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Disclaimer: Let me start this off by saying that this is not a perfect movie of some kind of creative masterpiece, but it hits me just right in several places and on several levels. So my review here is going to make it sound like it is better than most others will think it is. I don't care if I come off as a fanboy. This movie fracking rocks.
Disclaimer 2: This movie is very violent, with body parts being ripped off, ripped out, cut out, sliced, diced, and even juliened. There is a lot of blood and body parts seen throughout this movie, often treated in a very comical or casual way. So if you are offended by extreme violence and gore, don't bother watching the movie or even reading the rest of my review.
Disclaimer 3: This movie is an opera (No, not that super rich black talk show host, that's Oprah). If you aren't aware of the difference between an opera and a musical, operas are generally sung all the way through while musicals have talking dialog interspersed with musical numbers. Being an opera, this movie is all music and almost 100% sung through the entire thing. If you don't like sung dialog at all or, for some reason, it offends you, don't bother.
If you still want to see my review, read on...
It's a dark dystopian future where a plague of organ failures was wiping out humanity until the Largo family's company, Geneco, finds a way to use artificial (or at least artificially grown) organs to replace the ones failings. They also realize that in doing so they can actually make better ones that last longer, do more, and are much stronger (like eye replacements that can record everything you see).
With the powers these new organs have, there is also a new culture of elective surgery being done to improve who you are. Some people get only a few helpful things done, but others keep going back and having one surgery after another until they are unable to deal with life without constantly changing who they are, both inside and out. These people are said to be addicted to the knife.
Unfortunately many people can't afford the organs they need or even want, especially for those addicted to the knife, so they buy them on credit or with Geneco financing. So many people are finding themselves in debt to, or even partially owned by, Geneco. Under pressure from Rotti Largo, the government passes a law that allows these financed organs to be repossessed by licensed Repo Men, who all happen to work for Geneco.
Another product perfected by Geneco during this time is a new drug, Zydrate, that is an opiate that helps the extensive surgeries to go on without pain or suffering, while also helping them fight organ rejection nearly 100%. Unfortunately, Zydrate is also a hallucinogenic that is very addictive, leading to many people becoming addicted to the drug. This has lead to a subculture springing up of street level dealers of the drug, which they are somehow able to extract from the brains of the dead. This is especially popular with those who are addicted to the knife.
Most of this is explained in the opening animation of the movie, which is done in comic book format, with panels that are only slightly animated to tell the back story. This method allows them to get a lot of background out of the way real quick, and is used several times during the film when a new character or plot point needs a quick bit of background information shared. This is also, unfortunately, what I see as the weakest part of the movie. It would have been better if they were their own musical numbers or better integrated in the scenes they precede or break in two. In the director's commentary he does explain that the main reason they did them was for budgetary reasons, so I find it hard to get too upset with them about it.
The rest of the movie takes place in amazing beautiful gothic and twisted sets that I am shocked they were able to pull off the low budget they had. The answer to this was also in the commentary. It seem that while the writer/director was working on Saw IV (which he also directed, along with Saw's II & III) he made sure that he worked in certain sets into the Saw script that he could then use for Repo! (which he was doing next). It worked out great for him, as Repo! does look stunning in all its gothic beauty. They also managed to get about three times the CG work they paid for out of the company they worked with, since they really got into the story.
Next we have the first rate cast who take us through the plot of the movie. All of them do better than I expected from them going into this, and some of them simply blew me away with their unexpected talent. The main characters are Nathan/Repo Man (played by Anthony Stewart Head, best known as Giles from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer), his daughter Shilo (played by Alexa Vega, best known for Spy Kids), and the founder of Geneco, Rottissimo "Rotti" Largo (played by Paul Sorvino, known for an amazing list of movies).
Rounding out the big names in the cast you have classic stage singer Sarah Brightman (best known for her lead part in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Phantom of the Opera) playing Blind Mag, the godmother of Shilo, and a shockingly good performance by Paris Hilton (best known for being a media whore) as Rotti's daughter Carmela Largo (who is also known as Amber Sweet on the street and is helplessly addicted to the knife and street Zydrate).
