Review of Repo Men (2010) by Jessica S — 25 Feb 2011

A total contradiction in morality is beating at the very artificial heart of this complete shambles. First I'd like to tackle the obvious issue that crossed my mind when Jude Law's character suffered dodgy equipment failure and was forced to have an artificial heart transplant.

We are currently in 2011, and health and safety is paramount. You can't cross the road without doing a risk assessment. So here this guy is, in the house of some musician, about to extract a heart.

BANG! There goes the dodgy equipment, and he flies backwards. He wakes up a few days later, and he's in hospital, and the kind folks from his company have given him a heart transplant. He's not happy about this, but he returns to work because he has to repossess some more organs in order to pay the whopping bill HIS COMPANY have dumped on HIS DOORSTEP for the heart HE DIDN'T WANT when the equipment THEY PROVIDED FOR HIM backfired and put HIM IN HOSPITAL, thus making HIM REQUIRE a heart transplant in the first place.

Let me tell you right now, that's a lawyer's wet dream right there. A lawyer would have a field day with that shit. But no, it makes much more sense to just sit back and accept it. Remember, this film is set in 2025, so it is suggesting society has really landed in the gutter if people are allowed to be sliced open in broad daylight in the middle of the street.

Now, second problem is...when Jude Law's character returns to work after the transplant, he realises he is now one with the fellow transplantee's, and he can't bring himself extract anymore organs from them, because that would be murder, and murder is wrong, very wrong! So what happens then is Jude Law's character kills about 30 people by the end of the movie, all of which were just doing their job.

Contradicition in morality? I think so. Third issue - there was some really stupid narration from Law towards the start of the movie. It reminded me of Snatch in a way, and it was so ill-timed and unnecessary.

This is a dark world and you're a dark bastard, Jude. Don't start going all Jason Statham on us. I think I'm just about done picking the bones out of this one. I'll just also mention Forest Whitaker's character is so badly handled.

He's just a big dope who throws his toys out of the pram when he realises his best mate doesn't want to extract organs anymore. And we are expected to care why? I am not at all surprised this film flopped so badly.

It is flawed in more ways than I've had hot dinners.