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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  Repo Men
Posted by: kev, March 26th, 2010, 1:58pm
I just saw Repo Men the other day, went in knowing nothing about the film, so I had no idea what direction it was going to take. It has a very similar premise to Repo! The genetic opera, which a lot of people give it heat for but this movie does do it's own thing with it. I really liked this movie, it wasn't anything amazing but it was entertaining and a lot of fun! There was some subtle dark humor and overall it was just a fun movie. They had some really creative ways working with the violence and gore that was really cool, similar to the style of Wanted (2008). There were some scenes that stuck out to me, mostly one of the final fight sequences was just bad ass! Overall, it's not for everyone there's a twist at the end that really was not necessary and kind of ruins it for me but it's easy to look past but it's a good time!
Posted by: dogglebe (Guest), March 26th, 2010, 2:07pm; Reply: 1
Despite the simularities between Repomen and RGO, I figured it was all in the premise.    They'll be very different movies.

Still, my money's on the Genetic Opera.


Phil
Posted by: ReaperCreeper, March 28th, 2010, 8:55pm; Reply: 2
I found it at least half-way decent. The twist was a bummer, but I felt it was needed.

Solid beginning, solid finale -- weak middle. All in all, not a bad effort, but hardly a great film. I always wanted to see Repo! The Genetic Opera but never got around to it. That being said, the whole organ market thing is not that original of a premise, anyway.

--Julio
Posted by: Zack, March 29th, 2010, 1:22am; Reply: 3
What's the twist? PM it too me.

~Zack~
Posted by: ReaperCreeper, March 29th, 2010, 9:07am; Reply: 4
What for Zack? Just watch it man :)


--Julio
Posted by: Zack, March 29th, 2010, 5:01pm; Reply: 5
I've seen most of it and it's alright. But I've not seen enough to notice any twist. Just tell me. haha

~Zack~
Posted by: ReaperCreeper, March 29th, 2010, 5:27pm; Reply: 6
That's a damn shame, Zack, this is one of those movies you watch in the theater NOT on DVD or a crappy computer screen. But anywhoo, I PMd you the twist.

--Julio
Posted by: Zack, March 29th, 2010, 6:36pm; Reply: 7
No no, you got me all wrong. I'm a projectionist Julio. I work at the theater and as a result I see just about every movie.

~Zack~
Posted by: ReaperCreeper, March 29th, 2010, 9:12pm; Reply: 8
Really? That's awesome. I always wanted to work at a movie theatre as opposed to the tax company I'm working at. xD

--Julio
Posted by: Dreamscale (Guest), October 8th, 2010, 3:18pm; Reply: 9
Damn, another complete train wreck of a movie.  I had high hopes for this, even though I knew what a financial disaster it was.  $32 Million budget, $18 Million World Wide Gross. Pathetic!

SPOILERS     SPOILERS     SPOILERS

What a great premise this actually had.  But what a terrible job of execution.  Again, there was so much going for this...a good sized budget, star power, and a great premise...how could they fuck it up so bad?  Great question.  The answer is, quite simply, almost in every way.  Let's check it out...

OK, so we've got Jude Law, who's a big chick favorite, but not much of a man's man. This is not a chick's flick in any way, shape, or form, so Jude picked a really bad movie to jump start his action star status.

There's a strange comedic under current here that just doesn't work at all.  Combine that with the cartoonish amount of graphic violence and gore, and, again, you've got something that doesn't work.  If you want to go violent, then go violent and dark.  Don't go cartoonish and comedic, cause it's a recipe for disaster.

Characters and their relationships is just a joke...an unintentional joke, that is.  No one is remotely believable.  No one is really even likable.

The plot and story is terrible.  It's full of stuff that I routinely rolled my eyes and groaned out loud at.  There are so many things I could bring up that were so stupid and silly, but why waste everyone's time.  If you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about.  Pitiful!

Finally, we've got a 2 hour movie here that you could break down into several smaller sections, cause they almost have nothing to do with each other.  But the big points I want to make about the run-time are 2 things... first of all, 2 hours is way too long for this movie.  After an hour, I was literally shocked to see I had another full hour to go.  I'm not saying the movie is slow, as there is alot of action, but it just feels every 15 minutes of screen-time, equals an hour of real time.  And secondly, the last 30 or so minutes (maybe even more...I lost track) is actually all a "dream scene", more or less, which means it's a frickin' waste of everyone's time.

I've seen where people don't like the twist ending, and I agree, I don't either, especially cause it tacks on another 30+ minutes, BUT, I do think it was a good concept to twist things up like they did.  Like most of this movie, it just wasn't handled properly.

Bottom line - Don't waste 2 hours of your life on this crap.  It sucks bad.
Posted by: RayW, October 8th, 2010, 3:39pm; Reply: 10
Funny. I actually have this checked out from the library but have yet to watch it.
I see that it has director & writer commentary as a bonus.
Do you ever watch those?
Often they're more valuable than the film.
(Fight Club had THE BEST W/D bonus material.)
Posted by: Dreamscale (Guest), October 8th, 2010, 3:52pm; Reply: 11
I always want to watch with the commentary on, but when the movie sucks so bad, there's no way I'm going to sit through it again.

With this thing, I fell asleep 3 times in the last hour last night, meaning I had to rewatch it again this morning.  That's all I could take.
Posted by: RayW, October 8th, 2010, 3:53pm; Reply: 12
LOL!

That's pretty bad.
Posted by: dogglebe (Guest), October 8th, 2010, 3:56pm; Reply: 13
Should've watched Repo:  The Genetic Opera like I said.


Phil
Posted by: DarrenJamesSeeley, October 26th, 2010, 9:22pm; Reply: 14

Quoted from Dreamscale
I always want to watch with the commentary on, but when the movie sucks so bad, there's no way I'm going to sit through it again.

With this thing, I fell asleep 3 times in the last hour last night, meaning I had to rewatch it again this morning.  That's all I could take.


When I rented this last month, I was pissed.
The "rentals" mention having the commentary on the jacket; the disc itself informs you you have to buy the DVD/Blu-Ray for the bonus features.

I liked some of this film- because it had four of my favorite actors in it - Jude Law (I don't care- he was great in Gattaca, existenz, and Enemy at The Gates- so there!) Forest Whittaker, Alice Braga and Liev Schreiber. I'll even toss in Carice von Houten in there as well, although the Black Book actress keeps having these bit parts in films since and I'm stumped as to why.

While I loved the hall fight and the self-induced cutting to "repo" parts, I was ticked off at the twist ending---which the filmmakers were inspired by Terry Gilliam's Brazil. (In Gilliam's film, Sam is tortured to the point where he, with the assistance of Tuttle, makes a daring escape. Sam and Jill get away and live happily ever after...in truth, he simply imagined himself into a better place where in reality he was lobotomized) I liked some of it, but when half the film "never happened", I felt as if it was a cheat. I would not have ended the film on that nor on the wink to the audience (godddd..I freaking HATE HATE HATE that when filmmakers choose to pull that junk. What's the name of the book the movie is adapted from? What's the name of the dream book? Ho Ho Ho!)

I don't know what is going on here with filmmakers today. If they wanted to use this in a good model, why not look at Paul Verhoeven's "Total Recall" where the "dream" is left with ambiguity? It would have worked if they handled it like that. Or, just leave off the last five minutes.

Not the worst of the year thus far, but it was disappointing.


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