'Repo Men' review (2.5/5) Be warned. Don’t plan on having dinner after seeing this film.

Repo Men - Jude Law and Forrest Whitaker - Universal Pictures.

With the health care debate raging in this country, “Repo Men” comes out at an opportune time.  It tells of a time in the near future where apparently there is a shortage of organ donors.  A large corporation called The Union sells artificial organs to people who can pay the outrageous prices.  Most get put on a payment plan.  If they are overdue by over three months, the company sends out repo men to repossess the organs.  The Union doesn’t care if the person dies or not and the government looks the other way.  It is basically legalized murder.

Jude Law as Remy and Forest Whitaker as Jake are two such repo men.  Their boss Frank is played with oily charm by Liev Schreiber.  Frank early on explains to them that they don’t want people to pay in full because the company does not make money that way.  Jake has no problems with this line of work and it seems to relish his job and its perks.  Remy on the other hand is having his doubts and is getting pressure from home by his wife to change to a safer career.

One of the main problems of “Repo Men” is there is no one really to root for.  This comes into play when Remy has an accident doing a job.  He wakes up in a hospital with an artificial heart from The Union and a heavy debt to pay down.  Are we supposed to then care about his plight against this evil corporation after he enjoyed the fruits for so long?  Apparently we are.

“Repo Men” is essentially two movies.  The first is an interesting exploration into how far companies will go to make a buck.  The Union could represent insurance companies or even banks.  Banks made billions with a capital B on overdraft fees last year.  Some financial institutions are curtailing this draconian practice, but they still profited from this well for years.

The second part is essentially a chase movie.  After Remy can’t pay, he teams up with a sultry singer named Beth (Alice Braga) that he has had his eye on.  She has numerous body parts that are overdue and the duo fights to stay alive.  The second half isn’t as interesting, but it is entertaining up to a point.  The gore and blood is plentiful in “Repo Men”.  People get their insides opened up, throats slashed or even get their head squashed by a typewriter.  It gets to be overkill after a while.

“Repo Men” also has a whiff of familiarity to it.  “Total Recall” and “Brazil” come to mind right off the bat.  “Total Recall” had the evil corporation preying on gullible people.  “Brazil” had the bleak future where all sorts of chaos broke loose.  “Repo Men” just goes through the motion of these better pictures and others like it.

“Repo Men” does provide some good action scenes and well placed gallows humor.  All the lead actors do a good job from the script they were given.  The lack of connection to the audience and absence of originality though cripples “Repo Men” in the long run.  Be warned.  Don’t plan on having dinner after seeing this film.

Repo Men (2010)
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: 3/19/2010  (Showtimes and Tickets)
Studio: Universal Pictures