Filling out the cast you have Bill Moseley as Luigi Largo (Rotti's violent and sadistic son), Ogre as Pavi Largo (Rotti's other son, who wears the faces of others over his own), Sarah Power as Marni Wallace (the dead mother of Shilo, wife of Nathan, and ex-lover of Rotti), and Terrance Zdunich as the Grave Robber (who kind of acts as the narrator of the story, but is still a part of it at the same time, because he sells the street Zydrate).
The story picks up 17 years after the death of Nathan's wife, Marni, in which he had failed to save her life during an attempt to cure her of her disease and had to cut her open to save their unborn daughter, Shilo. The guilt over thinking he killed his own wife allowed their family friend Rotti to step in offer to cover up the events of that night, in exchange for Nathan becoming his first and most trusted Repo Man. Now he hides this side of his life from Shilo, trying to be a good single father, but keeps her locked in their house because of her inherited illness.
Rotti, the ruler of Geneco, is also finding that he is dying of something he can't cure and seeks to find a worthy heir to the empire. His own twisted offspring are all vying for the part, squabbling among themselves, but Rotti is looking outside the immediate family for more worthy people. He would have made Nathan the man, but he still holds a grudge for him stealing Marni from him many years ago. He has now set his eyes on Shilo, thinking of her as the daughter of the woman he still loves, even though she died 17 years ago. All he has to do is turn her against her father so he can step into that role.
All of this is very true to classic opera style stories, complete with the tragic ending, but with a rocking modern soundtrack and a dark gory style. The music mixes classic opera with both rock and industrial, making it a style all its own. Most of the songs are very catchy and performed very well, especially the ones by Anthony Stewart Head and Sarah Brightman, although a couple of them are not that strong and one song I just find annoying (but at least it's short). I even had to go out and hunt down the soundtrack so I could listen to them all on the go (including a few songs that didn't make it into the movie).
If you like musicals, opera, and/or gothic dystopian future movies — with a horror twist — then you owe it to yourself to at least rent this movie. Who knows, you may just have to buy it like I did.
Buy it at Amazon
Disclaimer 2: This movie is very violent, with body parts being ripped off, ripped out, cut out, sliced, diced, and even juliened. There is a lot of blood and body parts seen throughout this movie, often treated in a very comical or casual way. So if you are offended by extreme violence and gore, don't bother watching the movie or even reading the rest of my review.
Disclaimer 3: This movie is an opera (No, not that super rich black talk show host, that's Oprah). If you aren't aware of the difference between an opera and a musical, operas are generally sung all the way through while musicals have talking dialog interspersed with musical numbers. Being an opera, this movie is all music and almost 100% sung through the entire thing. If you don't like sung dialog at all or, for some reason, it offends you, don't bother.
If you still want to see my review, read on...
Repo! The Genetic Opera
It's a dark dystopian future where a plague of organ failures was wiping out humanity until the Largo family's company, Geneco, finds a way to use artificial (or at least artificially grown) organs to replace the ones failings. They also realize that in doing so they can actually make better ones that last longer, do more, and are much stronger (like eye replacements that can record everything you see).
With the powers these new organs have, there is also a new culture of elective surgery being done to improve who you are. Some people get only a few helpful things done, but others keep going back and having one surgery after another until they are unable to deal with life without constantly changing who they are, both inside and out. These people are said to be addicted to the knife.
Unfortunately many people can't afford the organs they need or even want, especially for those addicted to the knife, so they buy them on credit or with Geneco financing. So many people are finding themselves in debt to, or even partially owned by, Geneco. Under pressure from Rotti Largo, the government passes a law that allows these financed organs to be repossessed by licensed Repo Men, who all happen to work for Geneco.
Another product perfected by Geneco during this time is a new drug, Zydrate, that is an opiate that helps the extensive surgeries to go on without pain or suffering, while also helping them fight organ rejection nearly 100%. Unfortunately, Zydrate is also a hallucinogenic that is very addictive, leading to many people becoming addicted to the drug. This has lead to a subculture springing up of street level dealers of the drug, which they are somehow able to extract from the brains of the dead. This is especially popular with those who are addicted to the knife.
