One Of The Most Underrated Sci-Fi Films Is Finally Getting An Upgrade
Time to collect.
Centuries ago, the Romans fatally stoned people, if only “because they didn’t have any [access to] guns,” as one character in Repo Men puts it. In the world of the film, however, technology has advanced so much so that a cruel corporation has mastered not only the creation and transplantation of bio-mechanical organs, but also the surgical repossession of them from patients who can’t keep up with the monthly payments. Times have changed, but human cruelty endures.
Years before director Miguel Sapochnik became best known for his work on the historical fantasy series Game of Thrones, he helmed this futuristic sci-fi drama which, on rewatch, bears renewed relevance to anyone aggrieved by the American healthcare system today.
Top ‘repo man’ Remy (Jude Law) approaches his job with a methodical, practiced ease that turns into slow-dawning terror once he realizes the irreparable heart damage he’s sustained during one retrieval assignment has left him with no choice but to become an ‘artiforg’ (or artificial organ) recipient himself. The same man who once calmly tracked down and knocked out defaulters, sliced into them, bagged up the organs they couldn’t afford and then left them bleeding out, now emerges from his cardiac surgery with a metaphorical change of heart. He can no longer bring himself to murder, but without the funds to pay off his artiforg, how is he to survive? Having unblinkingly carried out his corporation’s orders over the years, he now finds himself at its mercy.
With Kino Lorber’s 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray now out, it’s time to reassess Repo Men’s contemporary significance.
How Was Repo Men Received Upon Its Initial Release?
Based on a 2009 novel by Eric Garcia, who co-wrote the film with Garrett Lerner, Repo Men’s vision of a world in which every organ recipient is Schrodinger’s cat — alive and yet marked for the afterlife the moment they fall behind on payments — is diluted by it steadily devolving into a generic lovers-on-the-run actioner. A hallway fight scene blatantly ripped off from Oldboy (2003), as noted by critic Simon Abrams, doesn’t help. Nor does the bloated runtime and obvious twist. And for a film about spare parts, it’s no surprise that Repo Men itself often feels cobbled together from its vastly superior sci-fi predecessors A Clockwork Orange (1971), Blade Runner (1982) and Children of Men (2006), as at least one publication has observed.
But even as one of 2010’s biggest commercial flops, its themes nevertheless hold up. While critiquing the film’s sentimentality and nondescript chase sequences, critic Stephen Holden saw merit in it as not just a “recession-era satire,” but also one that was attuned to America’s “escalating health care costs and the insurance industry’s resistance to reform.” Roger Ebert went a step further, saying it made “sci-fi’s strongest possible case” for universal healthcare.
Why Is Repo Men Important to See Now?
Remy collects an artiforg.
Set in 2025 — 15 years after its 2010 release — Repo Men’s indictment of corporate greed is timelier than ever. As the corporation’s targets are subjected to surgical procedures against their will, it’s easy to see why a film about the violation of bodily autonomy would resonate in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned. And the film’s depiction of crushing healthcare inequality might just resonate at a time of widespread hostility towards the predatory health insurance industry, even more emphatically expressed in the aftermath of a UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting.
Unlike multimillionaire entrepreneurs like Bryan Johnson who tinker with anti-aging protocols to indulge their fixation with longevity, Repo Men’s organ recipients appear to be largely middle-class folks, maneuvered into replacing a failing kidney or diseased liver with a faux-sympathetic sales pitch tailored to exploit their vulnerabilities. Don’t they want to buy more time with their loved ones? All it costs is upwards of $618,000, payable in installments.
Anxious prospective clients are blatantly lied to — a salesman’s assurance that organ retrievals “almost never happen” comes just moments after a montage of Remy bursting in on his oblivious targets. By the time he gets to the office, he’s carrying a whole stack of organ-filled cases. The organization’s atrocities are crouched in palatable language; repo men are taught that they aren’t “taking a life” but “protecting America’s medical establishment.”
Artiforgs are so ubiquitous in the world of Repo Men, mentions of them have even made their way into playground rhymes, undercutting the gravity of opting for such a procedure. As it gradually becomes clear, however, any escape from corporate shackles remains a tragic illusion.
What New Features Does The New 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Have?
All the early Repo Men defenders are laughing now.
The Repo Men Blu-ray includes three discs: the theatrical cut in 4K and in the original format, as well, as the unrated version. See the full features below.
Disc One: 4K Blu-ray (The Theatrical Cut)
- New 4K Master
- New audio commentary by entertainment journalists Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
- Audio commentary by Sapochnik, Garcia and Lerner
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Optional English subtitles
Disc Two: Blu-ray (The Theatrical Cut)
- New 4K Master
- New audio commentary by entertainment journalists Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
- Audio commentary by Sapochnik, Garcia and Lerner
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Optional English subtitles
Disc Three: Blu-ray (Unrated Version)
- Audio commentary by Sapochnik, Garcia and Lerner
- Deleted scenes
- The Union commercials
- Inside the visual effects
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Optional English subtitles
