Escape to the Movies: Repo Men
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Gabriel, the book is a ripoff, plain and simple. It didn't just steal the premise from REPO!, it stole everything. Spooky Dan goes over a large number of plot points in his blog, here. [http://spookydan.com/web/2010/02/proof-that-universal%E2%80%99s-repo-men-ripped%E2%80%93off-repo-the-genetic-opera-see-for-yourself/]grahariel said:
The 3 top science fiction movies of the 21st century are Equilibrium, Moon, and District 9. Um, aren't you forgetting quite the seminal work?: the Matrix. Your critiquing license should be striped and burned for missing that no-brainer. Although, I'd love to hear your reasoning for leaving the Matrix out (and yes, I know it came out in 1999, but still).
Still what? It's not part of the 21st Century. Unless you mean those god awful sequels and I sincerly hope you don't.OBZ said:
Okay I'm glad someone mentioned Repo: The Genetic Opera.
Same premise, exactly except the main character has a friend instead of a daughter and there's no singing.
All I really want to know is when the FUCK was it decided that you can paraphrase a movie or book or anything that came out last year and make buckets of money on it?
Am I completely insane or is there such a word as plagiarism? Because I guess instead of reading or watching something and thinking to myself "I would have done this WAY better" I can actually DO so and get paid without getting sued? Or is that just for movie execs' "brilliant" cousins?
Same premise, exactly except the main character has a friend instead of a daughter and there's no singing.
All I really want to know is when the FUCK was it decided that you can paraphrase a movie or book or anything that came out last year and make buckets of money on it?
Am I completely insane or is there such a word as plagiarism? Because I guess instead of reading or watching something and thinking to myself "I would have done this WAY better" I can actually DO so and get paid without getting sued? Or is that just for movie execs' "brilliant" cousins?
Best surgery/sex/hacking scene (or only one?)
Excuse me, but I would have assumed you are familiar with the Cronenberg ouvre, in which case you should have seen eXistenZ. (note, another Jude Law movie)
That movie had an interesting tweak on the idea of STD/computer virus, in the case of this movie were somewhat interchangable due to the whole surgery/hacking part.
Excuse me, but I would have assumed you are familiar with the Cronenberg ouvre, in which case you should have seen eXistenZ. (note, another Jude Law movie)
That movie had an interesting tweak on the idea of STD/computer virus, in the case of this movie were somewhat interchangable due to the whole surgery/hacking part.
Hm, did surprise me, MovieBob not mentioning the borrowed premise from Repo! the Genetic Opera.
Whatever. I'll still check it out-it'll be interesting to see what they did different, how they did it, etc. The effect will be miles away from the spectacularly campy Repo! but maybe in a good way.
And now I'll also have to add Black Book to my list.
Whatever. I'll still check it out-it'll be interesting to see what they did different, how they did it, etc. The effect will be miles away from the spectacularly campy Repo! but maybe in a good way.
And now I'll also have to add Black Book to my list.
Ok jackholes, we get it. The movie is a lot like Repo! The Genetic Opera. The difference is that since it's not desperately trying (and failing) to become a Rocky Horror Picture Show style cult hit for all the hot topic fags of this generation, Repo Men might actually be watchable.
Because it came out in 1999, and thus would be one of the top 3 sci-fi films of the 90's? And if you mention either of the the sequels I will brain you with a table leg.OBZ said:
Just saw Repo Men. I am still trying to decide whether I am happy with what transpired over the last two hours of my life or not. It starts out very much similar to Repo!, save for the world in which the film takes place is mostly bland and uninteresting to look at. Imagine New York with slightly more gigantic floating billboards and you have a basic idea. Blade Runner this is not. Mr. Jude goes about his business of being a certifiable psychopath, repossessing organs and being rather likable as a remorseless killer/family man until said accident occurs and suddenly he's on the other side of the looking glass. This is where I feel his character completely falls apart.
His 180 turn from cool, calm killer to tree-hugging humanitarian is so abrupt and jarring as to make it completely unbelievable. This is a man who has murdered people with surgical precision for years. A veteran of the business who goes about the repo process without so much as batting an eye, and only now does he stop to think that maybe these are actual people with feelings and loved ones? The much more probable scenario is he gets his new heart, takes a quick breather, and then goes back to work with the knowledge that he's safe within the arms of the company he works for as they would probably never kick one of their most important assets to the curb. If anything he would see himself as a testament to the company and living example of the very power he and his employers wield.
