Repo! The Genetic Opera

Repo! The Genetic Opera is somewhat of a cult icon among people who like to watch "underground" or "indy" movies.  I myself belong to this crowd so the fact that, until now, I haven't seen Repo! even though it came out in 2008 is blasphemy to some.  Unfortunately, I read a premise and it didn't really appeal to my taste in movies so I rented something else instead.  But, after four years of hearing about how great it was and reading on movie blogs about how everyone needs to see it I finally decided to bite the bullet and watch it.  So, how is it?  I give it a resounding "meh."

Repo! comes from the producers of Saw and it shows, the whole movie is drenched in blood, gore, organs, and surgical scars.  The setup, which I'm sure many people are already familiar with, a wave of organ failures in the near future nearly wipes out humanity, however one company, GeneCo, offers artificial replacement organs at exorbitant prices.  People have to take out loans to get the surgeries and if they miss their payments the organs are repossessed by the Repo Man.  The plot revolves around Shilo, the daughter of the Repo Man who is beckoned by the owner of GeneCo, Rotti Largy, to take over the company when he dies.  The Largo family is composed of a drug addicted embarrassment of a daughter, a psychotic murderous son, and another son who is addicted to wearing other peoples faces.

The plot is decently interesting and conveyed easily enough through the lyrics of the songs.  The characters are all quite unique with both Rotti and the Repo Man played as a middle ground between friend and foe.  They both have good sides and both have monstrous sides with Shilo caught in the middle.  Some of the music is also quite good and goes well with the post-apocalyptic, neo-Gothic art style.  Repo! makes use of the same washed out look that worked for Ink and YellowBrickRoad, however it doesn't work here.  Repo! had a lot of promise but the art director never new when to stop.  This movie is drenched in neon with bright flashes and stage lights; stark white actors and actresses barely stand out from the background.  The music in some spots isn't any better, just relying on grating, almost digital sounding guitar riffs which only adds to the bland brightness of the art style.  Repo! is a movie that reeks of sensory overload causing everything to blend together.  It's almost like dubstep.

It's almost admirable how boring Repo! is despite it's uniqueness.  Ultimately, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a failure that wasn't able to garner much of my respect or enjoyment.  A fairly run-of-the-mill "indy" film that most likely only got popular because it appealed to moviegoers who happened to be high on drugs and the bright colors and techno-rock soundtrack enhanced the effects of the drug.  That's how dubstep became popular after all.

6.5/10