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With echoes of Paul Verhoeven and David Cronenberg but no understanding of what makes either of them such talented directors, the new action flick Repo Men is a complete mess, a film that feels like it's based on video game a la Max Payne or Hitman but has no such source material to blame for its disastrous results. With a jerky rhythm that feels created during an incompetent postproduction process that was unsure of whether or not to edit together a futuristic nightmare, human drama, action film, or twisted vision, Repo Men starts interestingly enough, quickly gets boring, and then ends with an unearned lunacy often reserved for straight-to-video fare. Talented actors like Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Carice van Houten, and Liev Schreiber are given nothing genuine to do as the film drags itself from one lame action set-up to another without a memorable moment or a thought that hasn't been more interestingly explored elsewhere.
Based on the book The Repossession Mambo (which was the film's original and superior title) by Eric Garcia, who adapts his own novel, Repo Men is a futuristic tale that posits that there will always be powers that be to take advantage of the never-ending economic crisis. Clearly set hundreds of years in the future as evidenced by the generic city shots of mile-high roads and a sea of skyscrapers yet not far enough that Volkswagen can't pay for massive product placement, the world of Repo Men includes a powerful company known as The Union that presents itself as benevolent but hides a much darker side: Said company deals in human organs, selling mechanical parts for people who need them. Have lung cancer? They'll give you new ones. Kidneys, eyes, knees, livers, and, of course, even new hearts – nothing is too difficult for The Union to recreate.
The catch is that most of the body parts sold by The Union are so expensive that no one can afford the monthly five-figure payments or the 20% APR that comes with them. That's where the repo men come in. If you're 90 days or more overdue on your pancreas, they'll cut you open and take it back. Two such men are partners Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker), instructed on whom to repossess by corporate suit Frank (Liev Schreiber). Remy has a wife (Carice van Houten of Black Book) who wishes he would quit his dangerous and pretty disgusting job, but he falls for a girl named Beth (Alice Braga) after his life is turned upside and he becomes a target of the repo men going after his recently-replaced ticker. As anyone who has ever seen an action movie will tell you, former partner will become hunter and Remy and Beth will have to hide from a corrupt system that seems to be everywhere.
Jude Law has been smart about his career, even appearing in some great sci-fi movies in the past like A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Gattaca, which makes the decision to attach himself to this screenplay completely baffling. Maybe he thought making a movie like Total Recall or eXistenZ was easier than it looks because there is a totally twisted slice of entertainment buried underneath this generic junk but director Miguel Sapochnik doesn't have the talent to find it. The middle act of Repo Men is a baffling, dull mess as the sloppy editing and cheesy dialogue make it impossible to stick with it. Then the final act goes off the rails in an orgy of blood and vaguely sexual incisions that hint at a much more twisted film than Repo Men was up to this point. And that's the problem. Repo Men is a film with no identity. It's a melting pot of plot points executed more effectively by more talented people without a single genuine or subtle moment. Repo Men presents a future where physical and mental manipulation is feasible. Maybe someday someone could wipe the memory of this film from the mind of anyone unfortunate enough to see it.
Rating: ONE BONE
Release Date: March 19th, 2010
Rating: R
Starring: Jude Law, Alice Braga, Forest Whitaker, Carice van Houten, and Liev Schreiber
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Writer: Eric Garica
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