User reviews

Can't believe all the lowball ratings on here. It's a solid sci-fi, it's not going to blow you away but you're not going to be sorry you watched it.

This is a film whose entire storyline – as slim as it is – seems to have been inspired by a sketch in Monty Python's MEANING OF LIFE, which has a sketch of a pensioner losing their liver to a couple of repossession men. Well, those men are brought to life in this futuristic thriller which fills its running time with gobbets of surgical gore and a man-on-the-run narrative that will be overly familiar to even the most intermittent of modern film viewers. Jude Law is cocky and rather irritating as a brutish, cold-hearted rent collector type who finds himself on the run when his former colleagues turn against him.

The look and feel of the film is very similar to Spielberg's MINORITY REPORT, albeit with a lower budget, and it's clear that there are some major problems here. The whole thing takes nearly an hour to get going before it starts to pick up momentum and become interesting, and then it seems to finish all too quickly. Also, for a movie advertised as an action thriller, it's rather light on the action; a stunning, OLDBOY-inspired corridor fight at the climax helps to make up for this, but it's not quite enough. And don't get me started on the absolutely stupid twist ending, which sucks out all the visceral enjoyment the viewer has just taken from the production.

Despite the flaws and general coldness of the production, it's difficult to dislike REPO MEN. It's clear that this was written and created by young, slightly immature men content to riff on previously explored topics rather than delivering genuinely innovative product, but it still delivers on a superficial level; you want to know what happens next, and the thrills satisfy. The cast are perfunctory: Alice Braga and Liev Schreiber make virtually no impact in highly predictable supporting roles, and while Forest Whitaker gets a little more of a look in, even he doesn't get a great deal to work with. Law, meanwhile, plays it off-hand and it doesn't work; he needed to be much more tortured for a role like this. It's not bad as it stands, but it could have been a whole lot more with some real maturity applied to the premise.

When this movie came out, I immediately thought of the film:"Repo The Genetic Opera" by Terrance Zdunich. But NOPE! Even though its basically an exact carbon copy, minus the lower budget and singing, Repo Men is the exact same story. I was pretty shocked to learn it was not made by Zdunich, and could find nothing online regarding litigation or even any mention of the literal sameness between the two stories. This was an okay movie, but it just felt like it could have gone so much further, been more hardcore, cooler, enthralling and less obvious. But again, this story was already done and then some in Repo, The Genetic Opera. NOt everyone has the same "tastes" or sense of whats good, so be your own judge. But the musical was cooler.

All in all, I found this movie quite a disappointment. I have a soft spot for sci-fi, and as several others have commented, Jude Law is a good reliable actor in sci-fi roles. But this movie seems awkwardly assembled, not quite thought-out, and a bit too proud of itself to be taken seriously. Throughout the film, at what seem to be important developmental points or even plot twists, there are one-liners tossed out with great sincerity, which in most cases either sound silly, pretentious, intellectually impoverished, or simply misplaced in this film. The first scene of the film, for instance, we are given a summarization of the 'Schroedinger's Cat' experiment, complete with some of the horrible logic underlying the film--- 'if something isn't definably dead or alive, then it must be both'. The fact that this statement shows a misunderstanding of both the scientific and philosophic merit of the experiment isn't the problem, because even incorrect junk science can be a good vehicle in a movie. The problem is that there's no reason to bring this up in the first place. the movie doesn't tackle whether things are dead or alive, whether being comprised of 'rented organs' is an crisis of existential definitions or what have you. The reference is just thrown in there to sound smart, to seem thoughtful, when the film is anything but. And this sort of pseudo intellectual posturing contaminates the movie.

The whole film's pace feels quite forced, as well. Jude Law seems underutilized. One can't help but wonder if he got drunk for the majority of the shooting for this film. When his wife leaves him, there's almost no emotion in the scene. When twenty minutes later our hero has decided to dedicate his eternal love to a street girl he finds attractive, there's really no chemistry whatsoever--- but apparently the movie insists that there be a love interest, and so it's just thrown in there, pointlessly. Because even in this day and age, it's apparently impossible to propose a hero character without a token damsel in distress.

