Movie Review By Request - Repo! The Genetic Opera

This movie has been on my to watch list for quite some time, so when I received a request to give it the Rufus Reviews treatment I finally pulled my finger out and sat down for some musical gruesomeness.

Repo sees a worldwide epidemic cause major organ failures, the only cure is a transplant and a company called GeneCo come to the rescue offering finance on the expensive procedures.  It all starts going dark when the head of GeneCo, Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) gets the legal okay to order repossessions should repayments not be kept up.  The story itself focuses mainly on Nathan (Anthony Head) and his daughter Shilo (Alexa Vega).  Nathan is desperate to keep his daughter safe after a tragic turn of events killed his wife when she was pregnant.  Nathan is even more desperate to keep his biggest secret safe, the fact that he is one of the masked Repo men charged with retrieving GeneCo's property.

This movie really took me by surprise.  I have heard mixed reports but I really found myself enjoying it.  There are songs aplenty and while some of them aren't all that great there are still a number of enjoyable set pieces and nothing that gets too annoying.  Special mention needs to made of the Graverobber (Terrance Zdunich) who works as combined narrator and plot driver.  He has some of the catchier tunes and a very strong presence for a supporting character.  Another big surprise is Paris Hilton's performance as Amber Sweet, one of Rotti's three insane children who do their fair share to add to the blood and violence.

There is a lot of blood and violence in this movie.  Unsurprising since the central premise is organ repossession.  This is of course fatal for payment defaulter and involves considerable amounts of blood and entrails.  Anthony Head performing this grisly duty while singing about his work makes for a very memorable scene.

The bit players do their melodramatic best whenever they are on screen, and like with the musical numbers, there are more hits than misses.

So if you have a strong stomach and want to see a very different and dark musical then Repo! The Genetic Opera may give you an entertaining evening.  Be warned though, this is a perfect example of a like it or hate it movie so I am not making any promises.

In three words - little glass vial