Repo Men (2010)

After just watching Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), I was rather surprised to see a movie coming in April titled Repo Men. Intrigued by the title, I figured it was either Anthony Stewart Head’s movie – a spin-off of his Repo Man role from Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) – or a sequel to the 80’s flick Repo Man, starring Emilio Estevez. Turns out those ideas were both wrong.

Despite a plot that sounds like it was taken straight from Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), Repo Men is apparently entirely unconnected to that film – instead, it’s based on a book by author Eric Garcia.

With the same basic premise as Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) (in the future, body parts can be bought on credit, but fall behind on a payment and the Repo Men come to get the organ back), I’d be surprised if a lawsuit doesn’t pop up sooner or later between the Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) creators and Eric Garcia and/or Universal (the studio behind Repo Men – which would most likely bump the release of Repo Men past it’s current April 2010 release date.

Maybe the lawsuit is already being contemplated, but the creators of Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) don’t want to build buzz around this upcoming film, so they may lie in wait, and file their suit after the film does some modest box office.

So why am I thinking this film is going to do some decent business? Despite being – at least at first glance – a rip-off, the plot is still interesting enough to catch viewer’s attention, and with a cast that includes Liev Schreiber, Jude Law and Forrest Whitaker, there’s most likely going to be at least some buzz about this film before it hits theaters. And if director Miguel Sapochnik can keep viewers entertained, good word of mouth may make this a late spring hit for Universal.

Until I hear more, however, I’m going to hold back on checking this one out. With such a blatant rip-off of a recent film, I’m a bit hard-pressed to really get behind seeing Repo Men.

Let’s hope I’m wrong, and Eric Garcia’s version strays far from Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)’s roots, making Repo Men more of a spin-off than rip-off. That would be much easier to deal with, at least for me.