Instead he gets cold feet, falls behind on his payments, and the film thus reveals itself for the mindless (though rather well done) action flick that it is. Once he's on the run it is one gore splattered fight scene after another. Surprisingly, this is actually where the film comes into its own. The action is tight and brutal, a well executed affair that left me applauding. So when the "big twist" ending came, one which renders what I consider to be the better half of the movie a mute point, I was left dumbstruck by how unnecessary and out of place it felt. This is not a smart film, it does not have anything worthy to say rather than the obvious and tired tropes that have all been said before and better. Yet it tries to present itself as deep and highbrow while at the same time reveling giddily in the violence on display. After nearly an hour of uncomfortable flip-flopping it had finally settled into the comfortable nook of "brainless action flick" and the unwarranted left turn at the very end left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
And this is coming from a man who LOVES his twists endings. I can't get enough of the "good-guy-fails" motif, when the setting is ripe for it. But I felt like I had just watched John McClane shoot the evil british terrorist only to get hit by a bus as he walks out of the building. Except not nearly as dramatic. This is more like him choking on a peanut on the ride home. It just doesn't work.
PS: And to top it off, the film pretty much tells us that if Jude Law's character HAD stuck it out and repossessed a few dozen organs he would have more than made his payments and ended up scott free, making his predicament even more unlikely.
Alright, we all know that this is a rip-off or Repo! The Genetic Opera, which I agreed, but we should all stop mentioning it... Also, this movie and Repo! is not a rip-off of Monty Python's sketch because that was about the guy being an organ donor. The sketch was not organ repossession, it was merely he was an organ donor and they need his organs and never specified that he need to be dead first to donate them.
Thanks for reviewing this movie Bob. I was hoping you would pick this one this week. and FINALLY, someone else knows about and appreciates Equilibrium!
If you notice, that sketch is actually in the background during one of the film's scenes.BlackKnight42 said:
WARNING: SPOILER DISCUSSED BELOW:silversun101 said:
What I like about the ending - while still being a bit annoyed at such a blatant lift from a classic and no I'm not talking about the Genetic Opera thingee - is that it's a handy solution to getting a "big action ending" without selling out the darker and more grounded movie that came before. Notice that the portion of the film AFTER the dream takes place is a completely different tone from the rest of it: Remy is all-of-the-sudden a crack shot, a weaponsmith and a martial-arts master, etc, Jake is miraculously unharmed and transformed into a morally-sound buddy, Remy reconnects with his son, gets comic revenge on his witchy wife, realizes his dreams of being a writer... to say nothing of the fact that the big "surgery scene" would have KILLED both of them in real life. I honestly felt a little stupid for NOT picking up on it the moment Jake shows up alive out of nowhere that what we're watching is Remy's cheezy "action hero" fantasy, but you "want" him to win so you don't notice until it's too late.
@ movie bob
love your work by the way, cheers.
{you honestly didn't see that coming? perhaps it's because i had advanced warning that there was a twist ending, but after that conversation in the car about the m5 neural net i immeadiatly knew they were going for the brazil/vanilla sky option. i spent the rest of the film wondering just what the point of divergence was. did it occur after he got zapped, or after he ripped out the tubes, etc. then they pretty much sealed it on the train with the m5 neural net poster on the wall behind the train... and "that's not right" things like the kid tazering mom. really, just the fact that they met should have sent off alarms, she did spend the second act slamming doors in his face after all. but yeah, the background poster pretty much sealed it for me that we had entered revenge fantasy land. i think the realization made the third act easier to stomach, but that's just me. and that close shot of his face while on the back board... i was waiting for him to mouth "brazil". i thought they did a fair job of telegraphing it, just suprised it slipped past you.}
love your work by the way, cheers.
I won't say this movie ripped off "Repo the Genetic Opera" that would be ignorant. This movie was based on a novel called "Reposession Mambo". The author of that novel ripped off "Repo the Genetic Opera", which was based on a live theater show in the late 90's.
The premise sounds like a mainstream rip-off of 'Repo: The Genetic Opera'. It may be based on other sources, but based on this review I think it is [probably?] got it's eye on that film's success. Having said that i will probably go see this 