Repo Men - not for the faint of Heart

REPO MEN

Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
Screenplay by Eric Garcia, Garrett Lerner
Based on the novel The Repossession Mambo by Eric Garcia

Remy – Jude Law
Jake – Forest Whitaker
Frank – Liev Schreiber
Beth – Alice Braga
Carol – Carice van Houten

The trailer for repo men promises a wild ride buddy action adventure based on two aggressive Repo Men who work for an "evil" organization called Union, which specializes in providing mechanical transplants for all sorts of vital organs and joints.   These two dissection specialists are hired to repossess these extremely expensive devices when the recipient is more than 96 days delinquent on the payments, and they do it with a bloodthirsty lust that made me glad I had skipped the medium rare hamburger before I went!  

Remy (Jude Law) and Jake (Forest Whitaker) are the Repo Men, and the movie telegraphs a little too much about their long camaraderie starting back in the military, Remy's interest in a young bar singer and more obvious portends of things to come.  Hey, what about just showing the simple rapport  between the married Remy and the uber-single Jake that should speak for itself?   The first half of the movie plods along a little as we have to see how Remy messes up his marriage and gets the boot at home, how he is a little bit of a mensch compared to Jake, how their boss Frank (Liev Schreiber) is even more ruthless and coldhearted than they are.... and a lot of hacking of body parts.

Around page 55 Jude gets injured due to faulty work equipment and (SPOILER ALERT!!!) receives one of the transplanted vital organs (yes, you guessed it....his heart).  And now, not only is he in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he has lost his taste for the hunt and kill.  

At this very important juncture, and considering what a litigious society we live in, I couldn't figure out why Union wasn't responsible for the cost of his vital organ.  What happens in this future society to workman's compensation?????  Can someone please explain, because the movie sure didn't!  And because of the company's seeming lack of liability (which is never even brought up to be denied), Remy, who clearly can't afford his new heart, is on the run for his own life from the very butchers he used to work with and serve gleefully.

And, of course, along the way he picks up a chick (you guessed it, the full-of-fake-organs singer from the bar) and decides that they have to destroy Union, or at least get themselves out of the system that is housed behind a pink door.

There is so much more to this movie, and the last third veers in many unexpected ways that you will not lack for a wild ride and a satisfactory conclusion, nor will you curse me for spoiling anything....I hope.