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Jude Law plays one of the “Repo Men” who reclaim human organs when their buyers fail to keep up with payments. |
“Repo Men” is a horrifically violent and gory science-fiction action thriller surfing on an allegorical wave of American political Zeitgeist.
It wants to grab us by our collective lapels as if to shout, “Please! Pass health care reform! Regulate insurance and medical companies before America turns to this!”
“This” would be a world in the not-too-distant future when big corporations sell artificial body parts for a kazillion dollars, then charge 19.6 percent interest on loans to purchase them so patients can stay alive.
But not too long.
The moment that patients default on their exorbitant payments, the corporation – given the working-class collective name “The Union” – dispatches repo men to stun delinquent clients and remove whatever body parts possess outstanding balances.
Heart. Lungs. Liver. Kidneys. Eyes. Whatever.
The repo men surgically repossess them on the spot. They give new meaning to the term “deadbeat.”
The cops and courts apparently have no problem with this form of contract enforcement. Worse, the Union doesn’t want its organ recipients to pay on time.
“We can’t make money if everyone pays off their loans,” says Frank (Liev Schreiber), the chilly corporate honcho whose snakelike charm convinces gullible clients to sign their own death warrants.
Frank’s best repo men are Jake (Forest Whitaker) and Remy (Jude Law), pals since fourth grade. They are the elite of their profession, capable of locating and subduing targets, then removing artificial body parts with a surgeon’s skill. (Read more…)