Repo Men is Really, Really Bad
Honestly, there’s no other way to put it. There’s a scene at the end that’s so ill-conceived, over-the-top, bizarre, and repulsive that it sort of begs to be seen, if only to illustrate the incredible — and incredibly expensive — creative follies to which Hollywood can succumb. But by and large, it’s just an atrocious, stupid, shallow, and thoroughly uninteresting film.
Yeah, it pretty much sucked.
— Chet · Mar 21, 01:36 AM · #
I know!
— Peter Suderman · Mar 21, 02:29 AM · #
REPO MEN is one of the better sci-fi films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s kind of pitiful that the libertarians at Reason have so little faith in their own ideology that they can’t stand to see it brought to life in a work of fiction, apparently unless that work of fiction perpetuates the fantasy that libertarian ideals only and always lead to the best of all possible worlds.
I mean, there’s storytelling and filmmaking criticisms to level at REPO MEN. But responding to it with “They got the economics wrong!” is sad on so many levels.
Mike
— MBunge · Mar 21, 08:42 PM · #
But responding to it with “They got the economics wrong!” is sad on so many levels.
Perhaps you could explain why that response saddens you.
— The Reticulator · Mar 21, 09:35 PM · #
I disagree. I thought the movie was very funny and thoroughly entertaining. The literalism of your response is disheartening.
— pdf · Mar 21, 09:52 PM · #
I think the inability to appreciate something explicitly because it doesn’t conform to your political ideology is sad. Having so little confidence in your own ideas that you can’t stand to see them challenged in a sci-fi flick starring Jude Law is sad. And what’s really sad is to write a review dissing the economics of Repo Men with nothing more than “That’s not the way markets work!” when you have to acknowledge within the review that there’s recent evidence of markets working pretty much exactly that way.
Mike
— MBunge · Mar 21, 10:00 PM · #
That’s very, er, interesting, MBunge, but it doesn’t answer the question. And how could you possibly know how much confidence a reviewer has in his/her own ideas. Are you clairvoyant?
— The Reticulator · Mar 22, 01:15 AM · #
“That’s very, er, interesting. . .”
I propose that the use of “er” as amused signal that sarcasm is about to occur be retired. I realize the little guy packs quite a punch— conveying both a knitted brow as well as a supercilious, incredulous tone— but its shelf life turns out to be quite short, almost as bad as “meh,” “under the bus,” or bagged spinach.
— turnbuckle · Mar 22, 04:41 PM · #
While I had a couple problems, with Repo Men, I found it a very interesting look at crony capitalism taken to its logical end…. While the Reason crowd believes we will live in a capitalist paradise if they get their way, we will much more likely live in a corporate world not much different from the one shown in Repo Men.
As to the movie itself, it works well as a B-movie action flick, which, while borrowing from almost everything out there, is entertaining and satisfying for those who enjoy violent action movies…..
— Gaius Gracchus · Mar 22, 05:04 PM · #
Forget the word economics: The story just doesn’t make any sense! It’s not just a stretch. It’s not just that it takes a few liberties. It’s totally incoherent. Doesn’t stand up to even a moment’s thought.
That’s bad storytelling. Bad moviemaking. Bad entertainment. Bad art. I’m not the only one who thinks the movie doesn’t work: The movie’s Metacritic score is a dismal 31.
I’m not bothered by the movie’s politics (as I’ve written plenty of times before, most of the best “political” movies — some of my all-time favorites, in fact — have politics that don’t overlap with mine). I’m bothered that the movie was so lazy with its storytelling that it couldn’t be bothered to make sense. What’s left is a tonally inconsistent, boring-as-hell message movie… with a message that’s delivered so poorly that it totally fails.
— Peter Suderman · Mar 22, 09:08 PM · #
I propose that the use of “er” as amused signal that sarcasm is about to occur be retired.
That’s an interesting, er, idea, but the only people who get to retire any usages other than their own are the hot young girls who determine the direction of our culture. And somehow turnbuckle just doesn’t sound like one of those.
— The Reticulator · Mar 22, 11:55 PM · #
I took one look at the previews and thought, “Poor Jude Law—you had so much potential.”
— Joules · Mar 23, 02:13 AM · #
Bagged spinach is awesome.
That is all.
— J Mann · Mar 23, 07:21 PM · #
Well yeah. Repo! The Genetic Opera was an atrocious, stupid, shallow, film interesting only for how freaking weird it was. This just takes the same story and makes it bland and pointless.
— JosephFM · Mar 23, 07:55 PM · #
I do. It wasn’t.
— Chet · Mar 23, 11:08 PM · #
very interesting thank you for the post..
— sesli sohbet · Mar 24, 02:13 AM · #
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— Supra Vaider · Mar 31, 03:45 AM · #