Repo Men

Repo Men began with Remy (Jude Law) narrating a not-so-correct explanation of Schrodinger's thought experiment concerning the cat that is both dead and alive. The idea of quantum superpositions was lost on our narrator, but he does come up with a cute little metaphor for the experiment near the end of the film. I got a little worried that the faulty science lesson would reflect the intelligence of the film. It doesn't, but it does reflect the intelligence of our "hero," Remy. No, Remy is not bright, but he's fairly cheerful and ridiculously optimistic.



Remy repossesses mechanical organs for a corporation called Union. As the smiling salesperson tells the dying customers, "We can find a payment plan that fits your lifestyle. You'll have a three month grace period after which we'll repossess our property at absolutely no cost to you. And don't worry; that very rarely happens." Apparently, it happens quite often because these repo men have a pretty busy schedule. This is probably due to the fact that an organ costs more than a house does with crazy high APR. Of course, everyone signs up for the impossible loan anyway because the other option is dying. This is a pretty obvious comment on the health care debate and home repossession. You could have kept that liver if you'd listened to Obama. Luckily, the film doesn't get too heavily political. It's way too busy cutting people up. When I say that they repossess organs, I mean that exactly how you might think. They break into the delinquent's home, stun them, and then cut out the mechanical liver, lung, kidney, or heart. If the person dies (and they most likely will), then that's fine. There is a legal technicality that requires the repo men to ask if the person would like to request an ambulance or would like to be in a hospital. Unfortunately, while stunned, this question can't be answered.

Remy's life is going pretty well. He's got a wife, a kid, a best friend since childhood, and a job he loves. Of course, his wife wants him to get a job in which he doesn't kill people and isn't a huge fan of Remy's best friend Jake (Forest Whittaker) repossessing organs in her suburban front yard. In fact, she's pretty much ready to leave him if he doesn't get a new job. I wondered to myself why she married him. Unfortunately, things really go downhill when Remy is electrocuted by a faulty defibrillator. He wakes up in a hospital needing a new heart installed. This should be fine since he still has his well paying job and can keep up with payments, right? Wrong. It seems that now that he has a bio-organ, he no longer has it in him to cut those organs out of other people. Now the people who have defaulted have faces. Ninety days goes by pretty quick and his time is up. In that time, his wife finally leaves him and he falls in love with a singer (that has more replacement organs than natural ones) named Beth (Alice Braga). Running from the company he once worked for, he must save himself and the woman he loves from having their organs repossessed.

If this all sounds kind of silly, it is. But it's fun silly and doesn't take itself very seriously for the first two-thirds of the film. Actually, Repo Men is surprisingly hilarious all the way through. The humor is quirky and dark, but definitely on purpose. Remy and Jake joke around about the people they repossess from. They spook one poor schmuck by letting him know they'd be back for his liver in four days. When the guy runs off, they laugh that if he doesn't slow down, he'll need a new heart too. Later, there was this fight scene involving guns, knives, an ax, and a hack saw between Remy and some office workers in the Union building. These are not just any office guys; these are office guys of an evil corporation and they are ready for a good fight. I tried not to laugh too loud because I noticed that I was the only person in the theater doing so. I don't know if it's because the humor is that dark or what, but I had fun watching the movie.There was just one misstep that really bothered me: the twist before the final act. It was so incredibly dumb and unnecessary that I was almost angry that it was there at all. Luckily, it was unimportant enough that it didn't ruin the entire experience for me.

The acting is great. We believe Jake and Remy believe that what they do is just a job. We also don't hate them for it. Jake has some twisted logic about how by enforcing the rules, they're keeping the world together. Their boss, Frank (Liev Schreiber) on the other hand is more overtly evil as he sells impossible to repay loans to desperate people with a smile. The atmosphere suggests a time not that far into the future. There are no flying cars, but great medical breakthroughs. A shot of the big city was straight out of Blade Runner. Little details are what make me love science fiction films and Repo Men doesn't skimp on them.

 Repo Men is a fun, dark, quirky little movie. It has points to make, but it seems to be poking fun at the politics more than trying to be a morality tale. It's not a defining science fiction film by any means, but it certainly doesn't suck. Give it a go...you might be surprised.