There is a scene in “Repo Men” where a nine year-old girl pulls a mechanical body part out of a living human being… and it is one of the sweetest and cutest moments in any film from 2010.
That should give you a taste of “Repo Men”, a film that acts as a drama, a comedy, an action flick, a slasher movie, a romance and a sci-fi adventure. It has elements of “Blade Runner”, “Running Man”, “Children of Men”, “Total Recall”, “The 6th Day” & “Minority Report”. If those films were in your range of acceptability, then you should definitely give this one a chance.
Jude Law and Forrest Whittaker play skilled hunters in a futuristic cityscape whose prey are those people who have purchased replacement body parts rather than wait for human donors. The ones that have defaulted on their loans and have gone beyond their three-month grace period are subject to repossession of their organs by lethal means.
Complications arise when Jude Law suffers an accident while on duty, requiring him to undergo a heart transplant. Needless to say, he soon defaults on his loan and has now become one of the hunted. Even his best friend begins to track him down. His only hope is to hide out in the “junkyard” — a deserted part of the city filled with others like him.
I really enjoyed the schizophrenic energy of this film. Perhaps it can be accused of trying to be too many things at once. However, I appreciated the effort. I never once felt that it bit off more than it could chew.
Law and Whittaker are both in fine form. I was thrilled by the presence of Carice van Houten (my favorite actress), albeit in a pretty small role as the estranged wife. The film looks fantastic and, for a sci-fi movie, felt entirely plausible. I also found the conclusion to be original and intelligent. I couldn’t ask much more from a film like this. “Repo Men” is one of the more entertaining films of 2010. It cannot be accused of a lack of effort.
I am looking forward to this one. But I am not a huge Jude Law fan. He seems a cocky bastard.