In the future, there will be no more waiting lists for kidney transplants, or any kind of organs for that matter. Instead, doctors will be able to sell people mechanical organs produced on a sterilized assembly line and branded with a barcode, ready to replace a failed body part like a new set of tires on a car. This is the world of "Repo Men," the newest installment in the dystopic sci−fi thriller genre. But in the land of synthetic livers and manufactured muscles, health care is not universal.
The film follows a "Repo Man" named Remy (Jude Law) whose job is to retrieve organs from people who have fallen behind in paying for them — never mind that the organs are still housed in the clients' bodies. It turns out that the company that builds the body parts, simply called The Union, charges a hefty replacement fee. Remy's partner and best friend Jake (Forest Whitaker) aids Remy in this grisly job, and the two go about their business as if they were bored door−to−door salesmen who only half−heartedly believe in the product that they're selling.
The film, directed by relative newcomer Miguel Sapochnik, appears to be a satire. The Repo Men of the title are like blue−collar assassins, and the salesmen of The Union are just a little too helpful — their tagline for prospective buyers is, "You owe it to your family. You owe it to yourself." Unfortunately, the tone of the film comes off as muddled because the director tries to combine the over−the−top premise with realistic human drama, resulting in a movie that can't decide what it wants to be. The blasé attitudes of Remy and Jake provide occasion for commentary that is witty, but largely humorless. And Remy's attempts to reconcile his profession with his family life remain unmoving because the premise is so ridiculous that it leaves no room for any real observation of character.
In an uninspired twist in which Remy is performing "one last job," he encounters a mishap that leaves him nearly dead and in need of one of the artificial hearts that he is used to cutting out of strangers' chests. After experiencing what life is like on the other side of the fence, Remy gains a conscience that prevents him from doing his job and, inevitably, making his payments. What follows is a by−the−numbers action movie about a man betrayed by the system he works for, leaving him with no choice but to destroy the system itself.
Remy befriends a down−on−her−luck nightclub singer named Beth (Alice Braga), who sports as many fake body parts as real ones. Together they decide to free everyone from the oppression of The Union, and most of the implications of the initial premise then fall by the wayside in favor of a string of increasingly preposterous action scenes. Remy and Beth make their way toward The Union headquarters, dodging and dispatching other Repo Men and wreaking havoc along the way. They soon find that Remy's merciless boss (Liev Schreiber) has assigned Jake to their trail, and the ex−partners eventually reach a showdown in which they each have to make the classic decision between friendship and duty.
Even though "Repo Men" has an interesting premise, it doesn't hold up under scrutiny. The action scenes, which seem to take place in a future comprised entirely of offices or derelict buildings, are only average and can't save the movie from its poor script. One of the film's more interesting aspects, however, is the presence of a twist ending, which, despite being relatively cliché, gives the film a decidedly cynical aftertaste that deserves some respect. Sadly, the rest of "Repo Men" neither deserves nor meshes with the ending, and it becomes just another incongruent piece of a poorly assembled puzzle.
