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With the continuing debate over out of control health care costs raging in the background comes Repo Men, a supposedly "original" speculative fiction tale about a maverick artificial organ company operative who, along with his equally unhinged partner, scour a future shock society for individuals late on their liver payments. Per contractual agreement, on the sixth day of the fourth month past first notice, these "repo men" show up, portable operating theaters in tow, to "reclaim" their property. War buddies Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) are the best at what they do. But when problems at home, and a faulty defibrillator, leave one of them needing The Union's unique services, the tables are turned. Soon, Remy is on the run, his old pal in hot pursuit.
Repo Men starts out sensational, dealing with its potentially silly material with slickness and seriousness. Storyboard artist turned director Miguel Sapochnik does a decent job of keeping things believable, without going overboard on the techno-dork dynamic. We want to follow Law and see where his current domestic crisis takes him. The journey is uneven, but thoroughly engaging, with a few surprises along the way.
Towards the middle, things get decidedly bogged down however, when a truly unrealistic love subplot shows up, our now outlaw agent hooking up with a singer (Alice Braga) he saw once...in a bar...for about five seconds. Suddenly he decides that he must save her life -- among other things. Dawdle about for twenty minutes or so, and it looks like Repo Men will transform from terrific to terrible -- and then the whole thing goes bug nuts!
The third act, which seems lifted out of a dozen deranged lunatics' idea for a sensational sci-fi action endings offers sublime splatter o'plenty, ample audience pleasing payback, mano-a-mano machismo, a blatant Oldboy rip-off, and a surgery/sex scene that has to be seen to be believed. Oh, and did we mention there's a twist...
But it's not all smooth sailing. Part of the problem here rests in the notion of "originality". Two years ago, Saw's Darren Lynn Bousman got to realize a lifelong dream, bringing stage play turned horror musical alle-gory Repo: The Genetic Opera to a limited theatrical release (and subsequent home video cult following). Basically, the Goth glam show tuner offers the same storyline (a Mafia-like company that "loans" body parts to people, using a TV show format to "reclaim" them via violent repo men), and much of the have vs. have not class dichotomy is there as well. So instead of seeming new, the narrative feels a tad familiar.
Law does make a good protagonist with Whitaker doing a fine variation of the "big galoot" end of his wide acting range. As their smarmy pencil pushing bureaucrat boss, Liev Schreiber is on autopilot. Things are even worse over on the female side of the story. Remy's wicked witch of a wife (Carice van Houten) never earns our sympathy, and Braga's slutty chanteuse appears to have drifted in from a different film. We never feel an ounce of chemistry between either of them and Law, making his actions seem illogical and borderline suicidal.
Still, Sapochnik gets away with quite a bit for a standard hard "R" Hollywood production. Blood flows freely and often, and anyone who has problems with their knees (or recent replacement surgery) may want to steer clear of this leg-joint eccentric experience. Granted, the leap from universal coverage to the ability to buy color-changing eye implants on credit is a massive one, but Repo Men at least tries to make it credible -- and triumphs in the end.
Repo Men starts out sensational, dealing with its potentially silly material with slickness and seriousness. Storyboard artist turned director Miguel Sapochnik does a decent job of keeping things believable, without going overboard on the techno-dork dynamic. We want to follow Law and see where his current domestic crisis takes him. The journey is uneven, but thoroughly engaging, with a few surprises along the way.
Towards the middle, things get decidedly bogged down however, when a truly unrealistic love subplot shows up, our now outlaw agent hooking up with a singer (Alice Braga) he saw once...in a bar...for about five seconds. Suddenly he decides that he must save her life -- among other things. Dawdle about for twenty minutes or so, and it looks like Repo Men will transform from terrific to terrible -- and then the whole thing goes bug nuts!
The third act, which seems lifted out of a dozen deranged lunatics' idea for a sensational sci-fi action endings offers sublime splatter o'plenty, ample audience pleasing payback, mano-a-mano machismo, a blatant Oldboy rip-off, and a surgery/sex scene that has to be seen to be believed. Oh, and did we mention there's a twist...
But it's not all smooth sailing. Part of the problem here rests in the notion of "originality". Two years ago, Saw's Darren Lynn Bousman got to realize a lifelong dream, bringing stage play turned horror musical alle-gory Repo: The Genetic Opera to a limited theatrical release (and subsequent home video cult following). Basically, the Goth glam show tuner offers the same storyline (a Mafia-like company that "loans" body parts to people, using a TV show format to "reclaim" them via violent repo men), and much of the have vs. have not class dichotomy is there as well. So instead of seeming new, the narrative feels a tad familiar.
Law does make a good protagonist with Whitaker doing a fine variation of the "big galoot" end of his wide acting range. As their smarmy pencil pushing bureaucrat boss, Liev Schreiber is on autopilot. Things are even worse over on the female side of the story. Remy's wicked witch of a wife (Carice van Houten) never earns our sympathy, and Braga's slutty chanteuse appears to have drifted in from a different film. We never feel an ounce of chemistry between either of them and Law, making his actions seem illogical and borderline suicidal.
Still, Sapochnik gets away with quite a bit for a standard hard "R" Hollywood production. Blood flows freely and often, and anyone who has problems with their knees (or recent replacement surgery) may want to steer clear of this leg-joint eccentric experience. Granted, the leap from universal coverage to the ability to buy color-changing eye implants on credit is a massive one, but Repo Men at least tries to make it credible -- and triumphs in the end.
