its their property. That’s what Remy (Law) and Jake (Whitaker) do for a living; they repossess mechanical livers, kidneys, hearts…any organ of any person that doesn’t pay their loan. And, for the most part, life is good for the best friends. However, one job goes wrong for Remy. He is electrocuted by a faulty defibrillator, and it severely damages his heart. Of course, he gets it replaced. But Remy loses his touch for the work of a repo man. He starts seeing not just a device in default, but a father, mother, son,…he just can’t take someone’s life anymore. And without the work, Remy has no money. And his heart goes into default. Which means that he is now a target of the Union’s Repo Men.
Rookie director Sapochnik gives the audience a stark and realistic view of the future. The film is gritty when it needs to be, and sleek when it is necessary. The action is intense when present, but it doesn’t over power the film. The science is dealt with simply, and not over done. The balance between action and drama is dead on. The most striking scene is the opening; as we watch Remy go about a collection, it is subtly horrifying to see how matter of fact and calm he is about cutting open a human and basically taking their life away. All over late payments. But, as Jake says, “Job’s a job.” Someone has to be the Repo Man. Its difficult to make a science fiction film seem almost undoubtedly real and believable, and Sapochnik is successful in that endeavor.
Jude Law’s raw talent fills the screen. Its not the performance of an award winning thespian, but for the genre it is perhaps one of the more solid performances I’ve seen in recent years. Science Fiction’s characters too often are caricaturesof an ideal or emotion. Law portrays a man that is morally torn, and makes it stick. All other acting is par, but I’ve got to at least get this off my chest. Is anyone else getting tired of Forest Whitaker? Its like the man won his Oscar, then started taking the worst roles he could possibley find; he basically plays the same character he played in Street Kings. He has gone from a deep actor that I respected to a one dimensional simpleton in a matter of years. And I’m beginning to hate him for it.
Its lovely when Science Fiction can come together with a bit of gore and not cross into the horror genre. The blood and gore in Repo Men is prevalent, but not over done. The concept of the film would not have struck home nearly as effectively if the blood and organs hadn’t been in your face for at least part of the nearly two hours. Well done.
But the film did have a few moments that made me wonder just what the filmmakers were thinking. One character has a replaced ear, complete with headphone jack and volume control. It catches you completely off guard in the film and frankly just looks, and sounds, stupid. There is a useless and awkward love scene that just doesn’t fit too well. And I can’t give the ending away to you, but it gets…weird. And uncomfortable. Let’s just say that at a pivotal moment in the ending’s climax, the film struck the wrong tone. It misses the mark, and cheapens itself a bit. But then again, a little further on in the film, the twist ending is quite good; it lends Repo Men a bit of redemption. I wish I could tell you more, but you’ll just have to see it to get what I mean.
If I could sum up what I thought of the film into a single sentence, it would be this: It didn’t suck. There are so many cool ideas and scenes to get excited about, but there’s a healthy dose of things that just don’t work, too. Its a strong recommendation, though; out of all the crap that is at the box office lately, you could do worse laying down your cash for other flicks. The industry could use more Sci Fi like Repo Men; just with a little more fine tuning, and absolutely NO Forest Whitaker. AT ALL.