Sometime in the summer of 2008 I came across a 7 track demo for Repo! The Genetic Opera, while it didn’t blow my mind, it had me on the lookout for the film. So when I finally got a chance to pop in Repo! The Genetic Opera and slowly worked my way through the dozen or so trailers bringing me to the DVD menu page, boy was I hooked. Laughing out loud, or maybe it was a shriek, I was already having fun just listening to the DVD theme song.
Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III and IV) directs Repo! which opens with a look into the new world in the year 2056, in comic book form (how digital comics should be, but that is an item for another time), where an epidemic of organ failures have devastated the planet. Out of the tragedy, the Bio-Tech Company GeneCo, emerges to provide organ transplants to the needy populace. GeneCo enlists in the help of Repo Men, assassins dispatched to deal with customers who default on their payments. The film follows the intertwined stories between Nathan (Anthony Stewart Head) who is also one of the Repo Men, his daughter Shilo (Alexa Vega), GeneCo’s president Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) and his three children (Paris Hilton, Bill Moseley, Nivek Ogre) and Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman) who is the headliner of the GenoCo Genetic Opera. GraveRobber (Terrance Zdunich) acts as the films narrator who is a drug dealer and has connections to Rotti’s daughter.
Holding the record for most songs ever composed into one film, a total of 64, Repo! shifts among top notch and utter crap songs. Some are pleasant surprises, with Anthony Stewart Head (who played Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) stealing the show, “Shilo Wakes”, “Legal Assassin” and “Let the Monster Rise” are the songs that were unique and fantastic. The flip side to that would be “Bravi!”, “Mark It Up” and basically anything sung by two of the trio that is Rotti’s children with the exception being Ogre’s character was interesting and did not get enough screen time. No fault goes to the actors, as it is the songs themselves that ruin it, feeling more like a joke than a piece that should be in the film.To say the plot was lacking is probably wrong, it’s right in front of you, missing a small chunk here, probably repossessed by the Repo Men, and skipping over another part here. The film uses small sub plots that are used and not needed to be built upon, it doesn’t wreck the movie, but makes you wanting some bigger explanations which may come in a sequel.
The alternate, futuristic reality that is Repo! is devilishly amusing, colourful, and vibrant while using a style many films won’t dare to try. If a person is looking for a film with loads of originality, this movie has it in spades. Loads of fun and worth a rewatch!
3 out of 5
Colin Enquist
