By Alan Hershkowitz
In what was one of the strangest coming attractions to air on television, the film Repo Men, directed by Miguel Sapochnick, is set in the near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit. Filmgoers get yet another look at a scary dystopian future in a sci-fi thriller that plays like Minority Report set in the health care system. The film’s strong opening is countered by an awful plot twist in which the last third of the movie was nothing more than a fallacious dream.
The film tells the story of repo man Remy, played by Jude Law, who fails to keep up payments on his artificial heart. The plot surrounds Law’s character and his struggle to survive. The dark side of these medical breakthroughs is that if you don’t pay your bill, The Union—the corporation behind the artificial organs—sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property…with no concern for your comfort or survival. It’s an interesting approach to a sci-fi thriller that promises lots of blood and a little bit of disturbing lust.
It isn’t hard to see that this will be an instant cult film favorite, but it’s gory and bloody scenes makes it distasteful for most. The film’s reality seems to be almost too true, as the script seems to feed off of the audiences fears of health care reform. But do not mistake this to be a film bound to political persuasion. The characters played by both Jude Law and Forest Whitaker are absolutely terrific, and both actors compliments the other’s talents perfectly. The first hour will have audiences sitting on the edges of their seats, but the plot quickly goes astray as Jude Law’s character becomes far too complex for the average movie junkie. Not to mention that the film provides its audience with one of the oddest sexual moments in recent movie history.
Jude Law’s character must escape capture by his former employer, The Union. To do so, he must erase any record of his lover and himself from the Union database by scanning the artificial organs inside each of them. In what was the bloodiest, goriest, and messiest sex scene any audience can remember, seeing both characters find pleasure in cutting each other open, while kissing and groping throughout the scene.
Aside from the complex plot twists and unnecessary amount of blood, the plot’s content is innovative, and brings refreshing originality back to the big screen.. The film ends with the audience discovering everything they’ve seen for the last 45 minutes was never real. The disappointing ending will leave many dissatisfied and confused, but it’s an interesting sci-fi worth seeing.
