Jude Law and Forest Whitaker portray the Repo Men of the film’s
title, which is based on the book Repossession Mumba by Eric Garcia. But instead
of the usual Repo Men, who repossess cars, and other property from people who
can no longer afford them, these guys repossess organs. Taking place sometime in
the future, artificial organs--hearts, lungs, whatever you need--are all
available for the taking. As long as you can pay, of course. And the prices are
outrageous. But The Union, the company that provides this life-saving service,
also offers a convenient payment plan which, like most credit schemes, wind up
costing the consumer even more money than if they had paid outright.
In the event that a client is unable to pay for his or her artificial organ, the repo men are called out. They find their targets through the use of some pretty ingenious high tech. The artificial organs emit tracking and credit history information while still working inside the person; information which the repo man (or woman) can read on a hand-held device. It’s normal (and perfectly legal) for a repo man to scan the crowds at an airport, looking for those with artificial organs who’re behind on their payment. Once they find their target, the repo men usually strike when their victim is alone--all the better to pull the parts right out of their body, killing them.
This fascinating premise is wrapped up in the standard action film formula,
which can be predictable at times, especially when Law’s character has a change
of heart, literally. But Law is a good enough actor to pull you into the story,
which has enough nice plot twists to keep it engrossing. The script short-changes
Alice Braga’s character Beth, who allies herself with Law. We don’t really know
much about Beth, or her background, to really care enough about the character.
Despite this nitpicks, director Miguel Sapochnik still makes Repo Men work very
well as a sly commentary on the for-profit mentality of medical care, as well as
being an enjoyable action film romp with an interesting science fiction bent.
--SF
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