Gah. Gross! OK, now that I got that out of the way…
What’s to not like about the movie “Repo Men?” It was OK, but still painful to watch (not just the carving scenes either). It is a movie about people who repossess bio-mechanical organs when the recipients fail to make the payments. So, if I whine about it being too bloody…that’s kinda my own darn fault.
I think what I found most frustrating, other than the strange bloody romance scene at the end (which must be some sadomasochist’s orgasm scene or something – bletch), was that there was an opportunity for some serious characterdevelopment under a set of complex situations, and it just always seemed to fall short. The bitchy wife was the bitchy wife, the son was a flat-lined clever-on-cue device, the 2 lead buddies were grown men who acted like children as they slaughtered delinquent patients, and at EVERY point where a little communication might have gone a long way, the characters were held silent so as not to disrupt the plot. Even the hero’s new love interest who I really wanted to like, was just a pretty face with a high pain threshold.
Another thing that annoyed me was how choppy the movie was – there was the notion of the main character writing a memoir, and the movie would freeze for a digression, then move forward, then go back, then fade out, then fade in, then he’d be with his wife, then not so much, then at his friend’s house, then homeless – it was just cut up all over the place…the movie seemed assembled as a metaphoric representation of the plot.
Silly of me to try and hold a movie that sits indecisively across the action-gore-comedy-drama spectrum to a standard of delivering a deep revelation. But the action would slow down, like the movie was TRYING to have a deep moment, and then it just sort-of wouldn’t. I wish they had just thought it through a little more and decided to either be action or drama…or to do a better job when trying both.
Were there any words of wisdom, or statements of character? Anything redeeming about the movie? Well, the story of the cat in the poison box was lost on me, so I’ll write that one off. The change of heart (no pun intended) of the main character was believable, I thought…but still a bit too sudden. The end of the memoirs when he wrote about your job being part of who you are…I thought that rang true. “If you want to change who you are, change what you do.” Fair…but I didn’t need to live through this warped tale to learn that.
And what happens to the bionic girl that stuck by his side? Is it game over for her? Who knows… it was cool she got him a typewriter and all, but did I miss some reference to him wanting to be a writer? Oh, bullocks, let’s just not go there. I will tell you this – there’s something about the main character’s voice that makes me not want to by car insurance from Geico!!
