Repo! The Genetic Opera

Ok, I’ve been asked a few times what I think about musicals, here’s what I have to say: I love them when they’re good, and I despise them when they are bad. I have no middle ground for these kinds of films really. I can’t call them ok, they are either great or they suck on massive levels. However, there is in fact one sub genre of them that I just love, I have yet to find one that I didn’t like and that is the rock opera. From “Tommy” to “Pink Floyd The Wall” to…. Well that’s all I can honestly say I’ve seen or for that matter remember off the top of my head. But, there is in fact one more that I’ve seen, and it is hands down my favorite of this sub genre: “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. This is going to be a bit of a rarity in that this is one of the few movies that I’ve seen several times before reviewing it.
“Repo!” is the first movie that director Darren Lynn Bousman made outside of the “Saw” series, and damn is it good, well I think it is anyway. I said in my “Book of Eli” review that it was a movie that would probably be either loved or hated and really I think “Repo!” is very much the same way. It’s down to your taste in movies and music really. It’s plot will probably show you why, in the future, there is an epidemic of organ failures. Out of the need for new organs comes the company Geneco, an organization that will save the lives of those needing new organs…. For a price, and those that can’t pay, a repo man is sent to harvest their credited organs. I’ve described this film as something Tim Burton and Trent Reznor would come up with after tripping shooms, and I stand by that. It’s got Tim Burton-esque style yet the music isn’t the typical Danny Elfman, “Nightmare Before Christmas” type stuff, it’s more hard rock industrial like, well, Nine Inch Nails.
But that’s not a bad thing, I actually like this mix a lot. The songs are catchy and fun to sing a long with, hum later and all that stuff. On top of that though, they actually feel like opera numbers, all the dialogue is sung actually. It’s a very bold choice, always has been. I think that’s why I have a lot of love for rock operas, they take what makes an opera, but choose to use modern style music. It’s a bold artistic risk, and I have to say damn I’m glad there are musicians that take those kinds of chances, because when they do, it’s usually something they work very hard on and the effort shines though in the music.
However, there is a couple of problems when it came to the casting, though it’s not something that pisses me off or anything, it’s just that Bill Mosley (“The Devil’s Rejects”) and Paul Sorvino (“Goodfellas”) can’t really sing. Mostly they just speak their lyrics in something that resembles rhythm, a bit unfortunate yet I don’t mind. The performances actually add a lot the songs, from all the actors and that includes Paris Hilton. Yes, I said it. Paris Hilton acted in a movie and didn’t piss me off. She actually does have a descent voice and well, her character is a spoiled heiress, it’s not like she really needs to act that much. But the show stealers are hands down Alexa Vega who has come a very long way from her days as a Spy Kid, and who’d have guessed, but she really knows how to sing. Here she’s a troubled, sheltered teen that has been confined to her home due to a blood disease, and she longs to see the world and meet her hero, Blind Mag, the voice of Geneco and the other performance that steals the show. Played by famous soprano singer Sarah Brightman, Mag is a character that I think has the least amount of screen time of anyone that plays a big part in the story, but she has such a great voice, and really her character is a turning point for several people involved. She’s Vega’s hero, her father’s (the repo man) latest assignment, and she’s planning on leaving Geneco, a major plot point. And yet I think she has maybe 10 minutes of screen time tops in this movie. The rest of the cast does a nice job, just isn’t quite as memorable. Well, except maybe Ogre as Pavi Largo, but I think that’s more to do with the design of the character.
The film’s design is also amazing. The photography is just great, I love its vivid colors and kinetic energy really set the mood the film is trying to create. Plus I love how the sets do the best they can with a clearly small budget, it actually feels like this is just being filmed on a very elaborate theater set, giving it an other worldly feel. Very little choreography, but what little there is makes a great impression. I really feel that this is what Darren Lynn Bousman can do well. The images are surreal and it was something that he had put in his installments of the “Saw” franchise, but here it gets to come full circle. I like getting to see this director finally break away from that tiresome franchise, here we really get to see what he’s capable of, and he shows a lot of promise.
Overall, this is a pretty damn good movie. It’s got great music, an interesting story (sadly ripped off for that stupid action movie with Jude Law.), and it’s just well made. It’s just sad how many people don’t know about this movie, and I think that’s sadly due to the fact that it seems if you’re doing a musical these days, you better be doing something like “Chicago”, because if you’re not some big successful jazz based musical, no one really seems to care. And that’s a damn shame if you ask me, because this is a fine example that something other than jazz can make a good musical, and I’d like to see more of them.