Movie reviews now, huh? Well, why not?
I found this movie to be very gripping in the sense that I loved all of the emotions displayed so strongly by the characters. Luigi's rage, Nathan's pain from losing Marni and his love of his daughter Shiloh. Especially Shiloh's pain because she is "infected" and not allowed to escape her bedroom prison.
I also really loved all of the costumes and the music. the voices were haunting and really fit the parts and emotion that they needed to portray.
The repo man himself was haunting. Can you imagine the terror and despair one must have felt upon seeing him ANYWHERE near by? What if he had come to collect your organs? No pain killer, nothing but the pain.
When Blind Mag dies in the end, I was shocked. Even though I knew it was going to happen, I had not been expecting her to pull out her own eyes, nor was I expecting Rotti to slice the rope that held her, causing her to fall to her death and be impaled on the fence.
The idea of the entire thing being an opera symbolizes to me that life is a show, there is what we put out on stage (the death of Nathan and Blind Mag, also the humiliation of Nathan as Rotti tells Shiloh that he had been poisoning her to keep her sick and that her mother's death had indeed been her father's fault) and there is what we hide from the world, what we don't want to be seen (Rotti does not announce that his illness is terminal until a few short minutes before he dies, on stage.)
Even though there is much good to say here, I will also have to admit the negative aspects. I truly didn't understand the necessity of some (OK, most) of the gore. Why did we need to see the repo man's hand inside the bodies tearing out the organs? Why did Shiloh have to wake up on stage after Blind Mags death in a huge sea of blood (which, by the way, where did that ALL come from???)
There were also some things that I couldn't understand. What did Rotti mean when he talks about how Marni forged his hand? She signed something for him, but what??? And why did Nathan tell Blind Mag that Shiloh had died? Hadn't he known all along that Marni had wanted her to be present in Shiloh's life? Was this just a way to keep Shiloh safe from GeneCo?
I give Repo! The Genetic Opera 3.5 out of 5 stars.
You need to tag Sarah Brightman, the Awesome Blind Mag! Also probably *spoiler alert* because people look for reviews before seeing the movie. Don't tell them she rips her eyes out till they see it!
ReplyDeleteI have done much investigating in to the story, so I can answer a few questions if you like. (if you don't I'm doing it anyways sister! :p )
It does not need so much gore or sexuality, I agree with you there, but I can look over these negatives for the deep hitting music. Its mostly for shock value. The sea of blood is because Mag had a very bloody death, and Nathan's hamstring had been cut, looks to be a large artery. Darren Lynn Bousman directed this film, and as Repo! did not have a large budget, he used many props from the saw 2 and 3 movies he also produced. He knew he was making Repo! next and actually made some props under saw's budget just for Repo, even asking if they could somehow make a graveyard set lol!
Marni /forced/ not forged Rotti's hand. She made him take dire actions because she left him for Nathan. He does not loose to any man, if he could not have her, no one could.
Nathan wanted Shilo to be safe, to have NO outside contact because he did not think he could trust anyone. With a world so dark and dreary, he would do anything. Even make her believe she was sick.
Now for some questions you did not ask:
Look up the music video for Needle into a Bug. It is a deleted scene/song. When Rotti saws Nathan's next target is Mag, Nathan responds with "But Mag's eyes are M..."
"GenCo's eyes!"~Rotti
You see in Needle into a Bug that Marni's eyes are missing.
Nathan was actually about to say Marni. Marni gave Mag her eyes. In the beginning (at the song intro Legal Assassin) you see Marni with a hat covering her face, that is her REAL corpse held in the room in the house. When Nathan rushes to the Opera house, they zoom in and *gasp* her body is missing. Then Rotti has shilo put on her Mother's dress!
(But why the SEXY Terrance Zdunich says you're beautiful I have not quite figured out yet, beleive me I am trying!)
Terrance is an All amazing guy, he wrote half the play and songs (with Darren Smith as other half), performed as grave-robber/narrative, drew all the comic boards, sang so well (L O V E when he sings "concrete below" from 21st Century Cure), I never understood why people like Depp or Bloom, but from my first viewing of Repo I was swooning. LOL Logan says that Zdunich is the only guy in the world he feels threatened by.
Back to my tid bits of info... the bird cage in the house used to hold a parrot that was Shilo's best friend, but they took out that sub plot because the parrot started up staging Shilo. Also in the same scene Anthony was literally PULLING Alexa up the stairs, her feet were leaving the ground!
Paris Hilton supplied all her own costumes, she already owned them. She also let half the cast use her wardrobe too.
The guy hanging upside down (song Come Back!) had to go to the hospital they did not research rules on hanging people upside down during filming. Thankfully no serious trauma.
Repo! holds the record for most composed songs into a film (64 individually).
Joan Jett is the cameo in the song Seventeen.
And there are a thousand more where those came from lol. I am OBSESSED with this movie!