Repo Men (2010)

In the future humans have extended and improved our lives through highly sophisticated and expensive mechanical organs created by a company called "The Union". The dark side of these medical breakthroughs is that if you don't pay your bill, "The Union" sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property... with no concern for your comfort or survival. Former soldier Remy is one of the best organ repo men in the business. But when he suffers a cardiac failure on the job, he awakens to find himself fitted with the company's top-of-the-line heart-replacement... as well as a hefty debt. But a side effect of the procedure is that his heart's no longer in the job. When he can't make the payments, The Union sends its toughest enforcer, Remy's former partner Jake, to track him down.


Jude Law and Forest Whitaker might not seem like a perfect duo, but they work very well together in this pretty good cyberpunk thriller. The movie looks great and the music is awesome. The end gets a bit wonky, and there's a bit of a cop-out to it, kind of a twist. Not for the feint of heart or weak of stomach, though. There is some moderately strong gore and what I guess might be considered cybernetic sadomasochism bordering on the 'body horror' of a Cronenberg film. All in all, another solid, if not especially remarkable genre picture.


Definitely not for the faint of heart, there were scenes that even I had to look away as it was more graphic than I cared for it to be. That could be of course because of the 7 or so surgeries I've had. And though I could have lived just fine without seeing the last 10 minutes of the movie, it did prove to be a valuable insight to what was going on. I like the thought-provoking questions it will make you have once the movie is done, especially in light of the U.S. quite possibly going to a Universal Health Care system. I think it should be seen, if only once, just to give you a glimpse of one possible future we could be heading towards.


This movie really solidified why Jude Law and Liev Schreiber are two of my favorite actors. I really loved this movie. It's for sure going in my Top 100 somewhere. I smiled... and cringed... and laughed... and got sad. It was brilliant. If you go into it expecting Oscar-winner performances... you're a loser. Just go and enjoy this movie.


*****/*****


5/5 Stars