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Repo Man
(directed by Alex Cox, 1984)
I really should hold off on writing this review until after I've watched Repo Man again -- 'cause I'm still not totally clear on all that happened. This movie got off on the right foot but by thirty minutes in, it was like a roller coaster after it had dropped off the first hill -- going every which way! And I don't say that as a compliment. Scenes constantly cut to something else, making the film feel choppy and incoherent. I wasn't impressed by how this was all handled. When movies behave this way, I feel stupid, as if I'm making a mistake in the way I'm processing things. The fact of the matter is, Repo Man -- a movie I wanted to love because it has a hot as hell Emilio Estevez in a very badass role inside an intriguing, weird storyline -- Repo Man is sort of mediocre. But it's not terrible.
An 18 year old punk named Otto (Estevez) wants money to go to Europe after high school. His parents had $1,000 for him, but they gave it all to a televangelist and now it's being spent on bibles for people in El Salvador. One day, he ends up driving a car for some man who offers to pay him $25 -- turns out that by doing this, he is accidentally beginning his career as a repo man, a repossessor of cars. Repo men have a life full of action and danger -- there's never a dull moment. So, it's no surprise that Otto would eventually get involved with a girl who's got a secret involving a car filled with alien bodies in the trunk. And, of course, that car is out there on the road and will be around to crash into Otto's life very shortly.
There's a bunch of different characters in Repo Man who show up at times. My favorite was an early Napoleon Dynamite-like friend of Otto's, named Kevin, who repeatedly appears in a funny situation that doesn't do him any favors. The rest of the characters weren't memorable. The other repo men don't even thrill me. Some of Otto's punk friends were cool and so were a couple of random citizens that Otto encounters, but that was it. You basically have to love Repo Man as this thing, its own entity, the film itself. The characters are pretty much disposable and interchangeable, even Otto, who basically plays like a weak comic book hero that just can't be killed off, for that would be the end of the movie. I have to say, though -- it's a shame there wasn't a sequel. I could see Otto and the Repo Man world progressing to something better. Was there ever a comic book series? This is ripe material for one.
I loved the theme song to the movie, which was performed by Iggy Pop and contains no lyrics:
I loved the fact that the movie was produced by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees.
I liked a few other things about the movie, but I felt that Repo Man was basically a movie that was in a class right above a Troma film. Better actors, better cinematography, but with a similar kind of chaotic, random story -- one that doesn't even really pay off that much in the end, either. Speaking of the chaotic, perhaps the best thing about Repo Man is its depiction of a "f**k you, every man for himself" kind of attitude that is taken to some entertaining, humorous levels and isn't really seen that much at all in other films. It is downright nasty, but wonderfully channeled and spirited. I just wish the film had more weight to it. I wouldn't say it's like watching paint dry, but it's kinda like watching a snowman melt. A punk snowman, of course.
(directed by Alex Cox, 1984)
I really should hold off on writing this review until after I've watched Repo Man again -- 'cause I'm still not totally clear on all that happened. This movie got off on the right foot but by thirty minutes in, it was like a roller coaster after it had dropped off the first hill -- going every which way! And I don't say that as a compliment. Scenes constantly cut to something else, making the film feel choppy and incoherent. I wasn't impressed by how this was all handled. When movies behave this way, I feel stupid, as if I'm making a mistake in the way I'm processing things. The fact of the matter is, Repo Man -- a movie I wanted to love because it has a hot as hell Emilio Estevez in a very badass role inside an intriguing, weird storyline -- Repo Man is sort of mediocre. But it's not terrible.
An 18 year old punk named Otto (Estevez) wants money to go to Europe after high school. His parents had $1,000 for him, but they gave it all to a televangelist and now it's being spent on bibles for people in El Salvador. One day, he ends up driving a car for some man who offers to pay him $25 -- turns out that by doing this, he is accidentally beginning his career as a repo man, a repossessor of cars. Repo men have a life full of action and danger -- there's never a dull moment. So, it's no surprise that Otto would eventually get involved with a girl who's got a secret involving a car filled with alien bodies in the trunk. And, of course, that car is out there on the road and will be around to crash into Otto's life very shortly.
There's a bunch of different characters in Repo Man who show up at times. My favorite was an early Napoleon Dynamite-like friend of Otto's, named Kevin, who repeatedly appears in a funny situation that doesn't do him any favors. The rest of the characters weren't memorable. The other repo men don't even thrill me. Some of Otto's punk friends were cool and so were a couple of random citizens that Otto encounters, but that was it. You basically have to love Repo Man as this thing, its own entity, the film itself. The characters are pretty much disposable and interchangeable, even Otto, who basically plays like a weak comic book hero that just can't be killed off, for that would be the end of the movie. I have to say, though -- it's a shame there wasn't a sequel. I could see Otto and the Repo Man world progressing to something better. Was there ever a comic book series? This is ripe material for one.
I loved the theme song to the movie, which was performed by Iggy Pop and contains no lyrics:
I loved the fact that the movie was produced by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees.
I liked a few other things about the movie, but I felt that Repo Man was basically a movie that was in a class right above a Troma film. Better actors, better cinematography, but with a similar kind of chaotic, random story -- one that doesn't even really pay off that much in the end, either. Speaking of the chaotic, perhaps the best thing about Repo Man is its depiction of a "f**k you, every man for himself" kind of attitude that is taken to some entertaining, humorous levels and isn't really seen that much at all in other films. It is downright nasty, but wonderfully channeled and spirited. I just wish the film had more weight to it. I wouldn't say it's like watching paint dry, but it's kinda like watching a snowman melt. A punk snowman, of course.