Repossession Mambo
Encyclopedia
Repo Men is a 2010 American-Canadian science fiction
action
-thriller film directed by Miguel Sapochnik, and starring Jude Law
and Forest Whitaker
. It is based on the novel Repossession Mambo by Eric Garcia
.
.
In 2025, a corporation called "The Union" has perfected the creation of bio-mechanical organs, which are available to those with money or "good credit." If a customer falls three months behind on payments, a "repo man" is sent to reclaim the artificial organ (artiforgs). The process of the repossession almost always results in the death of the customer. Remy (Jude Law
) and his partner Jake Freivald (Forest Whitaker
) are considered the best of the Union's repo men. This causes personal issues between Remy and his wife, Carol (Carice van Houten), forcing Remy to consider a transfer to sales.
After taking out a "Nest", a hideout of those who have fallen behind on credit, Remy and Jake are asked by their boss Frank Mercer (Liev Schreiber
) to become full time raid captains, those who lead daily Nest raids. Remy refuses and is about to ask Frank about a job in sales, but he is interrupted by Jake. Later while driving, Jake tries to convince Remy that their job is important regardless of the moral issues.
Still attempting to save his marriage with a transfer to sales, Jake tells Remy that his last job should be a cardiac repossession from a musician named T-Bone of whom Remy is a big fan. The repo requires the use of a defibrillator. The device malfunctions; and Remy is violently shocked and severely injured. The damage requires the replacement of his own heart with an artiforg heart.
Carol divorces Remy; so he moves in temporarily with Jake. Although he tries his hand at sales, he is unable to lie to potential costumers about the consequences of non-payment and loses most of his commissions. Remy is forced back into repo to pay for his heart. But due to his own artificial organ, he develops sympathy with his victims leaving him unable to perform his job and earn any money. When Jake discovers that Remy has not been repossessing, he takes him to another nest to find enough artiforgs to clear his debt and get over his inability to repossess. However, Remy still cannot find it to do his job. Jake stuns two insolvents and insists that Remy stay and finish the repossessions until he gets over his "Hump." During Remy's deliberations with his conscience, a debtor revives and beats him unconscious.
Upon awakening Remy encounters Beth (Alice Braga
), who is past due on multiple organ transplants. After a failed attempt to clear both their individual accounts back at the Union's local headquarters, Remy torches his car and anything else traceable before the two leave to live in the outskirts. Beth gifts him with an old manual, ribbon typewriter; and Remy decides to document his life as a repo man. The typing process is a flashback to the opening scene of the film. As he works, he is interrupted by the arrival of another repo man, identified earlier in the film as a rather pathetic "level 3" collector, intending to repossess his heart. Remy sets a trap and drops him three stories through a hole in the floor and ultimately drops the typewriter on his head. Beth's prosthetic knee is badly damaged when she accidentally follows the repo man down the same hole.
Using the repo man's vehicle, Remy sneaks back into his former workplace to obtain a pair of jamming devices that fool organ scanners used by repo men. He attempts to force Frank to clear his account only to discover that due to his prior attempt, all accounts can only be cleared back at the Union's central office. Remy and Beth attempt to flee the country at the airport, but are taken by security when the bleeding from Beth's knee leaves a significant pool on the floor. A major fight with airport security ensues. Jake has been put on their trail after the failure of the earlier repo attempt. He finds them at the airport; but is on the wrong side of a security panel and can only watch their escape. The pair head to a black market doctor, where Beth's knee is replaced.
After the procedure, the two are stopped by Jake, who has tracked the pair. A bitter fight ensues, during which it is revealed that it was Jake that rigged the defibrillator unit to fail, causing Remy's heart replacement — he did this to ensure that Remy keeps his organ repossession job, so they could get promoted. The two fight, but Jake wins the fight fairly decisively. During a pause for manic laughter, Remy simultaneously stabs Jake above the knee, while Jake knocks Remy unconscious with a heavy steel hook, and Beth shoots Jake with his stun pistol.
After a sequence of phantasmagorical flashbacks, Beth awakens Remy and they become aware that an organ reposition raid is underway. They flee with the other residents of the ghetto and accidentally stumble upon a scan-blocked refuge with a small fraction of the other residents. After an indeterminate period of rest and sleep, Remy leaves the refuge to find dozens of the other occupants slain and eviscerated by the Union's repo men. He resolves to destroy the corporation and delete all accounts of all Union implanted individuals: "We wipe the system. No more accounts. No one's overdue." Remy passes his manuscript to his son during a brief meeting on a train.