Most of this is explained in the opening animation of the movie, which is done in comic book format, with panels that are only slightly animated to tell the back story. This method allows them to get a lot of background out of the way real quick, and is used several times during the film when a new character or plot point needs a quick bit of background information shared. This is also, unfortunately, what I see as the weakest part of the movie. It would have been better if they were their own musical numbers or better integrated in the scenes they precede or break in two. In the director's commentary he does explain that the main reason they did them was for budgetary reasons, so I find it hard to get too upset with them about it.
The rest of the movie takes place in amazing beautiful gothic and twisted sets that I am shocked they were able to pull off the low budget they had. The answer to this was also in the commentary. It seem that while the writer/director was working on Saw IV (which he also directed, along with Saw's II & III) he made sure that he worked in certain sets into the Saw script that he could then use for Repo! (which he was doing next). It worked out great for him, as Repo! does look stunning in all its gothic beauty. They also managed to get about three times the CG work they paid for out of the company they worked with, since they really got into the story.
Next we have the first rate cast who take us through the plot of the movie. All of them do better than I expected from them going into this, and some of them simply blew me away with their unexpected talent. The main characters are Nathan/Repo Man (played by Anthony Stewart Head, best known as Giles from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer), his daughter Shilo (played by Alexa Vega, best known for Spy Kids), and the founder of Geneco, Rottissimo "Rotti" Largo (played by Paul Sorvino, known for an amazing list of movies).
Rounding out the big names in the cast you have classic stage singer Sarah Brightman (best known for her lead part in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Phantom of the Opera) playing Blind Mag, the godmother of Shilo, and a shockingly good performance by Paris Hilton (best known for being a media whore) as Rotti's daughter Carmela Largo (who is also known as Amber Sweet on the street and is helplessly addicted to the knife and street Zydrate).
Filling out the cast you have Bill Moseley as Luigi Largo (Rotti's violent and sadistic son), Ogre as Pavi Largo (Rotti's other son, who wears the faces of others over his own), Sarah Power as Marni Wallace (the dead mother of Shilo, wife of Nathan, and ex-lover of Rotti), and Terrance Zdunich as the Grave Robber (who kind of acts as the narrator of the story, but is still a part of it at the same time, because he sells the street Zydrate).
The story picks up 17 years after the death of Nathan's wife, Marni, in which he had failed to save her life during an attempt to cure her of her disease and had to cut her open to save their unborn daughter, Shilo. The guilt over thinking he killed his own wife allowed their family friend Rotti to step in offer to cover up the events of that night, in exchange for Nathan becoming his first and most trusted Repo Man. Now he hides this side of his life from Shilo, trying to be a good single father, but keeps her locked in their house because of her inherited illness.
Rotti, the ruler of Geneco, is also finding that he is dying of something he can't cure and seeks to find a worthy heir to the empire. His own twisted offspring are all vying for the part, squabbling among themselves, but Rotti is looking outside the immediate family for more worthy people. He would have made Nathan the man, but he still holds a grudge for him stealing Marni from him many years ago. He has now set his eyes on Shilo, thinking of her as the daughter of the woman he still loves, even though she died 17 years ago. All he has to do is turn her against her father so he can step into that role.
All of this is very true to classic opera style stories, complete with the tragic ending, but with a rocking modern soundtrack and a dark gory style. The music mixes classic opera with both rock and industrial, making it a style all its own. Most of the songs are very catchy and performed very well, especially the ones by Anthony Stewart Head and Sarah Brightman, although a couple of them are not that strong and one song I just find annoying (but at least it's short). I even had to go out and hunt down the soundtrack so I could listen to them all on the go (including a few songs that didn't make it into the movie).
If you like musicals, opera, and/or gothic dystopian future movies — with a horror twist — then you owe it to yourself to at least rent this movie. Who knows, you may just have to buy it like I did.
Buy it at Amazon
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