Escape to the Movies: Repo Men

[Towels]

Honestly, I don't care how unoriginal it may seem. To me, you can't go wrong with Cyberpunk Action thrillers.

I liked Blade Runner and Total Recall, and I LOVED the Running Man and Robocop,
and after a terrible month this is exactly the kind of corporate inhumanity I need to see given manifest.

Thanks for the review, Movie Bob!

 

[Goes]

Seriously? Carice van Houten is in this? And you almost pronounced her and Paul Verhoeven's names right. Well, almost. No disrespect though, I've noticed dutch names are hard for foreigners. Also, Blackbook was indeed pretty awesome!

On topic: I've never seen or heard of Repo! The genetic opera thing, so i'm probably gonna watch this instead.

 

[Arjen Swellengrebel]

Wow, that was the worst way the name Carice van Houten could possibly have been pronounced. Ever. I laughed.

 

[Boba Frag]

Jude Law.. pulling of action hero.... A bold claim!

Nonetheless, you've convinced me that it's worth a shot.

If you cite the excellent Black Book (far, far superior to Inglourious Basterds) and assert that Equilibrium was awesome( cruelly snubbed by other critics if you ask me) then you've got my vote. If there was one.

Equilibrium is a sort of guilty pleasure of mine actually...

Repo Men has to be better than Surrogates- I nearly walked out of that mess of a movie.

 

[Falseprophet]

Isn't this premise actually much, much older? Future dystopia where a ranking member of the tyrannical establishment has a change of heart and struggles against the controlling authority? That goes back at least as far as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, and draws heavily from Ayn Rand's Anthem and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.

Main differences these days seem to be: stories with bureaucrats aren't as popular as movies with ass-kickers, and these days, the protagonist is more likely to succeed instead of a depressing or ambiguous ending.

But so what if you rip off a premise? That's a time-honoured practice in creating fiction. We wouldn't have 1984 if Orwell hadn't read We. The only thing that matters is the execution.

 

[BeefSquid]

I know that the whole premise of this movie is ripped off of REPO: The Genetic Opera, but honestly, I think I'll like this more. I really did not like REPO. Good premise and story, but I just couldn't get into the music or setting.
So I think I'll give this movie a go.

 

[MaraJade03]

Wait.... If MovieBob says he didn't remember REPO! TGO while watching Repo Men.... Then what the Hell is the movie that Repo Men borrowed their ending from he was talking about!?!

If I told you, I'd be potentially spoiling one of TWO movies, one of which is a bona-fide classic

Aaaawwww ;_; need to do some searching to find and watch this bona-fide classic

 

[Omi-san]

Black Book was a terrible movie.

 

[nYuknYuknYuk]

Simpsons did it!!! Simpsons did it!!!

Sheesh you guys, everything has been done before. EVERYTHING.

 

[duchaked]

haha I knew he was gonna say Equilibrium right before he did =) loved that movie

 

[dunnace]

I liked the concept, regardless if it's a rip-off..

 

[Sparrow]

...and, time to track down a cinema that's showing this.

 

[HyperionToASatyr]

Saw a pre-release screening of it a week ago--absolute garbage. Unlike Moviebob's claim that it merely isn't original, this movie is a shameless, shallow ripoff. Absolute garbage.

Also, to the pont in the review about Black Book--another horrible movie. What's up with Moviebob? His taste has suddenly dropped off the edge of the earth.

 

[sszebra]

Repo Men has one of the most frustrating and stupid last minute plot twists I've ever seen.

 

[fullbleed]

For those too lazy to look for other reviews here we are.





So far, the film has received generally negative reviews. It currently holds a "generally unfavorable" score of 29 out of 100 at the review aggregator Metacritic, based on 11 reviews from mainstream critics. It also holds a "Rotten" score of 16% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews. The site's consensus is, "Repo Men has an intriguing premise, as well as a likable pair of leads, but they're wasted on a rote screenplay, indifferent direction, and mind-numbing gore."

Metacritic is shit though, it only includes American reviews and it's only ever from newspapers. It's why Moon, the best film I saw last year, has a rating of about 60 on there because of shit like San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science monitor.

 

[GODoftheRIGOVERSE]

How is this not a rip off of REPO the ROCK OPERA starring paris hilton

 

[Zydrate]

Okay, here's the thing:

The reason "Repo: The Genetic Opera" isn't mentioned is that I - honestly - completely forgot that it had ever existed until someone brought it up. I saw it (once, didn't care for it, obviously left next to no impression) but literally was not reminded of it once while watching this. In any case, unless I'm COMPLETELY mis-remembering TGO, it and Repo Men don't have much in common aside from one broad plot element and a (fairly generic) name for a profession.

Is this one of those movies that was a bigger deal in certain territories than others? Because it's basically a non-entity here in the States. I'm honestly amazed that THIS many people are concerned with the integrity/legacy of what at the time struck me as a Troma-esque musical spoof. Ah, well...

It was a cult-classic. Not a big fanbase but a very loyal one. I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Aphroditty]

People, people, the core concept of Repo Men is not original to the Genetic Opera movie. A very similar concept was featured in the Monty Python movie <url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclS1pGHp8o>The Meaning of Life (and that Python clip even featured in the movie itself; Law and Whittaker were watching it at one point). Also, it's an idea which requires the tiniest amount of creative thought to approach, given the current spirit of the times. I mean, think about it: foreclosures, repossessions, economic turmoil...

Extending that to our bodies, beyond our material possessions is not a tremendous logical leap by any means.

The biggest failing of this movie was a lack of strong direction--it appeared rather unfocused to me. However, I did love the ending, which struck me as incredibly similar to the ending of Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam It struck me as appropriate to this film, however, and not a ripoff. Although the events were pretty similar, the themes and context concomitant were differentiated enough for it to feel more like an homage, or unintentional congruence, rather than copycatting.

In closing, it was a plenty adequate movie, even taking the gore into account, which there is indeed a lot of (but, in fairness, the film's core idea would have fallen flat on its face if there hadn't been a lot of gore).

 

[Weaver]

Anyone notice this is the exact story of "Repo! The Genetic Opera"?

EDIT: Okay I see others have brought this up. I like that poster though so I kind of want to leave it there O_O

 

[grahariel]

So far, it seems everyone is under the impression that "Repo Men" ripped off "Repo! The Genetic Opera." Not so, it's actually based off a 2009 sci-fi novel by Eric Garcia entitled "The Repossession Mambo", which has recently been retitled "Repo Men" due to the movie, in the same way Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" was renamed "Bladerunner" following the release of Ridley Scott's groundbreaking film. However, whether or not "Repo! The Genetic Opera" inspired Garcia to take the concept and run with it into a different direction within his novel, and I assure you all he took was the organ repoman concept because the rest is wholly original, is unknown, you'd have to ask him. So, get off your "WTF he ripped something off" high horse and either read the book or watch the movie, or both. Everyone rips concepts or premises off all the fucking time, look at all the Zombie, vampire, alien, robot, or time travel books that have been written. The concepts may be old, but it's in the new and inventive way a writer or director views it that makes it original. So, quit bitching and just see the movie or don't.