Universal’s Repo Men hits US theatres across the country, today. This undertaking was quite ambitious. The novel by Eric Garcia was originally known as Repossession Mambo; the name was repossessed by the film and replaced with the straight forward,”Repo Men,” although it does get recycled in the movie a couple times. Unfortunately, some of the key elements of the inner workings of the novel didn’t get recycled or re-purposed. Garcia’s way of weaving story, character, language and imagery to create a haunting, darkly humorous story wasn’t entirely evident in the movie. The movie never settled on what it wants to be; a philosophical consideration, a brainless action flick, near future utopia gone wrong or a dark comedy.

At the heart of the story, we have the nameless Repo Man, a modern day, scalpel-swinging, kidney snatching Willie Loman. He’s facing his last days with a quiet desperation, internally, while the world around him is falling to pieces. In the novel, he never really loses that insular feeling, even in the thick of the plot line. The urban sprawl where he and his partner, Jake, work for The Union works to increase that sense of absolute aloneness in the book. Even when the Tin Repo Man finds a heart, he’s ultimately alone. He rises above the petty, shallow aims and scheming of The Union, to take his place as modern day anti-hero, but hero nonetheless. The movie has glimpses of this at points, but never achieves that subtle elegance of the book. Perhaps in their desire to make this a thinking fan’s science fiction action flick, they put to much faith in the big bangs and brutal fights, and not enough in the character building. This leaves the Repo Man in the movie falling a heartbeat short of the one on the page, because the struggle to overcome his own actions and heartlessness never seems completely true. At the end of the day, the monsters are real, and we see there’s really no place like home, ever again.

Luckily for viewers and fans of Garcia’s works, Jude Law and Forest Whitaker breathe life into their repo men. They have an odd, slightly dysfunctional buddy movie feeling, initially. They really sell the relationship between the two men, and the roles they play in each other’s lives. If Jude Law’s nameless Repo Man is the Tin Man of Wizardly fame, then Whitaker’s Jake would be the Lion; afraid to live life on his own, without someone to give him orders or keep his blinders on him at all times. Carrying the Wiz symbolism to the third member of that famous trio, we have Beth, as played by Alice Braga; the scarecrow who is put together with artiforg (artificial organs) parts. Liev Schreiber plays Frank, the man playing “The Man” at The Union. He doles out false platitudes and pink repo slips with equal aplomb and usually with pithy comments. He’s the Wizard in this story since he offers false promises of hope to the desperate and needy. Frank is also the Wicked Witch of the piece; instead of flying monkeys, he has lower level repo men to send out after their hapless victims. I’ll bypass discussion of brains, since that’s one thing that’s missing from much of the plot and the ending. I can’t say more, at this point, because I don’t like to do spoilers, especially on release days. The film borrows some themes and devices from earlier cult classics, and one in particular. I find myself wishing for the novel’s resolutions, instead.

Hands, hearts and kidneys down, the casting was the best part of the film, and of all the actors, Jude Law steals the show. He has an electric, primal charisma that is only sharpened by the sardonic humor that flavors his dialog. He has equally strong chemistry with Alice Braga and Forest Whitaker. In spite of the huge leaps the plot takes, and the heights we have to suspend our disbelief at, Law delivers in every scene. Forest Whitaker also offers an exceptional performance, in spite of some of the characterization bouncing he must do for the sake of the plot line.

Of all the other elements of the film, the fights and the musical score both score high marks, but the plot line misses its mark. One of the first fight scenes shows real creativity, when our Repo Man gets the drop on one of his pursuers. Towards the end of the film, there is another fight scene, choreographed to UNKLE’s Burn My Shadow, that is one of the high points of the film – possibly the point where it really crests, then slides rapidly down hill. (Coincidentally, the music video for Burn My Shadow is directed by Miguel Sapochnik, too; and also features a man with serious heartburn issues.) The music and brutality of the fight are woven together and move well together, like good dance partners should. Music serves as wonderful counter point to several key scenes in the film, blending classic blues and crooning classics, with very contemporary techno sounds and island sounds.

All in all, I think that a lot of moviegoers will enjoy this film. It has serious star power, with real actors, kick ass fights, some serious brutality, and a couple steamy love scenes. Jude Law is worth his weight in artiforgs. If you’re looking for something requiring a lot of thinking, though, you may be disappointed, because like the Repo Men do when they finish a job, they leave some gaping holes where you’d expect some important stuff to be found in the plot. Luckily (or more to the point, thanks to savvy marketers) the film’s release date was moved to today, from April 2, so they’re not going to clash with any Titans at the box office. When the other flicks opening include Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Bounty Hunter and The Runaways, you still have a good shot at taking the lead in new movie sales. I’m not sure they’ll topple Alice from her thrown this weekend, however.

GSB rating: (in honor of the movie) 3 out of 5 artiforg units

Universal Studios – screenplay by Eric Garcia and Garrett Lerner – directed by Miguel Sapochnik

Rated R – extreme violence (seriously. extreme. bloody good violence), vulgarity, sexual content – all the usual subjects