Repo Men
“Repo Man” has compelling ideas, good performances, and a great look that’s right out of “Blade Runner” and “Minority Report.” Unfortunately, more often than not, it opts for fast-paced action nonsense rather than a more intriguing exploration of what it poses, although to be fair, it does come close.
Jude Law is terrific as Remy, who works as an organ collector for the corporation The Union, which deals in artificial body parts. Get behind on your payments, and you’ll be seeing Remy or his pal Jake (Forrest Whitaker, superb as always) to collect…the part, that is. Once their called in, whether you’ve paid or not is irrelevant.
In a nation where health care and the sky rocketing prices of private insurance is a polarizing debate, director Miguel Sapochnik’s thriller is as timely as “Minority Report” was when it came to national security. But unfortunately, this film is more interested in chase sequences than looking at the tough questions on a worthy subject for debate, especially when Remy becomes a beneficiary of The Union’s artificial technology.
Still, it’s a mildly entertaining ride for the most part. Yes, it can get gruesome when we see Remy and Jake collect, but the story requires it. And Liev Schreiber is superbly slimy as The Union’s top man at the branch Remy works at. But the end didn’t really work for me. True, it’s less Hollywood happy than most, but it feels more like an unnecessary twist ending than a logical conclusion to the story. You’ll see what I mean.