Then there's the kind of gratuitous and uncomfortable 'surgical sex' scene. It's apparent that whoever choreographed it thought they were being clever, but the whole thing just seems like an attempt to force some sort of correlation between sex and surgical procedures that really just felt misplaced, and kind of heavy-handed. Granted, it has a purpose within the plot, but it's basically a slice of experimental film amid a sci-fi action flick, and like a lot of experiments, it fails.

There are some positive points to the film. While Jude Law's acting is a disappointment, Forrest Whittaker delivers a solid role. The action scenes are quite good, and while the overbearing presence of music makes some of it feel like a weird music video, it's nonetheless well-choreographed fighting and slashing. Some of the sets are good, although a fair number of sets and sequences seem blatant rip-offs of 'Brazil' (to say nothing of the ending)...

A pretty mindless flick. It's better than watching dust settle on your screen. A prettily-packaged emptiness.

It's is the near future, Jake and Remy are repossession men for body organs. After a repo' goes wrong Remy's heart is replaces and he finds himself on the run before his heart is repossessed.

It's a high concept idea with a twist at the end. The gory repo scenes are cringe worthy and action scenes backed with a pumping music score are amazing. The sets, location and effects are attention-grabbing. Miguel Sapochnik's directing admirable but its failing is the screenplay, Repo Men is a jarring mismatch of a film, it doesn't know what it wants to be, one minute a social commentary, the next minute a comedy, then an action, a serious thriller and so on. It just doesn't gel and as a result it's a let down.

Schreiber's Frank is menacing as one of "The Union" heads and there's a welcomed cameo appearance by John Leguizamo (Asbury). A lighter, healthier Forest Whitaker makes an impression in this odd toned movie, quirky lead and ever reliable Jude Law looks uncomfortable with the role Remy. Alice Braga's (Beth) performance is average and she isn't atheistically beautiful enough to convince the audience of Remy's infatuation with her.

Unfortunately, Repo Men tries to cater and appeal to a spectrum of movie goers and as a result fails to entertain or satisfy in any capacity or arena.

Well, if you have watched the musical "REPO", then you definitely want to sink your teeth in to "Repo Men", as they are right up the same alley. Of course, one being a musical and one being a movie, but still, they are basically about the same thing.

The story of "Repo Men" is straight forward and easy to follow. If you can't pay your bills on your implants, they will be reclaimed by The Union, and here comes the repo men into play. (Just like in the musical "REPO").

There is a steady stream of constant action and thrills throughout this movie, so you are never left bored. And the ending, well that I didn't see coming, that was a really nice touch! I am not spoiling it by saying how it ends, but trust me, it is nice.

The actors in the movie was quite nicely cast. Especially Whitaker and Law play very well opposite one another, they support each other well and the chemistry works quite good.

The effects throughout the movie was nice as well. Do not expect to see a myriad of CGI effects to dazzle even a blind guy! But this movie doesn't really need all that fancy CGI, it does very well with ordinary effects and gimmicks. The scenes and settings were nice, showing a somewhat bleak and lifeless future.

In overall, this is a rather nice movie, but in my opinion, it is not the type of movie that you will watch again once watched. It just doesn't have that quality to it. But still, it is one heck of a movie.

