‘Repo Men’
(R/NR, 2010, Universal)
The practice of organ donation has become untenable in the dystopian (what else?) future, but private companies like The Union have stepped in to offer synthetic organs to anyone willing to take out the biological equivalent of a mortgage on a house. Much as in that scenario, those who default on their payments have to surrender those organs – even if it kills them – to repo men like Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker). If this idea sounds oddly familiar, it’s because “Repo! The Genetic Opera” floated roughly the same idea a couple years ago. But while “Repo!” embraced its absurdity – and, some might argue, awfulness – by dressing the story in a 10-car pileup of cartoon characters and glam-rock show tunes, “Repo Men” plays like so many other action movies about the very obviously lousy future that awaits our society. A legitimately creepy presentation of the awful world of privatized organ manufacturing gives the story legs, but once the inevitable hunter-becomes-the-hunted twist kicks in – and is followed close behind by the obligatory love interest and surprising twist that’s only surprising because it makes zero sense – that early momentum is all but shot. With that said, the cheap thrills “Repo Men” provides are enjoyable if you don’t need them to be anything more than cheap. And if the mannequin love scene in “Team America” wasn’t quite weird enough for you, the one in this movie’s homestretch might finally do it for you. Extras: Writers/director commentary, deleted scenes, Union commercials, behind-the-scenes feature.
‘Entre Nos’