The pair then travel to The Union's headquarters, hoping to fulfill their pledge to wipe the system. Remy and Beth are pursued throughout the building, and after an intense battle, arrive at the Pink Door, the main database for the Union. Using Beth's prosthetic eye, they are able to seal themselves inside just as Jake and Frank arrive. Once inside, they discover that the server does not have any interface other than an organ scanner. Remy realizes that the only modifications they can make to the system are with what they brought in themselves. Remy and Beth take turns cutting themselves open in order to use the scanner internally, clearing their own accounts. Jake and Frank are able to enter through the use of an organ scavenged from a victim of Remy's earlier fight and catch Remy trying desperately to scan the Beth's last overdue organ. Remy tells them that he is losing her. Jake asks Remy if she is worth it, to which he responds: "She's worth every job that we ever did". Frank pulls a gun to kill Remy, but Jake turns on his employer, killing him with a knife. Jake then assists Remy in reviving Beth; after which, he deposits two explosives inside the organ retrieval unit in lieu of the many organs previously scanned. The explosion destroys the Union's mainframe, wiping everyone who has an account with the corporation out of the system.
Later, Remy is on a tropical beach, enjoying his freedom with Beth and Jake. His text from earlier in the film has been published into a book, The Repossession Mambo. Remy turns to look at Jake, but sees instead the background flickering and incoherent voices. It is discovered that Remy, in fact, sustained severe brain damage when Jake hit him with the heavy hook earlier in the film. Jake, out of remorse, has paid off Remy's account and has had him placed in a neural network, allowing him to live the rest of his life in a dream. Beth is still alive but unconscious, and when questioned as to what to do with her, Jake says he will take care of her. This renders the ending sequence of the film as simply a fantasy of Remy's. Jake finds Remy's manuscript, which he greets with a sad, stifled sigh, as his former partner is wheeled away, presumably to spend the rest of his life in his fantasy world. The film ends with Frank delivering his sales pitch.
and Garrett Lerner
began collaborating with Miguel Sapochnik on a screenplay based on a novel being written by Garcia. The novel, Repossession Mambo, was published March 31, 2009.
In June 2007, Universal Pictures
cast Jude Law and Forest Whitaker into the film. Production began in September 2007. Casting for this film was done by Mindy Marin
, production design by David Sandefur, art direction by Dan Yarhi, set decoration by Clive Thomasson, and costume design by Caroline Harris. Filming took place in Toronto, and the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario.
Fight choreography was done by Hiro Koda and Jeff Imada
. Forest Whitaker
has been a longtime student of Filipino Martial Arts
under Dan Inosanto
and it is featured heavily in the vicious blade and blunt-weapon fight scenes in film.
The score
to Repo Men was composed by Marco Beltrami
, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony
at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox
.
The unrated DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released on July 27, 2010.
reports that 22% of 103 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.2 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics, the film holds an overall approval rating of 16%, based on 25 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "Repo Men has an intriguing premise, as well as a likable pair of leads, but they're wasted on a rote screenplay, indifferent direction, and mind-numbing gore." Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 1–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 32 based on 31 reviews.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
-thriller film directed by Miguel Sapochnik, and starring Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
and Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
. It is based on the novel Repossession Mambo by Eric Garcia
Eric Garcia
Eric Garcia is an American writer, the author of several humorous novels including Matchstick Men which was made into a movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Nicolas Cage, and the Anonymous Rex series, which was adapted in 2004 for the SciFi Channel...
.
Plot
The film opens in a very grungy, broken, obviously destitute ghetto area where we see a half-naked man laboriously two-finger pecking at an old typewriter. We hear Remy in the third person musing on the fate of Schrodinger's catSchrödinger's cat
Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat that might be...
.
In 2025, a corporation called "The Union" has perfected the creation of bio-mechanical organs, which are available to those with money or "good credit." If a customer falls three months behind on payments, a "repo man" is sent to reclaim the artificial organ (artiforgs). The process of the repossession almost always results in the death of the customer. Remy (Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
) and his partner Jake Freivald (Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
) are considered the best of the Union's repo men. This causes personal issues between Remy and his wife, Carol (Carice van Houten), forcing Remy to consider a transfer to sales.
After taking out a "Nest", a hideout of those who have fallen behind on credit, Remy and Jake are asked by their boss Frank Mercer (Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
) to become full time raid captains, those who lead daily Nest raids. Remy refuses and is about to ask Frank about a job in sales, but he is interrupted by Jake. Later while driving, Jake tries to convince Remy that their job is important regardless of the moral issues.
Still attempting to save his marriage with a transfer to sales, Jake tells Remy that his last job should be a cardiac repossession from a musician named T-Bone of whom Remy is a big fan. The repo requires the use of a defibrillator. The device malfunctions; and Remy is violently shocked and severely injured. The damage requires the replacement of his own heart with an artiforg heart.
