Review: Repo Men

Grade: B+

In the near future, the national debt has risen so high that the government has gone into bankruptcy and corporations have taken over. One corporation in particular, The Union, has developed artificial organs that they sell on credit to people to help them live longer and healthier. What they don’t tell you is that if you get three months behind on payments they will send a repo man to repossess the organ with little to no regard to your comfort or survival. Remy is one of these repo men. He and his lifelong best friend, Jake, have been repoing together for years. One day, Remy goes to repo a well known musician’s heart, when his defibrillator backfires and almost kills him. His only chance of survival is if he gets a top of the line artificial heart put in. Unfortunately though, after he gets the artificial heart, he no longer finds himself able to repo organs, which causes him to get behind on payments. As he goes on the run from his own best friend, he encounters a young woman who also has artificial organs, he then decides to find a way to wipe them, and everybody with artificial organs, out of the system.

This movie is one of the few movies like this lately that has actually managed to reach most of its potential. It is a very fun movie to watch, albeit quite gory at times, and is more enjoyable than I thought it would be. One thing that’s great about it is that it has a wonderful sense of humor about itself and in turn is actually kind of humorous at times. It is also a great commentary on creditors and the direction our country is sort of heading in, it was amusing to see things that implied that China now owns America, which sadly we are not far from. The movie was just plain fun to watch and I would be willing to watch it again.

Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes, The Hiliday) plays the lead role of Remy. Law did a fantastic job with this role and really helped make the movie worth viewing. Forrest Whitaker (Street Kings, Vantage Point) plays Remy’s best friend, Jake. Whitaker did a pretty good job with this role and the interactions between him and Law’s character were great. Liev Schreiber (Taking Woodstock, Defiance) plays Frank, Remmy and Jake’s boss. Liev does such a great job at roles like this, he eerily does such a great job playing completely heartless people. The movie also features Alice Braga, Carice Van Houten, and RZA.

If you enjoy fun, and at times bleak, sci-fi movies in the vein of Blade Runner, then go and check out Repo Men. The action is good, the humor is good, the acting is good and the story is good, and unlike movies like Surrogates, this movie has a great concept that it actually manages to almost completely live up to the potential of.