Movies like Repo Men are those that take interesting, even fascinating, premises and butcher them to the point of disfigurement; a bland cookie- cutter version of how the plot could have unravelled. In addition to the obvious plot arc that can easily be surmised from the trailers, any good will built up over the running time is similarly bastardized by a horrendous final twist that is not only nonsensical but cheap. This reveal is not only blatantly alluded to early on but even for those who did not pick up on it will not be surprised by the finale. In yet another paint-by-numbers dystopian future where highly advanced artificial organs are now a reality, we follow two repo men by the names of Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) whose task it is to reclaim said organs from customers who have fallen behind on payments. They gleefully extract hearts, livers, kidneys, etc leaving their former customers on the wrong side of alive. Yet, after an on the job accident leaves Remy himself with an 'artiforg', as they are called, and subsequently is unable to make payments he goes on the run. With the help of a woman who is nearly all 'fake' so to speak (it is eye-rolling developments like this that make up Repo Men) he tries to bring down his former employer with Jake hot on his trail. Thank goodness at the center of it all we get three solid performances from Jude Law and Forest Whitaker as the titular repo men, and Liev Schreiber as their morally defunct boss. Without this trio to ground the movie in some realm of watchability this could have been an unmitigated disaster instead of just a near-disaster. The gore is ample in Repo Men but it appears in all the wrong places. Instead of using the violent repossessions as tentpole instances of shock, they pepper the story with such frequency, everything becomes white-washed (or should I say red- washed) and muted in effectiveness. I will admit, there are some well choreographed, badass action sequences but they can do little to lift the remaining material. Even with these kinetic bursts, the characters at the center are all so unlikable, whether they live or die becomes moot. Are we truly supposed to root for a murderer just because he had a moral epiphany and who in addition cheats on his wife after she condemns his job and then proceeds to abandon her and his son? All this is loosely strung together by a bland and sporadic voice-over which serves no discernible purpose. There are so many unanswered questions floating around Repo Men. What has happened to lead up to this future? What is government like to give this company absolute power to slaughter countless people? And where is the money in selling organs to those who cannot pay anyways? It is questions like these and more that leave Repo Men a vapid and unmemorable vision of the future with little to say about much of anything.

Just a great old fashioned action/thriller that is not watered down for a PG-13 rating. Thought it held up quite well and Jude Law, Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber were having a blast playing these over the top characters. Seems like a lot of reviewers are taking it much to seriously. Watch it for the entertainment that it is and you will not be disappointed!

I first saw this one when it was released in the cinema. I quite liked it and thought it worthy of a second viewing when it came up on TV this week. Quite futuristic with certain visuals that are very reminiscent of Ridley Scott's 1982 classic, Blade Runner, although it's nothing like Blade Runner (unfortunately). Here is a brief summary before I give you my thoughts on the film (summary haters and those that don't wish to know anything about the plot please reclaim that man's pancreas while I write the next paragraph).

It is the near future where medicine has advanced enough that human organs can be replaced with artificial ones. One company 'The Union' controls the world market and as such can dictate the price. It is so high that most people opt to pay in instalments. But if you miss three payments then the Repo Men will call and surgically remove The Union's property. Remy and Jake grew up together, they joined the army together and when the war was over they became Repo Men together. Their boss is Frank, who is only concerned with the retrieval of The Union's property, no matter how it's done. Remy is married to Carol and has a son, Peter but Jake stayed single. Carol doesn't like Remy's line of work and wants him to move into sales. The two guys carry on with their work, which eventually becomes too much for Carol and she leaves Remy. Soon after Remy suffers an accident that leads to him having an artificial heart installed. He now gets a conscience and finds it hard to get back into the Repo business. He tries sales, but that's not for him. Eventually he falls behind on his payments and becomes overdue. He goes off the grid and goes to live rough with others whose repayments have lapsed. There he meets Beth, a singer who has had many illegal artificial organs fitted. The pair decides to try and get their records erased when Jake is assigned to recover Remy's organs. I won't say any more, don't want to give too much away.

It's a pretty well made film although there is a lot of violence and it is very gory, not recommended for those of a nervous disposition. Decent performances from all of the leading cast, honourable mentions go to Jude Law as Remy, Forest Whitaker as Jake, Alice Braga as Beth, Liev Schreiber excellent as the very slimy Frank, Carice van Houten as Carol and Chandler Canterbury as Peter.