Carol divorces Remy; so he moves in temporarily with Jake. Although he tries his hand at sales, he is unable to lie to potential costumers about the consequences of non-payment and loses most of his commissions. Remy is forced back into repo to pay for his heart. But due to his own artificial organ, he develops sympathy with his victims leaving him unable to perform his job and earn any money. When Jake discovers that Remy has not been repossessing, he takes him to another nest to find enough artiforgs to clear his debt and get over his inability to repossess. However, Remy still cannot find it to do his job. Jake stuns two insolvents and insists that Remy stay and finish the repossessions until he gets over his "Hump." During Remy's deliberations with his conscience, a debtor revives and beats him unconscious.
Upon awakening Remy encounters Beth (Alice Braga
Alice Braga
Alice Braga Moraes is a Brazilian actress. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, most notably as Angélica in 2002's highly acclaimed City of God and as Karina in 2005's Lower City...
), who is past due on multiple organ transplants. After a failed attempt to clear both their individual accounts back at the Union's local headquarters, Remy torches his car and anything else traceable before the two leave to live in the outskirts. Beth gifts him with an old manual, ribbon typewriter; and Remy decides to document his life as a repo man. The typing process is a flashback to the opening scene of the film. As he works, he is interrupted by the arrival of another repo man, identified earlier in the film as a rather pathetic "level 3" collector, intending to repossess his heart. Remy sets a trap and drops him three stories through a hole in the floor and ultimately drops the typewriter on his head. Beth's prosthetic knee is badly damaged when she accidentally follows the repo man down the same hole.
Using the repo man's vehicle, Remy sneaks back into his former workplace to obtain a pair of jamming devices that fool organ scanners used by repo men. He attempts to force Frank to clear his account only to discover that due to his prior attempt, all accounts can only be cleared back at the Union's central office. Remy and Beth attempt to flee the country at the airport, but are taken by security when the bleeding from Beth's knee leaves a significant pool on the floor. A major fight with airport security ensues. Jake has been put on their trail after the failure of the earlier repo attempt. He finds them at the airport; but is on the wrong side of a security panel and can only watch their escape. The pair head to a black market doctor, where Beth's knee is replaced.
After the procedure, the two are stopped by Jake, who has tracked the pair. A bitter fight ensues, during which it is revealed that it was Jake that rigged the defibrillator unit to fail, causing Remy's heart replacement — he did this to ensure that Remy keeps his organ repossession job, so they could get promoted. The two fight, but Jake wins the fight fairly decisively. During a pause for manic laughter, Remy simultaneously stabs Jake above the knee, while Jake knocks Remy unconscious with a heavy steel hook, and Beth shoots Jake with his stun pistol.
After a sequence of phantasmagorical flashbacks, Beth awakens Remy and they become aware that an organ reposition raid is underway. They flee with the other residents of the ghetto and accidentally stumble upon a scan-blocked refuge with a small fraction of the other residents. After an indeterminate period of rest and sleep, Remy leaves the refuge to find dozens of the other occupants slain and eviscerated by the Union's repo men. He resolves to destroy the corporation and delete all accounts of all Union implanted individuals: "We wipe the system. No more accounts. No one's overdue." Remy passes his manuscript to his son during a brief meeting on a train.
The pair then travel to The Union's headquarters, hoping to fulfill their pledge to wipe the system. Remy and Beth are pursued throughout the building, and after an intense battle, arrive at the Pink Door, the main database for the Union. Using Beth's prosthetic eye, they are able to seal themselves inside just as Jake and Frank arrive. Once inside, they discover that the server does not have any interface other than an organ scanner. Remy realizes that the only modifications they can make to the system are with what they brought in themselves. Remy and Beth take turns cutting themselves open in order to use the scanner internally, clearing their own accounts. Jake and Frank are able to enter through the use of an organ scavenged from a victim of Remy's earlier fight and catch Remy trying desperately to scan the Beth's last overdue organ. Remy tells them that he is losing her. Jake asks Remy if she is worth it, to which he responds: "She's worth every job that we ever did". Frank pulls a gun to kill Remy, but Jake turns on his employer, killing him with a knife. Jake then assists Remy in reviving Beth; after which, he deposits two explosives inside the organ retrieval unit in lieu of the many organs previously scanned. The explosion destroys the Union's mainframe, wiping everyone who has an account with the corporation out of the system.
