Hello All,
So after my last review, it came to my attention that my next post was to be my 150th. Seeing how there are no Thursday night movies for me to do this week I decided, originally, to do a list of some of my favorite bad movies. However, due to time constraints and a bad shoulder, I managed to get exactly one done. So I’m doing just this one instead, but if there’s enough interest in this I might make this a regular thing.
Now what do I mean by bad? Do I mean so bad they’re good like The Room, or birdemic? Nope. 90% because those have been done to death and the other 10 is a mix of various reasons I’m too lazy to name. No, I mean the films that people think are just straight up, unwatchable, “Oh god why did I spend money on this” bad. The type of bad, that is truly bad, and yet I like them for whatever reason or another.
For these reviews, I’m tweaking the pros and cons a touch. I’m going to try and go into more detail than usual, and since a vast majority of these movies have been out for a while I’m going to talk about anything that might be considered spoilers whether intentionally or not so ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
So what is this one bad film that I managed to watch in my brief free time? My favorite one, and the reason I did all this just so I can watch it again and do a review is:
2010’s Repo Men
I distinctly remember when I saw this in theatres, and the movie revealed its twist ending. People were fucking pissed, including the people I went to go see it with. I fucking loved it. Why? We’ll get into that in a moment, but let’s start with the good parts shall we?
Why I like the film:
Repo Men to me is a pretty cool idea for a science fiction film. It’s a semi dystopian future, where medical science has evolved to the point where you can buy artificial body parts to extend your life. However, if you default on your payments for these body parts, that’s where The Union comes in. They get tasked with Repossessing said body parts, by any means necessary. Hence, Repo Men.
Since it is a film about repossessing body parts, the film is gory as all hell too. It’s not afraid to go the distance with the violence. There’s also near the end a weird kind of half surgery, half sex scene that might be the most hard to watch thing ever, and yet I can never take my eyes off of the screen whenever I watch it. The fight scenes are badass too, and I’d never really thought this would be a thing I’d say, but it has maybe my second favorite hallway fight sequence of all time. (For the record: The First is from the original Oldboy.)
The acting is really good too, the characters are pretty stock, but for some reason I still find them sympathetic, relatable,and even sometimes downright loathsome. I can’t help but cheer the heroes on as they go and booing the villains when I see them. The casting is well done too: Jude Law is our hero Remy, Forest Whitaker is the Lenny like best friend Jake and work partner, and Liev Schreiber is the unsympathetic boss. It’s just a great combination that just ties the whole thing up together nicely. Oh, and the RZA has an awesome as fuck cameo in it. Yeah, that RZA.
The soundtrack for the movie is awesome too. I think it’s onE of the first movie soundtracks I acquired, because every song is just on point for those key scenes. It’s also a really good soundtrack on it’s own, although I will admit there’s like two different versions of the same song on it. It’s a nice mix of rock, hip hop, folk, dance, and maybe a couple I’m missing. It’s a solid soundtrack I can easily recommend for the nice mix and balance of it all.
Why It’s bad:
Like I said before, the characters are kind of stock, especially for this type of plot. Does any of this ring a bell for anybody?
Good looking hero is the best at what he does, but he works for questionable people doing questionable things.
Ends up in a situation where the company dooms him/betrays him, and he starts questioning them and himself.
Teams up with someone else who's also been screwed over/doomed by them and at first try to escape.
Ends up seeing the horrors of what the company has done along the way, and decides to end them for good.
Through an elaborate and unlikely plan, manage to get all the way to the big boss.
At first it seems like they will fail/die, but miraculously win and save the day/themselves and take out the bad guys.
There, the whole movie in six lines. It’s not truly original in nature I’ll admit to that, but the way this film handles is pretty dark. Basically Remy get’s injured on the job bad enough that he ends up needing a new artificial heart. However, he finds himself unable to Repo anymore because he’s now in the same boat. The bills start piling up, and then he ends up a target. Again though, at it’s core, nothing special. It’s looks even worse when at two hours it feels like a padded movie. In the case of this film though, I think it was mostly the screenwriter trying to answer questions and avoid plot holes while also adding time onto the length of the film.
But at long last, now is the time to talk about the ending. This is your warning.
There are exactly two things you need to know before I tell you the ending. One: in this world there is a device you can hook up brain dead patients to and basically have them live out a virtual paradise for the rest of their days. Two: During a fight before the last third of the film, Jake hits Remy on the head really hard with a big metal hook and knocks him out.
So basically at the end of the film, Remy, Jake, and Remy’s lady friend blow up the computer that has all of the debts for all of the organs on it, and go to some tropical island and live out the rest of their days. While Remy is talking to Jake however, there’s a sudden glitch, and Jake disappears. Then, the world slightly glitches for a second. You hear Jake ask “What’s Happening?” And then…...Transition: Remy is lying on a stretcher, giant gash in his head, looking like a zombie, and hooked up to something. It turns out that Jake hit Remy just hard enough to leave him catatonic, without killing him, and has bought him one of those dream machines to live out the rest of his days. The boss gives a speech about how The Union is there to help you all, and the movie ends.
Yep, that’s right. The last third of the movie is all in his head, and I love the shit of it. It’s a really good twist on a predictable plot, and kind of a giant fuck you to stereotypical happy endings. Sometimes the bad guys win, and this movie unashamedly reminds you of that.
So after all this what’s my final score? Rating: 9/10
What this film lacks in plot, it just makes up for in basically everything else and truthfully I cannot deny how much I enjoy this movie. It’s films like this that remind it’s okay to enjoy familiarity as long as it has the basis and the means to at least show off a really cool idea. I cannot recommend this movie enough if you just want some slick action with cool, gory fight scenes.
I enjoyed this little side step from our regular schedule, if you would like to see me do another entry like this, you can vote for either which bad movie I like to review next or If you want me to do the opposite of this format here: http://goo.gl/cuj0Cu
Speaking of polls, the votes are in for the Twitter account, the results were 100% yes. The new account will be linked with the next review. Also speaking of next….
Next Review: Eye in the Sky - Friday maybe, definitely this weekend.
Until then, I’ll see you folks at the movies.