- I am left completely out of sorts by this movie because on the one hand it was absolutely terrible and on the other I kind of really enjoyed it in spite of this. This isn’t even a case of “It’s so bad it’s good” where you can mock your way through the entire film and come out the other side in tears from laughter; it’s seriously just a very poorly written and poorly plotted film that I got a lot of enjoyment out of for completely inexplicable reasons.
- Perhaps not completely inexplicable. I do have two words for you: Jude Law. Someone sign this guy up for more action films because oh my god did I love him in this. Sherlock Holmes‘ attempts at action notwithstanding, Law would never have been my go-to guy for action and yet it totally worked for this movie. The completely over the top scene where he knifes his way through fifteen company stooges to get to the Pink Door was fantastic. Also, someone obviously told him to bulk up and it looks good on him. It was kind of hysterical when that woman asked him to give her one reason not to kill him; he started lifting up his shirt and while you knew it was so she could see his scar, Audrey and I were both like “Um, his abs, obviously?” I don’t know how he can stand being so attractive.
- I had absolutely no idea what this movie was about before we bought our tickets; all we knew was that it had Jude Law and that scenes had been filmed at the hospital in my parents’ town. Yes, this is the basis on which we choose movies sometimes.
- Suffice it to say, not knowing what this was about beyond what the title might imply about the possibilities of repossession of some kind, the opening sequence was horrifically graphic and unexpected. The whole movie was pretty brutal since while I’m used to excessive violence in movies, I’m not used to the whole “surgery as violence” type of thing.
- Loved the nine year-old doctor. “What is she, five?!” Yes.
- I didn’t think that $618,000 for a mechanical pancreas seemed that exorbitant a price for a movie that takes place in the future, if you take into account inflation. I mean, fifty years from now how much is $618,000 actually going to be worth?
- Speaking of money, I never understand how “middle class” comes across in movies. Jude Law works for the Union as an organ repossessor and it’s suggested that the pay is okay but the potential for bonus repos is where the real money is made; Law’s character Remy isn’t desperately interested in doing freelance repossession. Remy’s wife Carol works at the mall (at Fruits & Passion) and even if she’s the manager, she’s clearly not the breadwinner in the family because they live in the most ginormous effing house I’ve seen on screen recently and a retail salary is not going to get you a house of that size. Remy gets kicked out of the house and can’t pay the bills on his artificial heart and yet they’ve got this giant house that they could in theory sell to pay for his bloody organ? I think what is happening here is clearly they’re people who bought a huge house with no money down and now they’re suffering the consequences of the housing market’s downward spiral.
It’s like these stupid ads they have for the Toronto Eastern Hospital Foundation on the subway: it’s a doctor running a lemonade stand and the catchphrase is “If we could raise the money ourselves, we would.” I’d have more sympathy for the hospital’s plight if the doctor wasn’t standing in front of a house with a three-car garage. Pro-tip: if you want people to understand your monetary plight, don’t advertise your wealth so blatantly!
- I’m not entirely straight on the issues of consent in this movie, since everyone else who signs up to get a mechanical organ has to sign forms and consent to having these organs placed in their bodies. Yet Remy wakes up from a coma with the Cadillac of cardiac organs put in his chest, put there without his knowledge of course. Um… you get injured on the job and your employer forces you to use one of its products in your rehabilitation and then they charge you for the privilege? Seriously?
- Jude Law in the lung costume made me die a thousand deaths, omg. I want him to wear a lung costume always.
- It occurs to me that this may be the first time I’ve ever seen a British man barbecue. I’m resisting the urge to make any sausage jokes about Jude Law.
- I love how when Remy and Beth get to Corporate headquarters to find the Pink Door, behind which lies the key to their release from the debt system, they’re running around down random corridors before coming to a wall that has a clearly labelled “Pink Door »” sign on it. Um. Seriously? It actually said “Pink Door”.
- Parenting tip, Remy: when your seven year-old son shoots his mother with your stun gun to get her to shut up, the correct response is not to suppress your grin and tell him he’s been “naughty”. I know in the context of the urgency of the scene there wasn’t time to sit your son down and talk about the importance of Not Shooting Mommy™, but my god. Thank god it was all a dream! [/cop out]
- As I said earlier, this movie is horrifically written and plotted. Every single goddamned twist is immediately evident five minutes into the film. Early on in the film Remy narrates that he’s been knocked unconscious four times in his life, and at that point what we’re witnessing is the third time. Later on he gets knocked out again and the narration returns and says “If you were keeping track, this is the fourth time.” Of course we were keeping track. Every random oddity that is relevant later on is presented so obviously in the first fifteen minutes that nothing is a surprise, especially not the neural network implant that is introduced while we zoom past billboards of sunny beaches. Oh hey, Jude Law is at the beach and is happy, think it’s time to reveal that he’s got the neural network implant?! Christ. The entire movie was like that, where you know exactly what will happen and then have to wait eons for it to actually happen. The only saving grace is that instead of it being all in his head, it’s only 40% in his head.
- ETA Forgot to mention, loved the music in this!
- This movie gets a 1 star for writing and plot, and 4 stars for enjoyment, which averages out to 2.5 stars.
Repo Men
I’m inviting Jude Law to my next costume party.
IMDB Plot Synopsis Set in the near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit, it revolves around a man who struggles to make the payments on a heart he has purchased. He must therefore go on the run before said ticker is repossessed.