Later, Remy is on a tropical beach, enjoying his freedom with Beth and Jake. His text from earlier in the film has been published into a book, The Repossession Mambo. Remy turns to look at Jake, but sees instead the background flickering and incoherent voices. It is discovered that Remy, in fact, sustained severe brain damage when Jake hit him with the heavy hook earlier in the film. Jake, out of remorse, has paid off Remy's account and has had him placed in a neural network, allowing him to live the rest of his life in a dream. Beth is still alive but unconscious, and when questioned as to what to do with her, Jake says he will take care of her. This renders the ending sequence of the film as simply a fantasy of Remy's. Jake finds Remy's manuscript, which he greets with a sad, stifled sigh, as his former partner is wheeled away, presumably to spend the rest of his life in his fantasy world. The film ends with Frank delivering his sales pitch.
Cast
- Jude LawJude LawDavid Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
as Remy, a repo man. - Forest WhitakerForest WhitakerForest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
as Jake Freivald, Remy's partner. - Carice van Houten as Carol, Remy's wife.
- Alice BragaAlice BragaAlice Braga Moraes is a Brazilian actress. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, most notably as Angélica in 2002's highly acclaimed City of God and as Karina in 2005's Lower City...
as Beth, a singer who has multiple artificial organs. - Liev SchreiberLiev SchreiberIsaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
as Frank Mercer, Remy's boss. - Chandler CanterburyChandler CanterburyChandler Canterbury is an American child actor.-Life and career:Canterbury was born in Houston, Texas, to Kristine and Russell Canterbury, and resides in Houston. He starred in Summit Entertainment's thriller Knowing for director Alex Proyas , alongside Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne...
as Peter, Remy's son. - RZARZARobert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA , is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost...
as T-Bone, a soul musician in debt. - Yvette Nicole BrownYvette Nicole BrownYvette Nicole Brown is an American actress and comedian. Brown has appeared in various commercials, television shows, and films throughout her career...
as Rhodesia - John LeguizamoJohn LeguizamoJonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...
as Asbury, a black-market organs dealer. - Liza LapiraLiza LapiraLiza Lapira is an American actress best known for playing Kianna in the 2008 film 21 and Special Agent Michelle Lee in NCIS. She is also known for her role as Maggie Del Rosario on Huff.-Life and career:...
as Alva, a black-market surgeon's assistant.
Production
In 2003 , screenwriters Eric GarciaEric Garcia
Eric Garcia is an American writer, the author of several humorous novels including Matchstick Men which was made into a movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Nicolas Cage, and the Anonymous Rex series, which was adapted in 2004 for the SciFi Channel...
and Garrett Lerner
Garrett Lerner
Garrett Lerner is an American television writer and producer producer currently serving as an executive producer on the long-running Fox series House...
began collaborating with Miguel Sapochnik on a screenplay based on a novel being written by Garcia. The novel, Repossession Mambo, was published March 31, 2009.
In June 2007, Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
cast Jude Law and Forest Whitaker into the film. Production began in September 2007. Casting for this film was done by Mindy Marin
Mindy Marin
Mindy Marin is a casting director, producer, and writer based in Santa Monica, California.-Casting:...
, production design by David Sandefur, art direction by Dan Yarhi, set decoration by Clive Thomasson, and costume design by Caroline Harris. Filming took place in Toronto, and the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario.
Fight choreography was done by Hiro Koda and Jeff Imada
Jeff Imada
Jeff Imada is an American marital artist, stuntman, actor and director. He has performed stunts in over 100 films and television programs and authored one of the first books published in the US about the balisong knife.-Life and career:...
. Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television...
has been a longtime student of Filipino Martial Arts
Filipino martial arts
Filipino Martial Arts refers to ancient and newer fighting methods devised in the Philippines, the most popular of which are known as Arnis/Eskrima/Kali. The intrinsic need for self-preservation was the genesis of these systems. Throughout the ages, invaders and evolving local conflict imposed new...
under Dan Inosanto
Dan Inosanto
Daniel Arca Inosanto is a Filipino-American martial arts instructor from California who is best known as a student of the late Bruce Lee and authority on Jeet Kune Do Concepts.-Martial arts:...
and it is featured heavily in the vicious blade and blunt-weapon fight scenes in film.
The score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
to Repo Men was composed by Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami is an American film composer.-Life and career:Beltrami was born in Long Island, New York of Italian and Greek descent...
, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony
Hollywood Studio Symphony
The Hollywood Studio Symphony is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Sucker Punch, Jurassic Park 3, Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, We Are Marshall, Spider-Man 2, Lost and The...
at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
.
Release
Repo Men was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on March 19, 2010, having been moved up from an original release date of April 2, 2010. The film was promoted with a seven-minute comic released on Apple.com on March 15, 2010.The unrated DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released on July 27, 2010.
Critical response
The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 22% of 103 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.2 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics, the film holds an overall approval rating of 16%, based on 25 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "Repo Men has an intriguing premise, as well as a likable pair of leads, but they're wasted on a rote screenplay, indifferent direction, and mind-numbing gore." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 1–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 32 based on 31 reviews.