Review: REPO! the Genetic Opera

This movie came out in 2008 and is available on DVD.

It is a rock opera set in a dystopian future where "Repo Men" commit legalized organ theft. It starts Anthony Stewart Head, Paul Sorvino, Paris Hilton, and one of the founding members of Skinny Puppy.

That should be all the review you need.

In all sincerity, REPO! is tongue-in-cheek heavy-metal operatic fun. It lacks depth in several places, and the narrative is by and large an opera standard; but it's in the meat of it and in the sheer ballsiness of the idea that the film stands out. The visuals are great, the acting is wonderful, and the music is generally very good (though I feel like a plebeian for feeling like the meter is kind of off in parts of the earlier numbers). Moreover, it's got a Gothic quirkiness to it that I just don't see enough places anymore, and I cannot help but encourage it. Really, how can you argue with Anthony Stewart Head in a leather trenchcoat, singing a hard rock song while performing surgery without anesthetic?

I give this movie four out of five strange hybrids of a scalpel and a melee weapon. It'll cost you the price of a rental or a slot in your Netflix queue; give it a try and discover that sometimes you have to spell awesome in all caps.