Movie Review

Repo Men

Paris Hilton got there first but Jude Law proves this material is just as bad with an A-list actor. Based on Eric Garcia’s novel “Repossession Mambo” (and Hilton’s off-key musical “Repo: A Genetic Opera”), “Repo Men” (scripted by Garcia and Garrett Lerner) takes place in a not-to-distant future where bodily organs are scientifically created and sold for a hefty price. Law plays Remy, the man assigned to surgically take those organs from you if you miss payments. It’s grisly work, but he and his partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) see it as any other job benefiting society. Only Remy has a change of heart (in more ways than one) after a freak accident and he decides to help a cocktail singer named Beth (Alice Braga), whose parts are almost all synthetic. So is the movie. Any ethical issues are put on the back burner for a straight-forward and predictable chase where Remy butts heads with Jake and his boss (Liev Schreiber) and participates in a lot of generic gun and knife battles.

The blood and gore is infinite and this is another crappy-looking future complete with grime and the heartlessness of science. Neither is surprising or fun to look at. And the direction from first-timer Miguel Sapochnik shows its cracks, from the poor shifts from vicious action to playful comedy, to dragging it out way too long; but I doubt even Kubrick could have handled one bizarre interlude between Law and Braga where both must stuff a scanner underneath each other’s skin to process their organs (don’t ask!). Law makes for a bland action hero and the only one who seems to be having any fun is Whitaker. This all leads to a twist ending that only thinks it’s being clever.

Craig's Grade: D+

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%