johnny-burgundy
This was a frustrating film for me. I certainly enjoyed the first 30 minutes. So much so, I had a premature review. Actually tweeted it, then had to delete the tweet after watching it further. Won't be doing that again anytime soon. It started off as what seemed like an action comedy, a buddy cop movie with a sci-fi twist. Apparently I was wrong. And that's to bad, because Law and Whitiker played well off each other in the partner roles. They suddenly changed gears and tried to be a straight up sci-fi action. Now two films in one can work, it did in Full Metal Jacket. It really doesn't work here. I rate it like I do, only because of the early part of the film and it does have some redeeming value if you like the genre. Only wish they picked one and stuck with it.
jabrbi
I tried to like this film, I really did, but the whole premise of the film was so skewed from any possible reality where the events in this film could occur that I couldn't suspend my disbelief for 5 seconds nevermind the whole film.In some future, where the USA medical system is even more f***ed than it is today, people can buy/rent/lease replacement body organs. If you rent/lease then you have to keep up with the payments otherwise the Repo men will come and take the 'spare' parts back. I can live with that idea.Where things start to go wrong is that the Repo men are allowed to kill you to get the parts back. Pardon? As a Repo man you can commit legal murder just to get a mechanical liver back? Really? I doubt it.Then Jude Law, Repo man, has an accident where a portable defibrillator wrecks his heart and he gets a mechanical replacement from the company he works with. Inevitably he falls behind on the payments and he becomes one of the hunted. However, the heart damage is caused by faulty equipment, supplied by the company he worked for, so surely the equipment manufacturer or the employer would have paid for the heart replacement. If you're going to extrapolate modern society into a future where you can rent/lease spare parts and have them repossessed, then surely you wouldn't agree to take on a spare part if you couldn't find someone else to pat for it.Once you start to question the setup of the future society more and more unlikely rules/laws intrude to ruin watching the film - such as not being allowed to fly out of the country with a rented/leased body part. Really? You get scanned at all points of exit to stop you fleeing with your stolen or overdue parts. It just doesn't make sense.There just isn't enough logical consistency to this film to allow the plot, such as it is, to unfold before you. You could try and keep watching it in a completely detached manner, but then what is the point of that?
bowmanblue
Repo Men (not to be confused by the eighties cult flick 'Repo Man') is a new film, set in the near future, where people can buy replacement organs to either preserve or enhance their bodies (for health or vanity's sake). However, if you don't pay the full price on time, your organs are liable to be repossessed (in the most gruesome fashion) by a 'Repo Man' such as Jude Law.He's good at his job, but his wife wants him to quit. He's about to when - shock horror - something goes wrong and he's forced on the run by the very organisation he served.So it's one of those on-the-run films where the protagonist is chased through a series of different venues by baddies and picks up a girl along the way. It's nothing special, but it's not that bad either. There's action, fighting and some cool 'slow-mo' bits to keep the MTV generation entertained.However, before I watched it, I made the mistake of reading some reviews and learned a little too much about the plot. Therefore, I went into the film expecting something. I'm not going to mention what it is, but let's just say there's an element of the film that seems to seriously be dividing audiences. Because of this, you'll either love the film, or hurl your popcorn at the TV.Personally, I found the 'surprise' acceptable. You may not. Be warned.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/
Tehmeh
After the first 40 minutes or so, I wasn't sure if I liked this or not. I could see that the movie wasn't too ambitious, and seemed to shoehorn some elements (family problems, love interests etc.) that we just apparently have to have in every movie. But, it did get better towards the end. I can appreciate some aspects in this film, even though it does lack certain qualities."Repo Men" reminds me of many movies based on Philip K. Dick's stories. It isn't one, but it damn well could be. There are themes that are familiar from "Minority Report", "Impostor", "Equilibrium" and even to some extent "Total Recall". All those films are clearly above this one, but I'd say this is worth seeing at least once.The main flaw with this movie is that it doesn't always seem to know what it is and what it wants to make us feel. We do get basically everything: characters, drama, action, explicit non-PG13 violence, humor, sci-fi, a catchphrase and even a little twist - but it lacks a certain focus and some opportunities are lost, thus taking away from the impact. These tonal changes don't always work. Add a soundtrack that's sometimes very good and other times the exact opposite, and you get a movie that tries too hard for what it is, leaving many people disappointed.Jude Law does a decent enough job, and Forest Whitaker is always fun to watch, even though he's hamming it up a bit sometimes (not necessarily a bad thing). Liev Schreiber is entertaining as the face of the corporation.Think of it as a B-movie along the lines of "Impostor", that would be my advice. As such, it is entertaining and does it's job, and can possibly surprise some people in a positive way. There's no 100M dollar CGI budget either, so it's easier to digest this way. The sci-fi elements are certainly not hard sci-fi, so take it as it is. A simple adequate movie that often misses the mark, but never by a mile. If you have nothing to do on a rainy day, might as well see this - it's definitely not a disaster. I don't regret getting the blu-ray at a discount. Probably won't watch it again, but no regrets nonetheless.
AD
