
Jude Law [Remy] and Forrest Whittaker [Jake] portray the titular Repo Men. Remy is described as the best Repo in the business and is often partnered with his childhood friend and old Army buddy Jake. One repossession that goes wrong finds Remy with an artificial heart that he can't pay for, separated from his wife and on the run from the very people he worked for in this remarkable science fiction action thriller.
Law isn't one of my favourite actors, as I've mentioned before and while I don't think he's particularly impressive here either, he does somehow out-perform Oscar-winning Whittaker in a bizarre twist of talent. Alice [I am Legend] Braga on the other hand out-acts them both as Beth, a drug-addicted and destitute night-club singer with a plethora of artiforgs and internal enhancements. Liev Schreiber sadly displays far more the acting chops he did in Wolverine than Defiance.

Sapochnik may be a director to watch in future. Sequences in this movie are blatant homages to Blade Runner with a little of Robocop, Oldboy and Minority Report. The action sequences are truly phenomenal but while sadly, the amount of automatic weapons fire isn't as much as I desire [the Repo Men are armed with multiple-charged Taser weapons - can't well be damaging the organs they've come to collect] there is some very inventive uses of bladed weapons, a hacksaw and even a hammer. Sapochnik has a true eye for blood, it's colours and textures, just the right amount of it expelling forcefully from the wounds he inflicts on his characters and reacting perfectly on the surfaces nearby. This was old-school cinematic violence unlike the slightly ridiculous comic-book violence found in modern movies like Kick-Ass or 300. If more directors employed this, then I'd have a better time in the cinema. It's also obvious that Sapochnik has a love of music which led to some interesting choices for songs to go with Marco Beltrami's brilliant score.

Colonel Creedon rating: ****1/2
Footnote: This movie was set to open in the US on April 2nd but was moved up to March 19th. The final vote on Universal Healthcare reform in the Unites States took place on March 25th. Movies pushed back are common; Movies pulled forward, not as much. Just thought I might add that in here.
1 comment:
ah yes the Violence is sublime unlike the Colonels reaction ..it didn't help that another friend who was with us couldn't stop cackling at the "Sublime" violence ....I was wondering why all the seats around us were empty.
Post a Comment