At the Movies with Fatwayne

This is a peek into the near future and I am grateful that it is just a peek! If this is the kind of world we have to look forward to, I hope that I do not live to see it. The government is bankrupt and all of the power has shifted to the large corporations. One of the most powerful is a company called The Union. The lives of people have been improved and extended because of the very sophisticated products they offer. Their business is organ replacement and just about anything you could possibly need in this area. This all sounds like a beneficial situation and it is except for two things. One is that these artificial organs are extremely expensive. Much beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest among us. In order to sell their wares The Union offers long term financing. The second problem for the consumer is that if you fall behind in your payments you can expect to receive a visit from one or more of the company’s collectors, or repo men.

A typical visit from a repo man results in you being tasered and thus rendered incapable of movement. Your heart, lung, liver or whatever is then cut from your body. You are then left to die or if you are extremely lucky you may survive depending on what organ was removed.  One of the problems I had with this film is that our repo men (Jude Law as Remy and Forest Whitaker as Jake) actually seem to enjoy their work. They joke about their victims and how they writhed in pain or begged for their life. I’m sorry but this is just not funny to me.

Law and Whitaker are believable in their roles as is Liev Schreiber as Frank. He is the repo men’s supervisor and the business end of the operation. It becomes a sort of running gag to see him selling sick people his artificial organs when they simply have no other choice except death. He says, “Let me assure you that our credit department can find a plan that will suit your lifestyle.” Yeah, sure!

Everyone associated with The Union comes across as heartless and uncaring. It is therefore difficult to care about what happens to any of them. It is also hard to care about the box office receipts generated by this slasher type movie. Although not billed as one, the usual slasher flick would be hard pressed to keep pace with this gore fest. So if it’s slasher you want, it’s slasher you will get if you decide to see this movie.

If I am to be entirely fair, I would be to admit that there are several plot twists that will catch you off guard and thus add a sliver of worth to this otherwise dismal movie.

Rated   -  R   -

Quotes from Repo Men

Fatwayne’s Rating   -  -