The Movie
The trailer for Repo Men was one of the more accurate I've seen in a while. The central gag, that employees for a futuristic medical supply company retrieve pricey artificial organs when the recipients can't pay, was interesting for about the first half. A minute or two later, I resented the ludicrous pre-Obamacare "statement" about the health industry, and wondered how a story like this could make sense. Short answer, it doesn't.
Collecting a vital organ in such a way is essentially murder, and there is no law enforcement in sight. The repo'd spleens et. al. are apparently kept in a supply closet (are they rinsed and resold? eeew...) and dead customers can't pay (and why would the rich ones ignore a monthly bill, knowing their lives are on the line?), so where's the logic? There isn't much, just a bunch of merciless dudes in fancy suits acting smug, just short of twirling their mustaches and doing that evil "Mwa-ha-hah!" laugh.
I suppose the notion that there might be guys in the world not just equipped for this job but who enjoy it might be intriguing. Remy (Jude Law) is such a man, a working stiff with a wife and kid, and yet he has no problem going to work each night with his scalpel and plastic bags. Only after he receives an artificial heart of his own, and he misses a critical payment, does he suddenly develop a conscience. He's still pretty hard to sympathize with, so he decides to risk his life protecting a cute singer (Alice Braga) he barely knows, and a lot of people die. The disc contains both R-rated and Unrated cuts, depending upon how much CGI blood spatter you can stomach.
Also read Joe Lozito's review of Repo Men.
The Picture
The 2.4:1 frame is often a canvas for the sprawling future cityscape, reminiscent of Blade Runner by way of Children of Men, only sleeker, with lots of big, busy detail. Some of the computer-generated effects are meant to look slightly artificial, when people within a scene are watching a viewscreen for example, and these subtleties are well-presented. The image is generally crisp if not perfect, blacks could be more nuanced and credible, and some out-of-focus backgrounds can look especially hinky, a consequence of the journey from film to digital media.
The Sound
Music features prominently in Repo Men, and there is a frequent clarity and punch when the notes begin flowing either around or within a scene, as when Remy puts on his headphones before going to work. This is mostly when the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack comes alive. In one scene I could discern individual beats in individual speakers, moving about the room. There are also some subtle surround effects as when a simulated shark swims around a kid's bedroom, and a variety of futuristic weapons, including little tazer darts whizzing everywhere, and an exaggerated phasing effect for a rush of memories. I did however have some trouble understanding Jude's accent and Forrest's Whittaker's rasp.
The Extras
Director Miguel Sapochnik is joined by writers Eric Garcia and Garrett Lerner to make their case on the audio commentary, having perhaps a bit too much fun. Five deleted and extended scenes total about nine minutes, with optional commentary as well. These scenes and the seven humorous TV commercials of the future for the fictitious "Union" (three-and-a-half minutes), seen briefly in the movie, are in a very low-bitrate AVC, akin to DVD quality. "Inside the Visual Effects," a study of several key scenes (six minutes) is in true HD.
Two layers of "U-Control" Bonus View features are provided, both available on the theatrical version only. "Artiforg Tech Specs" talks up the artificial organs being showcased, reminding us that they do in the human body and giving us the company spiel on financing, all through a remarkably elaborate little viewer-controlled interface. "Picture in Picture" is the more usual, although well-produced, look behind the scenes.
The disc is BD-Live-enabled, with Universal's "Ticker" datastream. It also provides pocketBLU bonus content, viewable on certain portable devices, with the ability to control playback via certain iPods and phones. SocialBLU networking is supported as well.
Final Thoughts
There's a pretty significant twist at the end, and whether or not you find it as clever as the filmmakers apparently do should indicate whether Repo Men has succeeded or not. The music and special effects are enjoyable to listen to/look at, and the Bo us View content is fun to explore, but a rental should suffice on this one. (I don't think Netflix sends goons to your house to collect overdue discs.)
Product Details
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