Repo Men

Repo Men seems to take place in the near future. The architecture and technology is very similar to current conditions with one exception -- artificial organs have been perfected and are available to everyone. There is however, one caveat: if you miss your payments for three months, Jude Law will show up at your house, zap you with a stun gun, cut you open, and take the organs back, leaving you to probably die. Jude Law is a Repo Man, one of many who work for the company that manufactures the organs - The Union.

Remy (Law) is one of the best repo men in The Union. Together with his friend and partner Jake (Forest Whitaker), they happily go around repossessing organs for their boss Frank (Liev Schreiber). Things aren't going so well at home, however, as Remy's wife Carol (Carice van Houten) has issues with his job and would rather he switch to sales. Eventually, Remy decides to finally hang up the scalpel and make the switch, much to Jake's displeasure. Jake persuades Remy to do one last job before quitting the repo game. Things go wrong and Remy ends up with the latest model in artificial hearts. Remy suddenly grows a conscience and can no longer perform repossessions and he sucks at sales. Eventually, he can no longer make the payments on his heart and has to go on the run. You would think the company would give him a free one after all his years of service, but whatever...

Remy meets a girl while hiding out at a derelict settlement of artificial organ deadbeats. Now this girl, Beth (Alice Braga), is practically a machine. She's got fake eyes, ears, larynx, knees, stomach, kidneys, and even girly parts (Lady Mystique edition, comes in five sparkling colours). Remy comments that they make a complementary pair since he has an artificial heart and she has an artificial everything else. They run away together and eventually decide to break into The Union headquarters to delete their records which eventually leads to an icky conclusion and a little twist at the end.

Now I'm not usually one to be bothered by much in movies, but this film bothered me a little. The subject matter, while quite original, is morally disturbing. The repo men carry out their jobs like any other job, feeling no wrongdoing in attacking people, cutting them up, and leaving them to die. They even trade stories about their clients' begging and sobbing as easily as trading office jokes. That all this could be legal is frankly, ridiculous. Within the confines of its universe however, the acting was actually quite good. Law and Whitaker play their roles convincingly. Schreiber plays the morally bankrupt organ salesman as a big jerk (has he ever played a character who is not a big jerk?).

The effects are decent but the violence level in this film is extreme. Blood and limbs fly with wild abandon as Remy hacks and slashes his way through individuals and groups alike. This movie bombed badly at the box office and was generally disparaged by critics with good reason. The film is not sure if it wants to be a serious social commentary or an action film and ultimately doesn't do well as either. The twist was totally expected too. I should have just watched The Last Airbender...