Repo Men
By Robert McElligott
Repo Men is an extended attack on corporate America. Whereas banks repossess cars and homes, a futuristic company called “The Union” will repossess artificial body parts if you’ve missed payments. With high hopes that this movie would be a gory, comedic experience, Repo Man, on the contrary, turned out to be swamped with unnecessary tears and melodrama, making it somewhat awkward.
The film features interesting takes on the darker sides of pseudo-science and bureaucracy, and there are some really fun segments (like an adorable nine-year-old surgeon). But the movie sometimes devolves into something so mushy and sad it drains the entertainment value from the room. It almost seems like two different screenwriters wrote this movie in fragments and never once talked to the other.
More awkwardness came from some pretty loud homosexual tension between Forrest Whittaker and Jude Law. Perhaps, if they were open about it, the movie could’ve taken a turn into a comedy gold mine, but it was just strange and tense.
Overall, the film has a lot of qualities that make it worth watching, like an interesting concept and some fun scenes, but there is too much clumsy melodrama to consider it a good movie. I think the best thing anyone could walk away with is that an unwieldy APR really could cost you some organs and limbs.