Review: Repo! The Genetic Opera

PLOT:
Sometime in the near future, a mass epidemic of organ failures cripples society. Enter Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino), and his company GeneCo- which provides organ transplantation for profit. Due to GeneCo.’s exorbitant prices, most elect to pay for their organs through financing. If anyone misses a payment- they fall prey to the dreaded Repo Man (Anthony Head)- who’ll reclaim their organs by any means necessary.

REVIEW: I wanted to like REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA- I really did. No matter what- you’ve really got to give director Darren Lynn Bousman credit. He’s coming off a very successful run with the SAW franchise, and one would expect him to choose something a tad simpler than a hard core rock opera as his follow up film. The man definitely has balls, but sadly I was not all that taken with his movie.

REPO! is the type of film that you’ll either love or hate- and sadly I more or less fall into the latter category. I knew about ten minutes into the film that it really wasn’t going to work for me. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why I didn’t like the film. It’s pretty bold & original, and the performances are very good- but in the end I simply did not find it absorbing.

My big problem with the film is that I found it very hard to relate to any of the characters. Anthony Head, who I loved on BUFFY: THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, does a great job as the dreaded Repo Man- but I found it hard to get a handle on his character. Obviously he’s meant to be sympathetic, as he supposedly only works for GeneCo as a way of protecting his sick daughter, Shilo (Alexa Vega- who plays the only truly sympathetic character in the film, and is likable throughout). However- if he’s so conflicted, why does he seem to enjoy his work so much? At one point in the film, he disembowels someone, and then sticks his hand into the person’s torso and uses them as a hand-puppet in a jaunty tune. Hardly the actions of someone who doesn’t enjoy his work. Maybe he’s meant to be somewhat schizophrenic, but this isn’t really explained in the film. That said- Head can really belt out a tune, and while I wasn’t sold on his character, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s terrific in the role.

One area the film excels in is the casting. Everyone, including Paul Sorvino as the villainous Largo, and even Paris Hilton as his plastic surgery obsessed daughter, is very good in the film, although their singing talents vary wildly. Obviously, the best musical performance comes from Sarah Brightman as Blind Mag- although I found it odd that of all the people in the film, she seems the have the fewest big musical numbers.

Which brings me to my other big problem with the film- the music. I did not find the music all that catchy or impressive. There’s so much music in the film that it’s very hard to absorb, and to that degree everything just kind of meshes together, and I had a hard time distinguishing one song from another. I think the film would have worked better for me if it had been a more traditional musical- with a bunch of big musical numbers broken up by some plot and dialogue. In this film, every single line is sung (and I HATE it in films when people sing dialogue), and it’s really overwhelming. It’s like going to see an action film where’s there’s nothing but action the entire film, with no dialogue or plot. After a while- the action would become boring and repetitive, and that’s exactly what happens here.

All in all, I did not like REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA very much, but I’ll be the first to admit that perhaps I just didn’t get the film. It’s the type of movie that will polarize audiences. There’s a lot of people out there that are going to love it, and it’s also the type of film that might work better on repeated viewings. I hated BLADE RUNNER the first time I saw it- but now it’s my favorite film. While I don’t think REPO! is the next BLADE RUNNER- it might very well be the next ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.