I pretty much enjoyed this film but I found it didn't quite hit the mark. There is a very nice twist at the end which I did enjoy, but over all it kind of left me a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it's quite entertaining and there are some good performances, I just felt the plot could have done with a little more refining. So, over all, violent, gory, futuristic, entertaining but the plot needed a little work. Having said that, it's still recommended.

My score: 6.3/10

Repo Men could have been a really cool cyberpunk type movie, but it wasn't. Think Bladerunner but not as gritty, intelligent, or good. Jude Law and Forrest Whittaker play a pair of repo men that work for an evil corporation that manufactures and distributes artificial human organs. When people fall behind on their payments the repo men come to take the organs back. I don't really understand the business model being used in this movie. The organs cost in the neighborhood of $600,000 and the interest rate on the loan of the organ is 19.95%. The salesman have a variety of payment plans available for a variety of lifestyles should you not be able to afford to buy the organ up front. Throughout the movie organs are repossessed from alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, the homeless, and just about everyone else you wouldn't give a loan or an organ to. Sure the corporation just hunts them down and takes back their organs, but why did they give them out in the first place? It turns out that they do that because if they didn't Jude Law and Forrest Whittaker wouldn't have anything to do and the movie would resemble the Maytag repairman commercials. Anyway, things are going poorly for Jude Law because his wife has problems with her husband going out an effectively murdering people. Law decides to give up the repo business after one last job. Unfortunately for Law he suffers an accident that damages his heart and he has to get an artificial one. After recovering he no longer looks at things the same and can no longer carve people up for a living. As a result Law falls behind on his payments and his heart is ordered to be reclaimed.

The movie doesn't do a very good job establishing why the company can just go out and hack people up, or why nobody seems interested in stopping them when they are. I guess the audience is just supposed to assume the corporation controls everything. With the high body count that Law and Whittaker rack up, just in the first half hour, it's a wonder that anyone is left alive at all, nobody seems to be paying for their organs. The public at large seems to be oblivious to this fact because all it takes is a few soothing words from the sales rep and they all sign on the dotted line. The big problem with Repo Men is that it simply isn't very believable and the movie makes very little effort to make it so.

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/

Two childhood friends grow up to become repo men, but not of the ordinary sort. In this future, human organs (or the mechanical versions of them) can be repossessed by the firms that sell them if payments are not made. The problems inherent in that are obvious, but this film stretches the problem to the limit.

This film has a lot of potential. A good concept, great actors (Jude Law and Forest Whitaker) and a decent plot. But for the most part it falls short. If you like blood and action, this has some really good scenes for you -- particularly the hallway scene where Jude Law's character eliminates an entire staff... that, and an erotic surgery scene almost redeemed this film.

But overall, it's too dry in parts, seems way too unoriginal once you've seen "Repo! The Genetic Opera" (which is the better film)... and the ending just doesn't give you the sort of closure you want. Some say it saves the film, others say it ruins it... I won't say my thoughts, but I can say it's not as good as it could be.

In the near future, the company "The Union" provides expensive prosthesis to improve the lives of the clients. However, the company sends repo men to retrieve the artificial organs for those that do not pay the installments. The former soldiers Remy (Jude Law) and his best friend Jake (Forest Whitaker) are among the best repo men of the company; however Remy's job cost his marriage and his wife Carol (Carice van Houten) leaves him. When Remy is ready to request to be transferred to the sales department expecting to save his marriage, he has an accident with a defibrillator and he needs heart transplantation. The prosthesis is very expensive and Remy changes his behavior after the medical procedure, and he is no longer capable of chasing the debtors. Meanwhile Remy helps the singer Beth (Alice Braga), who owes a large amount to The Union, and sooner they are chased by the repo men.

