Repo! The Genetic Opera
Repo! The Genetic Opera
R | 07 November 2008 (USA)
Repo! The Genetic Opera Trailers

By the year 2056, an epidemic of organ failures has devastated the planet. The megacorporation GeneCo provides organ transplants on a payment plan - and those who can’t fulfill their plans have their organs repossessed. In the midst of this, a sickly teenager discovers a shocking secret about herself, her father, and their connection to GeneCo.

Reviews
theoneandonlydee

A film set in the near future, we follow young Shiloh who has been diagnosed with a rare blood disease. This film contains a lot of gore and violence - would not be recommended for people who are squeamish. This film is extremely interesting, with futuristic aspects with modern day problems included.The main theme for this story is plastic surgery and how it can damage lives. With an amazing number 'Zydrate Anatomy' we learn more about how dangerous the world of unneeded surgery. With amazing acting from actors such as Anthony Head, Alex Vega and the amazing Paris Hilton, the film will leave you with your hairs on the back on your neck raised with thrill.

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WakenPayne

Okay combine Opera with Gothic subculture, heavy metal, slasher movies and dystopian futures. It's an interesting combination, and one that is in this film throughout. For that I can guess you can safely say there is no other movie I have seen that is like this (and I've done over 1000) and I just have to give the movie extra points for that because... the combination works.In the future Organ failures become more common and a company called GeneCo gives people organs to pay off later as debt - don't pay it and they just take it out of you (which a law was passed making it 100% legal). We follow Nathan, a Repo Man trying to keep his daughter Shilo safe from the outside world but she is asked to go out with the president of GeneCo because he can cure the blood disease which killed her mother. Through this she learns more and more about the outside world and becomes a little more rebellious to her father each time she goes outside.Okay, so being as that this is an Opera - the big question is How's the music? Well I enjoyed it. It doesn't just have heavy metal as a genre, there are also elements of pop, dubstep and other forms of music of the last century or so. The movie is rich in these kinds of music and if you're into either or most of these genres then I do suggest taking a look at this movie.If I had any complaint with the music, it had to be the song "Mark It Up". It's about the spoiled children of the CEO of GeneCo singing about who will inherit the monopolies of both the organ harvesting and the painkillers. I mean it's played for laughs but it's out of place with the rest of the movie. If you want a song in this movie played for laughs then Thankless Job was funny enough (sorry, my sense of humour is disgusting) and all it really does is just tell us that all three of them want the same thing... Even though without it, that's established okay enough.Aside from that the visual style is striking, the cinematography is good, the acting and singing gets surprisingly good from some of the main players (did you know Carmen from Spy Kids can sing?). If there is a weakness from the main players, it's Paul Sorvino - he can't sing. I'd also say for something that doesn't really have as high of a budget as other movies of it's type the whole production design is a clear example of something that's done in this movie really well.This movie obviously requires a specific taste for people to enjoy it. I mean if what you're looking for is something that takes a few risks, you can turn off your brain and enjoy as well as look at good production design and listen to some good metal songs then this is probably going to be a movie worth checking out. It's certainly a unique film of which I would not be surprised if there will be a cult following for this movie in about 10 or so years because when you get down to it while the plot does have some holes in it it still holds up because what works in this movie works really well.

