Repo Men Review
Monday, March 22. 2010
Repo Men was almost a really good movie. The general "main character sees the evil of his ways" is not new, but a good telling can easily overcome a dated plot. And it started out quite good: Jude Law was able to carry off his role with little effort, and was great to watch. Scenes such as his nearly bored recitation of procedure, his struggle to balance his job and his family, and the repossession of a musician's heart worked perfectly. Unfortunately, these scenes were replaced with a series of cartoonish over-the-top pieces and, despite a solid ending, the movie never quite recovered.
Over-the-top violence can certainly work when handled correctly: just look no further than Robocop or Total Recall. But these movies worked because they recognized that they were going too far, and so pushed it even further. Repo Men, on the other hand, sets a mood more akin to Blade Runner. Everything is portrayed as deadly serious, including the suffering of the characters on the screen. The seriousness negates any possibility of a dark comedy, while the silliness of the action negates any chance for a serious sci-fi piece.
The one thing that very nearly saved the movie was the surprise ending. Not that it was surprising plot-wise, but it was surprising that the filmmakers eschewed the traditional Hollywood "happily ever after." It may be a bit of a downer, but this road less travelled would've been nice to see in some other movies (Surrogates leaps immediately to mind). I really wish Repo Men had picked one genre and stuck with it, because either dark comedy or serious action/drama would have worked well here. Unfortunately, the combination ended up feeling too disjointed to really enjoy.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
The Repo Men drive Volkswagen Touaregs as part of their jobs. These are actually pretty cool looking, taking the usefulness of a sport ute (for transporting tools and repossessed items) and upgrading it to handle the stresses of a job where people are likely to flee into hostile territory or try to assault the driver. No models of the second-generation Touareg are currently on the market (as of 22 March, 2010), but if one is released it would be a relatively simple matter to alter it to match what was used in the movie.
Over-the-top violence can certainly work when handled correctly: just look no further than Robocop or Total Recall. But these movies worked because they recognized that they were going too far, and so pushed it even further. Repo Men, on the other hand, sets a mood more akin to Blade Runner. Everything is portrayed as deadly serious, including the suffering of the characters on the screen. The seriousness negates any possibility of a dark comedy, while the silliness of the action negates any chance for a serious sci-fi piece.
The one thing that very nearly saved the movie was the surprise ending. Not that it was surprising plot-wise, but it was surprising that the filmmakers eschewed the traditional Hollywood "happily ever after." It may be a bit of a downer, but this road less travelled would've been nice to see in some other movies (Surrogates leaps immediately to mind). I really wish Repo Men had picked one genre and stuck with it, because either dark comedy or serious action/drama would have worked well here. Unfortunately, the combination ended up feeling too disjointed to really enjoy.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
The Repo Men drive Volkswagen Touaregs as part of their jobs. These are actually pretty cool looking, taking the usefulness of a sport ute (for transporting tools and repossessed items) and upgrading it to handle the stresses of a job where people are likely to flee into hostile territory or try to assault the driver. No models of the second-generation Touareg are currently on the market (as of 22 March, 2010), but if one is released it would be a relatively simple matter to alter it to match what was used in the movie.
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