Jude Law, Forest Whitaker Misfire With Awful ‘Repo Men’

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Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Reminiscent of vastly superior work by David Cronenberg and Paul Verhoeven but with none of the directorial skill apparent in the films of those two talented men, “Repo Men” with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker is a total disaster possibly unmatched in the careers of its talented stars. Like a product of the typically awful video-game-to-screen subgenre but with no source material to blame for the results, “Repo Men” is a film with no identity and little personality unless being remarkably inconsistent counts.

Like a lot of bad sci-fi movies, “Repo Men” starts interestingly enough but falls apart after a dull, poorly edited middle act and really collapses in a ridiculous final reel that employs a brand of lunacy usually reserved for straight-to-video fare. This is the kind of junk expected of some actors but it’s sad to see talented performers like Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Carice Van Houten, and Liev Schreiber given nothing genuine to do as the film drags itself from one lame action set-up to another without a memorable moment or a thought that hasn’t been more interestingly explored elsewhere.

Repo Men
Photo credit: Kerry Hayes and Universal

Adapted in conjunction with the release of the book on which its based, “The Repossession Mambo” (the film’s original and superior title), “Repo Men” is another vision of a future ruled by evil corporations and powerful men in suits. The company at the center of “Repo Men” is The Union, a group that presents itself as benevolent but hides a much darker side. They deal in human organs, selling mechanical livers, hearts, lungs, and any other body part that may need replacing for near seven figures a piece. There’s nothing too difficult for The Union to recreate.

Of course, there’s a catch. Most of the parts sold by The Union are so expensive that no one can afford the monthly five-figure payments or the 20% APR that comes with them. That’s where the repo men come in and two of the best at what they do are Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker). They’ll give you a 90 day grace period but then Remy and/or Jake will cut you open and take back what you can’t afford. Remy has a wife (Carice Van Houten, so good in “Black Book”) who wishes he would quit his dangerous and pretty disgusting job but he falls for a girl named Beth (Alice Braga) after his life is turned upside and he becomes a target of the repo men going after his recently-replaced ticker. As anyone who has ever seen an action movie will tell you, former partner will become hunter and Remy and Beth will have to hide from a system that seems to be everywhere.

Repo Men
Photo credit: Kerry Hayes and Universal

What on Earth did Whitaker and especially Law, who has been a part of some great sci-fi films in the past like “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence,” “Gattaca,” and most of “eXistenZ,” see in the script for “Repo Men”? Perhaps they realized that tricky, tone-changing material like this could truly make for an original film with the right director. There’s a totally twisted slice of entertainment buried in “Repo Men” but director Miguel Sapochnik can’t find it.

The middle act of “Repo Men,” after Remy is forced to go on the run from his former employers, is a muddled, poorly edited mess that features some of the worst dialogue in a very long time and it just becomes impossible to stick with a film that was already problematic. By the time the proceedings get truly nuts in the final act in an orgy of blood and vaguely sexual mutilations, “Repo Men” has changed identity so many times that it long before stopped being interesting. Drama, thriller, comedy, action movie - as often happens when a writer and director try to do too many things, they end up doing nothing.

Ultimately, “Repo Men” is a melting pot of plot points executed more effectively in other films by more talented people. It contains not a single genuine nor subtle moment and yet could also not be classified as a guilty pleasure. “Repo Men” presents a future where physical and mental manipulation is feasible. Maybe someday we can all pay to forget this movie exists.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com