Films that are destined to become cult favorites should probably avoid titles that seemingly link them to other movies with well-established, rabid fan bases. No, Repo Men (by first time feature director Miguel Sapochnik) is neither a remake of nor a sequel to Alex Cox's 1984 punk rock 'n' aliens oddity Repo Man.
While Repo Men probably should have retained its original title (The Reposession Mambo, also the name of co-screenwriter Eric Garcia's novel), once the confusion and anger over its monicker simmers down it becomes clear that there's something special going on within this bitingly cynical, dystopic science fiction smörgåsbord.
As With All Good Sci-Fi, Repo Men's Plausibility Makes It Shine
Jude Law stars as Remy, one of many field agents working for The Union - an inherently corrupt vendor of high-tech replacement body parts. Taking a cue from numerous real-world medical payment solutions, the screenwriters (Garcia and Garrett Lerner) create an eerily probable gimmick - clients can offset the astronomical equipment and surgical costs with an impossible-to-pay-off credit line.
Which is where Remy and his partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) come in. Just like banks with unpaid car and housing loans, The Union physically and violently repossesses the merchandise once their clients default on payments - which is essentially what they want to have happen. In some cases (like with artificial kidneys), the repo victims live through the forced organ removal. The rest (including heart and liver recipients) are not so lucky.
Jude Law And Forest Whitaker Hack Up Those Who Can't Pay
The semi-futuristic world of Repo Men is one in which the everyday normality of this organ-lifting paradigm makes it morally acceptable to its gore-drenched practitioners. Remy and Jake were also once amped-up soldiers who thrived on conflict, so they subconsciously use this fully sanctioned commercial murder as a way to wage war on an essentially innocent populace.
Jake is perfectly content with this lifestyle, but Remy finds it progressively harder to balance his work and home lives. His wife (played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten) pushes him to take a safer, lower paying sales job, a thought that rankles Jake. When Remy encounters a freak electrical accident during his "last job" (removing the heart of an R&B musician played by RZA), he then finds himself the ironic recipient of an artificial heart.
The Spirit Of Classic Science Fiction Runs Strong Through Repo Men
Remy's inability to distance himself from his work quickly leads to dire financial straits, and much like Michael York's rebellious Sandman in Logan's Run, he finds himself running from his own best friend. In the unspecified future of Repo Men (which was consulted on by none less than sci-fi guru Ben Bova), the healthy and the wealthy reside in sterile, Tokyo-esque cities while the rest hide from Union goons in run-down tenement "nests".
It's there that Remy encounters Alice Braga's hopelessly indebted Beth, a woman who sports nearly as many artificial parts as real. This newfound connection to The Union's victims leads Remy to reassess his life, write the great American novel and kick his previous employers (led by a hilariously unctuous Liev Schreiber) into the next century. Soon he's dressing up as an anthropomorphized liver and infiltrating enemy buildings Matrix-style.
Jude Law Versus A World That Cannot Tolerate Idealism
The film's grim, cynical sense of humor is the sort of thing Spielberg shied away from in Minority Report, yet Sapochnik embraces it with a vengeance. And while it's loaded with style, there's a surprising amount of depth to Repo Men's wealth of grisly mayhem. A scene of nasty self-surgery becomes a twisted bit of Cronenberg style erotica. A brutal battle between Remy and a gang of Union suits is disturbingly moving, featuring enough pointed social commentary in ninety seconds to fuel eight Michael Moore films.
While ultimately ripping off Terry Gilliam's Brazil in the third act, Repo Men so artfully incorporates the spoils that it's hard to complain about the theft. Law is great as the sickly-looking, sinewy hero, and Whitaker's nuanced performance is particularly amazing. He reveals so much information about Jake without relying on dialogue, and ultimately steals the show. Repo Men is too bitter and weird to be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a shockingly good, scathingly brutal piece of science fiction that deserves the underground following it will no doubt attract. Grade: B+
- Repo Men (2010)
- Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
- Written by Eric Garcia & Garrett Lerner
- Starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga and Liev Schreiber
- Released by Universal Pictures
- Running time: 111 Minutes
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