"Repo Man" is a gore and violent film with a predictable plot. The story has a poor description of this futuristic society, where a corporation has the power of God, tricking clients and using abusive means to retrieve the prostheses from those that do not pay the bill. When we see the line of production, it is hard to believe that the prostheses are so expensive that the company needs to retrieve them. If the intention is to intimidate the clients to pay, this type of marketing would never work. Therefore, the principle of the story is stupid and contradictory. The conclusion is totally predictable and disappointing. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Os Coletores" ("The Collectors")

This movie is a great analogy between what happened due to "the innovations" in the financial world. Example: "Sure you need to buy this house and sign for the mortgage ... you owe it to yourself ... you owe it to your family" ... And a couple of years later they take away your house and leave you with a great debt that also ruins your life and may even cost your life. More and more people are not able to cope anymore and commit suicide and sometimes even kill their own young children to "spare them". The people that come to collect or sell your stuff can be compared with the repo man. They can do it, until they're a victim themselves ... What I didn't like about this representation of how the system has become way more important than what is was for ... is the amount of blood. Still, it makes it all the more horribly and painfully clear what we're dealing with here ... What I liked about the story, is how it's presented that the bond between two people ain't all that clear. It was astounding to find out how it finally turns out what Jake has arranged for Remy.

When we think of repo men we think homes, cars, boats etc...., but in this case it is much more climactic, much more involved, it's much more personal. In the future a company collectively called The Union sells advancements in medical technology with bio-mechanical organs. Whether the recipient wants it or not they receive these organs at a steep price and if they fall behind in payments or can't pay the company sends repo men to retrieve said organs.

Remy (Jude Law) is one of the more elite repo men in the business. After a cardiac event he is fitted with a new bio heart unbeknownst to him. His partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) is ruthless and they have been friends since childhood. After Remy is fitted and back at work he realizes he can no longer take organs from people. The company sends Jake after him to retrieve his heart.

This is a pulse pounding, action filled sci-fi thriller and has decent performances by Law and Whitaker, strong character development. It is entertaining with it's story as it is different and draws the audience in. I give this a 7 out of 10.

REPO MEN may be worthy of a bit of interest in the novel form 'The Repossession Mambo' by Eric Garcia (who co-wrote the script with Garrett Lerner), but as a film it is simply silly. After about fifteen minutes into the movie the greatest temptation is to turn it off, but since it is paid for you sit through it, hoping that it will have some redeeming graces. Mistake.

Directed by neophyte Miguel Sapochnik whose credits are in art direction, the film for some reason has a number of outstanding actors attached to it: the payroll must have been big! Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, two fine actors, play the men who repossess internal organs (kidneys, hearts, livers, joints, etc) sold to them by a company run by Liev Schreiber - a company more interested in time payments with very high interest rates (sound familiar?) than with cash up front payments. If a recipient of one of these mechanical organs fails to pay the full amount in the given time, the Repo Men seek them out and take the organs back - leaving the buyer to simply die. The entire film is just that - killing and gory surgeries to take back or repossess organs. A bit of a glitch pops up when we discover that Jude law has one of these hearts whose payments are past due and he and a singer - Alice Braga, niece of actress Sonia Braga - both house expired organs and are on the run from the company in the leadership of yes, Forest Whitaker. It just gets worse as the chase moves into endless killings and raids and ridiculous situations. And the ending is a must miss.

One wonders what attracted Jude Law and Forest Whitaker to this loser: more odd is why brilliant actress Carice van Houten agreed to the tiny minor and meaningless role of Jude Law's wife, or John Leguizamo singing on for an equally unimportant minor role. Maybe there is an audience for this film, an audience who doesn't mind the concept of making fun of organ transplantation as a fraudulent business, and who can tolerate the gore that is on screen throughout the film. It all seems a waste of talent trying hard to prevent this film from becoming a terrible bore - and failing.

Grady Harp

There were so many good things with this film. Law and Whittaker were great along with the rest of the cast; the action was brutal but somehow beautiful at the same time especially a part near the end. It was an interesting concept and I always enjoy films set in the future that are not always sci-fy and this is one that is for sure at the top of it. Overall a pretty great thriller.