Repo Men

After a short glance at the synopsis of this movie, I decided to give it a shot. The plot seemed rather absurd, but having had rather good judgement of movies in the past, I was quite certain that this movie couldn't be all that bad. After all, the lead actors, Forest Whitaker and Jude Law have never failed to impress me in the past, so how bad could it be? I was however, sadly mistaken. The level of discomfort I felt while watching the movie was so immense that I actually thought of walking out of the cinema just 20 minutes into the movie.

Repo Men is set in the near future where organs are easily available to the public. This ideal situation however, comes at a large price as the as The Union (the sole company which engages in this business) encourages their desperately ill clients to take on exorbitant monthly installment plans, as the cost of an organ is extremely high. If clients fail to meet their monthly payments (as is usually the case), repo men will break into their houses, render them unconscious with a stun gun, cut them open and repossess their organ(s), leaving them for probable death. Repo men are of course under obligation to ask them if they need the assistance of an ambulance after they cut them open to repossess the organ(s). Isn't that considerate of them!

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker play the lead characters, Remy and Jake. They are The Union's outstanding repo men and they work very well together repossessing organs in the most efficient manner. Remy and Jake answer to Frank (Liev Schriber) who is always satisfied with their job performance. The story takes a turn, however when Remy encounters marital problems as his wife finds his job no longer acceptable and wants him to switch to sales instead. Remy finally agrees to make the switch to save his marriage, much to Jake's detriment. Remy is persuaded into doing one last job before making the switch. Things go awry when Remy gets severely injured and ends up having an artificial heart. Remy's wife leaves him with their son and Remy continues to lead a meaningless existence working in sales (which he apparently sucks at).

Being in the same shoes as The Union's many unfortunate clients, Remy is forced to become a fugitive once his lease is up, finding protection in abandoned parts of the city. Remy meets a girl named Beth (Alice Braga) whom he says complements him as he has an artificial heart and she has an artificial...well, everything else, ranging from eyes, ears, knees, stomach, kidneys to God knows what else! They pair up eventually and decide to break into The Union to erase all their records and release themselves from their burdens. All doesn't go as planned and things end badly for Remy and Beth at the end of the movie.

I am not usually judgemental when it comes to movies, but I must say with plenty of conviction that this is by far one of the worst movies I have watched. It is pure indulgent nonsense as Simon Cowell (former judge of American Idol) would put it. I never would have guessed that the movie would be so poorly executed. The multiple violent, bloody and gory scenes were totally unjustified. It could have been a better movie if the focus had been on characters and emotions, rather than just mere slashing, shooting and cutting. The amount of blood, violence and gore was just mind-numbing. The movie should be a lesson in how movies should never be made. I came out of the theater with feelings of unease, disdain and disgust. Never have I found a movie so morally disturbing. The whole concept of repossessing organs itself seems highly and legally improbable. Furthermore, the movie portrays characters who seem to be devoid of human decency as they actually gather to chat and laugh about how their clients cry and beg for their lives. The movie is neither here nor there in its direction. It seems to be rather confused about where it wants to go. If it was meant to be a serious social commentary on healthcare, it has certainly missed the mark. As a pure action sci-fi thriller, I can surely say that it was not even remotely entertaining. Even the rather strong performances by Jude Law and Forest Whitaker were not enough to redeem this mess. On a final note, save your money for better things in life and don't even bother getting the DVD. Repo Men is one movie you can definitely live without watching. Believe me, you won't miss a thing!