REPO MEN

A job’s a job right.....

Now when I’d seen the trailer to this film and I saw Jude Law was in it I switched off for a second as I’ve never been a keen fan on the “Law fella” as my pops would say, but then my appetite was whetted again when I saw that Forrest Whittaker was the co-star and so I took a while deciding but I eventually went to see this film and to a degree I’m glad I did.

I know you’re wondering what I mean by “to a degree”, well I found that the ending was a little weak, very much harking back to how some kids who felt the need to conform with society and barrier some adults put up with kids about their imagination so to justify the farfetched plots of their stories they always seemed to end it with 4 words....

But the weak ending aside this was a pretty good film and The Law dude was pretty good in it, but Mr Whittaker did his usual top draw performance so I didn’t feel too short changed.

The premise of the film is that Law and Whittaker play two old school friends who now work for a company called The Union as Repossession Men, and the items they repossess are internal body parts. The world has got to stage where every body part is exchangeable, from Ears, Eyes, right down to shoulders, knees and toes. But The Union is charging extortionate rates and most people end up having to go a credit plans, but if they fall behind on their repayments by more than 90 days then the Repo Men come to claim back the property by any means, but alas one of the repo men has a slight accident and ends up having an implant, and due to the very nature of his work, he can’t earn enough money to make the repayments, so a repossession order gets put on him, and I would say you know the rest but in actual fact there is more to the film than that.

There is a fair bit of action in the film but there are lots of scenes which build characters and run you through the emotion mill and for me I could see there were a few cautionary tales throughout the film.

Terms like you reap what you sow and what goes around comes around all came to mind whilst watching this movie.

Now in terms of setting this film looked good, though it portrayed the world as a society where people abused themselves as they knew they could always get a new body part fromThe union, but they didn’t realise getting involved withThe union was the beginning of the end, but it did the job of painting our future as a bleak place to live.

Jude Law was really good in this film, I’d never really pictured him as an action hero, but he played his role really well, he had four relationships and he made all of them believable and enjoyable to watch, but it was Forrest’s character who really summed up life for me, especially with me being like 41 and single living life alone, Forrest’s character had shades of my future possibly, so for me this film was touching and a real winner except for the school days ending.

The thing with the ending was that the ending could have worked if they had not had such a long spoon fed ending, if they had done the ending in such a way that it left you with more questions, so you would walk away saying “But if that happened at what point in the film could it of happened....”

Would I recommend this film, yes I would for sure. Not for the cinema maybe but at some point I think one and all should sit and watch this film. I doubt I’d buy this on BluRay for the film itself but I wouldn’t be disappointed if I owned this film. I’d have to give this film a solid 7/10.

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Master Crime Fighter

When I heard that they are making another Sherlock Holmes adventure and Guy Richie was involved I had my doubts, and those doubts became fears they would destroy a British Institution when I heard Robert Downey Jnr was going to play the main character.

Well I saw the film and I have to say my doubts and fears were not needed, what an entertaining film, and Robert Downey Jnr was brilliant and he did a great English accent and for a change he kept focussed and the accent never slipped as you often find when actors do an accent which isn't their natural accent.

The premise of the film was that Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) wants to gain enough power so that he can rule the land, and by using dark "Magic" his plan is to amass followers and eventually bring England to it's knees

With the help of his trusted friend Dr Watson (Jude Law) and a pretty woman called Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) who it appears Sherlock has a chequered history with they try to work out what Lord Blackwood's master plan is, but is there another game afoot….?

I have to say Robert Downey Jnr was excellent as was Jude Law as Watson, though Lord Blackwood was meant to be sinister, I think Mark Strong was trying too hard to be a bad guy so it came across and a little hammy, but Eddie Marsan as Lestrade was brilliant.

What I really liked about the film was the way they showed how Sherlock Holmes mind worked, best shown when he was involved in a couple fight scenes, but I won't say more as don't want o spoil it, but love the way they did it.

Also the filming appears to be mainly shot in browns and dark colours so it added to the setting of when Sherlock Holmes was set, there were splashes of bright colours when needed and you would have thought with all the brown shades the film would be quite dark, but it wasn't.

Would I watch this film again, yes I would for sure. It was a fun and entertaining ride. Would I buy this film on DVD/Blu-Ray, I think it would depend on the what extras were on the disc, but as a film no I wouldn't add it to my film collection as though I like crime type films, I'm still a Basil Rathbone lover when it comes to Sherlock Holmes.

I'd give this film an 8/10.