Repo Men: A Movie Review

Warning: You're about to read a subject that many might find disturbing.

Repo Men is a recent movie. Set in the near future, it's about a man who repossesses artificial organs. That's right, he kills people and steals pacemakers when people are overdue on their payments. And kidneys, livers, the list goes on. All in glorious, graphic Blue-Ray detail. I watch war movies on occasion, and I found Repo Men disturbing. Who watches and enjoys this kind of stuff? It was slimy, as if I had lost my innocence.

Every movie has a message. Every story communicates ideals from a certain facet of our culture. When I see movies like Repo Men, I become a little worried about people who enjoy them. Many Christians decry sex as much as violence in movies. But, really, sex is a part of the natural order of life (not that it should be shown in graphic detail either). The kind of violence depicted in some movies, movies like Repo Men, where killing is just a job, is not a part of every human being's existence. It's kind of like the Roman gladiatorial games. We're feeding the violent part of our nature, the part that only warriors used to experience.

I'm not per se against showing violence in movies (in what degree it should be shown is another matter). I'm against the way violence is portrayed in many movies, especially killing, as a casual event. As the repo men said, "It's just a job." Death and violence is sometimes necessary, but we should never look at it casually. Life is precious, sacred. When we no longer view life as such, bad things happen, like the Roman gladiatorial games...or abortions.

However, Repo Men does have its good points. The main character gets an artificial heart he can't pay for, so the repo men who used to be his coworkers come after him. Along the way, he falls in love with a girl who is all black market artificial parts. His view changes. He's now protecting one of the people he used to kill. It's not just a job any more. These people have lives, have loved ones. Murder, for him, is no longer casual.

There might be some hope for our culture after all.