Tuesday, September 7, 2010

REPO MEN: FILM'S ALREADY BEEN REPOED

Remy: My job is simple. Can't pay for your car, the bank takes it back.
Can't pay for your house, the bank takes it back. Can't pay for your liver, well, that's where I come in.
I'm really torn on this one. The story concept is not new. It was set to music in the 2008 production of Repo the Genetic Opera (which was previously reviewed). It was set in a futuristic goth-like world whereas Repo Men is set to a futuristic Blade Runner type world. Partners Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) have known each other since childhood and have each other's backs as they work as repo men, taking back body parts when payments have stalled. It's as gruesome as it sounds, but this movie with an excellent soundtrack softens the blow with a 1940's sort of feel mixed in. Everything is great until Remy decides he wants out and soon the hunter becomes the hunted. It was a well done movie. I watched the unreleased version which may or may not have been more bloody. Even if it was, the original still has a fair amount of blood and guts to it. The soundtrack really sets a tone that makes Remy human and likable. I did love the John Leguizamo brief uncredited appearance toward the end. Additionally both Liev Schreiber and Whitaker were strong co-stars. Alice Braga was the "girl" but had a strong enough personality that made her perfromance enjoyable. The highly sensualized "extraction" scene towards the end was a bit too much. I really don't know if I loved the ending or hated it, but it was one or the other. This will be a movie that people either love or hate. Me, I'm still in the horizontal mambo middle of it all.