Repo Men

Repo Men 2010
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Writers: Eric Garcia and Garrett Lerner
Starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Live Schrieber, Alice Braga, Carice van Houten, Chandler Canterbury, Joe Pingue and Liza Lapira
Repo Men is a film that held a lot of promise but did not have an original bone in its body. It is a dystopian future SF film that tries to be like both Logan’s Run and Blade Runner but fails miserably. The plot idea was also done far better in Repo the Genetic Opera. The film does pay off with the gore and it does have a excellent cast it is just that the story is really weak and been done before. The film does have some genuine good moments but those do not save the film and the weak ass ending really hurts the film too. It also seems to borrow a lot of stuff from Total Recall another far superior dystopian SF film. This is a vapid film that does not have much to say about anything and the best SF films always have something to stay. This is a film that is all style and no substance.
The plot basics are this, set in the near future it is set in a society that has people who have improved their bodies through transplants. The only problem with that is that if they get lax on their payments they may have these organs repossessed. If a person is late they send the Repo Men to take back these organs at the cost of your life. Remy (Law) is one of the best Repo Men in the business and work is good until he has a accident which has his heart replaced and he soon finds his heart not in his work. With his heart no longer in work it does not take long until he is behind on his payments and the president (Schreiber) of the company sends his coworker and best friend Jake (Whitaker) to hunt him down.
This is a stylized but ultimately hollow film. The direction is good during the action sequences but any scenes dealing with character development seem boring and bland. I did love the scene though when Remy’s kid tasered his bitch of a mom, that was classic. Those type of scenes were few and far between though. The sript is even worse off it is bland and seems to steal from every other good SF film without any oringal ideas of itself. The characters are poorly developed and the use of narration just seems like a copy of Blade Runner. Also, the ending seems like a total rip on the viewer’s investment and just leaves a sour taste in your mouth. The cast is one of the few good things about the movie. Law is a great lead and very capable as a dystopian hero. Whitaker is alos great as usual and a great humorous element in the film. Schrieber is a totally corrupt and unlikeable heel and he pulls that off very well. I also liked Braga though I think she did better work in Predators. The SFX and make up effects are great and add some flavor to the film. The score is another minus; the overuse of jazz music just falls flat in this film. This is a film that really falls flat on its ass and without the talent actors or the gore it wouldn’t be worth anything.
This one gets 2 out of 5