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DesertDogMedia

Title: Repo! The Genetic Opera Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman Storyline: The story revolves around a company called GeneCo who loan people organs in a future where organ failure is extremely high. If a person doesn't pay for 90 days, they have the RepoMan after them who will rip the still beating heart from their chest. This is the main premise of the story, but straight away I have to ask the question. Why is he only taking back the GeneCo organs? Why not salvage the rest of the organs for reselling? You are first given the backstory in comic book form, which personally I think is really cool to do, much better than having a gravely voiced man giving exposition for a story. It also introduces you to the main characters in the Largo family along with explaining what Repomen are. The 'Things You See In A Graveyard' song is where you first learn that the opera in the title is literal to some degree, (Ok, not opera. But musical) thankfully they do not try and sing every single line like Les Miserables did, they just have songs for when they want to convey key parts of the story, which works much better in my mind. We are introduced to Shilo Wallace who is the daughter of Nathan Wallace, who is also the only RepoMan we see in this movie. As I mentioned before, this is a better method for giving backstory than just using a voice over, although I feel like if it was used in other movies it wouldn't feel the same and would look out of place. Mainly because this movie is quite a mixture between Black Comedy for some parts and serious drama for the rest. Nathan's backstory explained how his wife Marni died, the song 'Legal Assassin' touches on this more. Along with what he does as the RepoMan. Along with Rotti's story which tells you how Marni died and why Nathan works for Rotti. In the song 'Thankless Job' you see that the RepoMan and Nathan share a Jekyll and Hyde type bond between them as the RepoMan is cheerfully singing as he is cutting a guy open and ripping his organs out. 'Night Surgeon' goes into depth about the blackmail that Rotti holds over Nathan for the death of his wife, it also has Nathan remembering all of his missions as the RepoMan. This is the only time you'll actually see other Repomen as they are standing in the background as Nathan is cutting up the training guy. 'Let the Monster Rise' has Shilo ambushing the RepoMan only to find out that her father is the RepoMan, this also marks the point there Nathan disappears until the end scene and he is only the RepoMan mentally "Have I failed my daughter? Then let the father die, and let the monster rise" In the ending scene Luigi goes all Assassin's Creed on the RepoMan and slashes him with a forearm mounted retractable blade. He is then tied to a chair and shot by Rotti because Shilo refused to kill her father, even for complete control of GeneCo. Rotti then conveniently dies of his disease after shooting Nathan and leaving him to bleed out. Shilo stays with her father as he dies of blood loss. Acting: Alexa Vega plays Shilo, the young teen who starts off hating her father but loves him in the end. Anthony Stewart Head plays Nathan Walce and the RepoMan. Before seeing this film, I had only ever seen Anthony Head in Little Britain, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how well he could take on his dual roles. Paul Sorvino plays the Organ Godfather himself Rotti Largo, I felt like they casted him perfectly, just like Anthony Head. He is calm mostly with a god father-esk look to him throughout the movie. Terrance Zdunich is the writer as well as Mr Exposition the pale faced drug dealing grave robber. He seems to be Shilo's only friend in the movie with honest intentions. He likes to break the 4th wall with quote like "The winner of this blood feud, will take GeneCo. Stay Tuned" He is good for comedy relief when it is required, along with explaining the story to us. Noticeable Camera work: For the musical scenes the angles bounced around dependent on the song, but mainly acted like that of a music video which was creative. Whereas with the rest the angles were standard with creative with wide shots, panning shots and zoom out shots especially for the music video styled singing scenes. Costume: Dark colours for standard Gothic clothing which matches that of the tone of the movie, can point out anything wrong with them, although I did like the design of the RepoMan costume, primarily that Nathan's, mainly because it is the only one we see in the movie, there are cameos of the other types in the 'Night Surgeon' song. One I really wanted to see was one which looked like a dog mask. This can be seen at the very start in the opening comic when it starts talking about Repomen and there are 4 Repomen standing in Rotti's office. Overall Feel: This movie was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, the man who is generally known for the sequels of Saw and other lesser known horror movies. I haven't seen them personally, but they have around the same ratings on IMDb as this movie does. But naturally this would paint him as a sole horror movie director, which can be either good or bad depending on your tastes. There are a few nitpicks I have about parts of the story along with some props, but overall I loved this movie, and that is saying something as I generally am not a fan of musical movies. But this was worth the watch and would be recommended

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FlashCallahan

an epidemic of organ failure has devastated the planet. GeneCo offers organ transplants for a hefty price. Those who miss their payments are hunted by Repo Men. A young girl searches for the cure to her disease as well as her family's mysterious history. After being pulled into the world of GeneCo, she is unable to turn back, and all of her questions will be answered at a hotly anticipated event, The Genetic Opera........Kudos to the writers of this film for coming up with something so wickedly original, but the direction is a little flat, and the film isn't half as camp as you would, or the makers, want it to be.It looks marvellous, all the sets are awe-inspiring, like some sort of Nightmare Bladerunner town, as designed by Charles Manson, but sets do not make a good film.It's as if Bousman has watched Rocky Horror and Shock Treatment on a loop, and decided to meld the two together, with very mixed results.The cast are great, especially Vega and Head, and some of the songs are pretty genius and toe tappingly catchy, but there are long segments of parts that are a little pointless, and this is the 97 minute version, so heavens knows what the long version is like.All in all it's a curious piece, subliminally remade two years later with Jude Law, but something is missing, ironically, a little bit of heart wouldn't have hurt.

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