Repo! The Genetic Opera is (supposedly) such a tale. Not quite sublime, not quite terrible. It stands between. And here I feel it is best observed.
The Premise is simple. An epidemic of organ failure arises in the not so distant future. A company, GeneCo, singlehandedly cures this plight by developing and offering replacement organs. However there is a catch. If you default on your contract they'll send out a Repo-man who will recover GeneCo's property one cut at a time.
Both stylized in a cross between "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Blade-Runner" with a dash of "Saw" ultimately results in a mesh of glorified cleaved intestines and rock opera. The visualization itself is dramatic and deliberately morose. While I wouldn't quite call it unique in scope or picture (think any old sci-fi movie and then mix in some old world thought/sights) it does prove to be a great contrast different then the modern mainstream. And most importantly these scenes of a dismal future work great within the context of the movie.
Being a musical (Rock Opera) as it is, dialog is at a premium. Obviously the story and presentation is mostly drawn through song but at other times Narration can be provided by a single character or through what looks to be a comic book.
Thankfully most of the music in the movie is quite good offering memorable lyrics that will easily outlive the movie's one hour forty minute run time. But there is one down side. While the songs do provide much needed levity to situations they also tend to drag depending on the actor/actress. For example, I personally found some performances (Paul Sorvino, as GeneCo's unscrupulous president, sounded like he was sing-talking at times, Bill Moseley, as one of his two scheming sons, was just so-so) to be lifeless and/or boring such as the case when Alexa Vega (Shilo) does her youth revolt solo.
I'd say eighty to ninety percent of the music was worth hearing. Sarah Brightman (Blind Mag) and Anthony Head (Nathan/Repo-man) steal most of the spotlight. The Grave Robber (Terrance Zdunch) does his thing adding narration and catchy tunes along the way. Even Paris Hilton doesn't totally **** up her role, albeit the small vain role that it is.
Still, I feel the truth behind this opera's curtains that compiles most of the movie's presentation (be it narration, song, look, story, etc) is neither as original (as presumed by followers) nor is it as fulfilling as believed to be. Too much of the screen time feels like exposition, too many of the characters feel flat or useless and (although certainly intended) one dimensional with absolutely non existent growth. Furthermore I felt hard pressed to be actually interested in any one character enough to care about their future. Yes I felt bad for Nathan and his daughter Shilo but certainly never to the degree that the conclusion would have you tearing hair out in suspense. Which, among other notable things I forgot to mention, the story is fairly predictable.In the end I feel as if from the very onset I was trying to see something in Repo! that simply was either not there or I didn't grasp the lens to fully see it. Still, I do strongly feel that everyone interested in alternate tales or movies in general should see this film. It does provide an enjoyable tale of love, hate and revenge amongst other more obvious things. I should however warn anyone whose stomach is queasy around the sight of blood that this one has scenes of "intense gore". Not necessarily on par with your B rated slasher or craptastic Saw seven hundred and forty two but fairly heavy gore nevertheless. Prepare accordingly.
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3/5 stars (Above average)(Recommended)
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