I am a big fan of Alex Cox the movie connoisseur, the long time presenter of the Moviedrome series on British television dedicated to cult and obscure films. Each film he would introduce cult classic and give us an interesting insight on the night's film. Cox showed passion, intelligence and a respect for some of the actors and directors of cultish cinema.
Alex Cox the film director has always fallen short. He showed promise with his first feature with Repo Man, a flawed cult film itself. However films such as Walker or Straight to Hell showed us an uneven even an overindulgent filmmaker playing by his own rules.
By the early 1990s it was clear Cox was no longer welcome by the big film studios as he was heading south making Spanish language cinema in Mexico whereas director's such as Robert Rodriguez were heading the other direction.
In Repo Chick, Cox revisits the themes from Repo Man but turns it into satire on celebrity culture, banking crisis and corrupt politics.
A dispossessed heiress joins the Repo business. She ends up on a trip on a train which gets hijacked by terrorists who want to outlaw golf.
The movie is filmed entirely on Green Screen with some use of animation. The CGI can look off putting and also shows its low budget origins. It certainly is not a mainstream film even though Cox got the BBC to be a co-producer of the movie. Its uneven, unfocused but it has a charm and some well known actors, although it does confirm that Cox's best days as a director are well behind him.
