Repo Men

I have this strange feeling that I shouldn't like Jude Law, and it's not that I do, but that I don't not. If that makes any sense. Forest Whitaker on the other hand is consistently the bees business in whatever he happens to be in and I will willfully define myself as a fan.

Given this and a personal leaning towards all things sciency and indeed fictiony, I'm not altogether certain why I approached Repo Men gingerly and with the sense that it would be a poor show. It might have been that it's central premise is a Monty Python sketch, or that it managed to make little impact upon release or maybe just because the films marketing managed to avoid giving away any information other than it's stars and concept. Not generally a good sign.

It has a small handful of neat ideas. Call it all kinds of corny but I like the idea that he receives a new heart in both the literal and metaphysical sense, and that he finds a connection with someone who only has a heart left. There's something neatly poetic about that. It also has a vague sense of the William Gibson about it all, and at one point a man is punched by someone dressed as a lung.

Unfortunately this and the presence of the likable Mr. Whitaker really aren't enough. I was actually kind of keen on the character when he was a jolly sociopath, gaining empathy through surgery just makes him boring. The initial setup is done with a good deal of style and a good eye for the humour, but as they reveal the world which he has helped perpetuate it's just all a bit grim and aimless. It lost it's sense of parody, fun and ultimately entertainment.

It also tries to do two things that are hard to do well and fails to do them even reasonably. There's a voice over, which is dry and often clumsy, foraying deep into "explain it to the cheap seats" territory and then there's the twist. Or "twist", as without quotes it rather implies that it intends to trick you in some way, rather than tell you there's a twist up front, slyly wink to the audience and move right along as if they'll kindly forget.

There are also several horrible leaps of logic that bugged me to no end. The absence of any kind of infection, even when engaged in dirty street surgery and the fact that at the end they try to fix their fugitive problem by breaking into corporate headquarters and erasing their files. Because giant, faceless corporations don't keep any kind of backups and wouldn't be suspicious about all the corpses suddenly littering up the place.
 
Not really actiony enough to satisfy as an action film (which is actually kind of a shame as the action it does have is remarkably well handled) and not really saying enough to do so as a sci fi, it just sort of potters in between with little ambition to be anything more than a middling spring release.